Goldberg is the 175th former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Eau Claire Express pitcher, Brad Goldberg, made his Major League debut for the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, June 3, 2017. Goldberg is the 175th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Goldberg, who played collegiately at Ohio State, played for the Eau Claire Express in 2010 and 2011. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 10th round of the 2013 MLB Draft.
In 2010 with the Express, Goldberg was 3-5 with a 3.97 ERA in 12 appearances. He also struck out 48 batters in 59 innings. In eight games during the 2011 season he went 3-1 with 37 strikeouts and a 2.68 ERA over 43.2 innings pitched.
Goldberg started his Minor League career in 2013 with the Great Falls Voyagers of the Rookie level Pioneer League. After two games in Great Falls he was promoted to the Kannapolis Intimidators of the Lo-A South Atlantic League. Goldberg appeared in 12 games with Kannapolis before another promotion to the Winston-Salem Dash of the Hi-A Carolina League to end the season. Overall, he was 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA with the three teams. He also struck out 49 batters in 35 innings and walked only nine while also recording three saves.
Goldberg spent the entire 2014 season back with the Dash. In 35 games, he was 4-4 with a 5.23 ERA. He mainly worked out of the bullpen and had two saves to go along with 62 strikeouts in 75.2 innings pitched.
He was once again back in the Winston-Salem bullpen for the 2015 season. Over 39 games he went 1-4 with a 2.97 ERA. He also struck out 58 batters in 57.2 innings while walking 25 and converted a career high 11 saves.
Goldberg split the 2016 season between the AA Birmingham Barons of the Southern League and the Charlotte Knights of the AAA International League. Between the two clubs he went 3-5 with a 2.70 ERA in 47 appearances. He struck out 51 batters in 56.2 innings and had 23 saves.
He went back to Charlotte to start the 2017 season and had appeared in 17 games before his call-up to the White Sox. Over 22.2 innings he was 2-1 with 22 strikeouts, nine walks and a 1.99 ERA.
In his Major League debut against the Detroit Tigers, Goldberg entered the game in the bottom of the 8th inning in relief of Chris Beck. He would allow four runs on three hits in .1 innings of work. Coincidentally, the winning pitcher for the Tigers was Jordan Zimmermann, another former Eau Claire Express pitcher.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. The 23-year old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 170 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.