Die-hard Express fans will remember Alex Call chasing down fly balls in the Carson Park outfield over the course of two seasons in Eau Claire. Call, a River Falls High School graduate, was a two-year player for the Express from 2013-14 and is the subject of this week’s Express Alumni Update presented by Lakeland University.
Call stated his brief tenure with Eau Claire prior to joining Ball State in the fall of 2013. Call capped the 2013 season with the Express, playing in the final eight games of the year and compiling a slash line of .348/.478/.478. Call would return to the Express in 2014 where he had a longer stint, donning the black and orange in 15 games during the summer. During his time in Eau Claire Call hit .314 with a .392 slugging percentage and a .760 OPS. He had 13 RBIs on 16 hits and added 7 runs while appearing in the outfield.
With Ball State, Call compiled quite the career with the Cardinals where in just his senior season was named the 2016 Mac Player of the Year, a Louisville Slugger All-American, named to the All-Mid-American Conference First Team and All-Defensive Team, was a CoSIDA Academic All-American and the Ball State Team MVP. In his career with the Cardinals, Call held a .351 batting average and racked up 110 RBIs to go along with 152 runs scored with 76 extra-base knocks.
Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 2016 MLB draft, Call has played in part of four MiLB seasons to this point in his career. As part of a trade with the Cleveland Indians in 2018, Call was assigned first to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and then to the Akron RubberDucks in AA ball where he has spent the better part of the last two seasons. With the RubberDucks in 2019, Call was named Player of the Week in June for an effort that included going .313 (10-for-32) with one double, one triple, three home runs, eight RBIs, four runs scored, and a .688 slugging percentage in seven games for Akron.
Cleveland begins their spring training with a game against Cincinnati Saturday, February 22nd, while Akron won’t begin their Minor League season until Thursday, April 12th against the Binghampton Rumble Ponies.
Keep a lookout all off-season for more alumni updates presented by Lakeland University. At Lakeland University you’ll find unique 14-week BlendEd courses that allow you to complete coursework either online or in class from week to week depending on your location, schedule, and other life commitments allowing you to choose the format that works best for you.
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The Eau Claire Express are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 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, over 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.eauclaireexpress.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Express as your favorite team.