Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department
A former Hillsdale baseball player might make his way back to Michigan and play for the Detroit Tigers, following his trade from the Baltimore Orioles July 30.
Zane Barnhart, a right-handed pitcher, played for Hillsdale College for three years before the Orioles picked him in the 17th round of the 2023 MLB draft. The Tigers now assign him to its Double-A team, the Erie Seawolves in Erie, Pennsylvania. Previously he played for the Chesapeake Baysox, the Double-A team of the Orioles.
“I was definitely not expecting the trade,” Barnhart said. “The Baysox had a game in Alton, Pennsylvania, and I had just got done throwing and I was getting ready for the game, when our pitching coordinator with the Orioles called me. Whenever the pitching coordinator calls, you know something happened.”
The Tigers acquired Barnhart by sending catcher Jake Rogers to the Orioles. It was the start of a series of transactions involving Rogers, who belonged to four teams in 21 days: the Tigers and Orioles, followed by the Boston Red Sox and finally the Chicago White Sox, where he remains today. Nobody in MLB history has played for more teams in fewer days.
“It’s always a good thing to get traded,” Barnhart said. “It was really exciting, and it’s been great meeting all these new people with the Tigers organization. It’s been going pretty good so far.”
At Hillsdale, Barnhart became a closer for the Chargers, recording six saves in 20.1 innings of work with a 2.21 earned run average in 2022. His 13 career saves remain the second-highest all-time by a Hillsdale pitcher, a record he set in his junior year. Barnhart is the highest-selected baseball player ever taken from Hillsdale in the draft. Since entering the minor leagues, he has posted a 3.42 ERA, a 9-13 record, and 174 strikeouts over 157.2 innings pitched.
“Athletically, I had practice five days a week at Hillsdale,” Barnhart said. “It got me into the workload that’s now six games a week, and I also learned how to balance my time at Hillsdale between athletics and academics. Now I just focus on the athletic side of it. I really learned how to balance my lifestyle out.”
John Hunter ’25 played with Barnhart when they were students at Hillsdale. Hunter was a catcher, and despite never catching a game with Barnhart pitching, he said he learned a lot from practicing with an athlete at Barnhart’s level.
“Catching for him was awesome and terrifying because he almost never missed his spot,” Hunter said. “Everyone loved Zane. I still text him as I see highlights of him pop up on my feed and he always responds.”
Since joining the Seawolves in August, Barnhart has a 1-1 record, with a 2.89 ERA. His first game in uniform with the Seawolves was August 1.
“Zane has a fantastic work ethic with an incredible attention to detail,” Vessella said. “Whether it was in the weight room, conditioning, or just playing catch, Zane was always locked into whatever task that was in front of him.”
Vessella said that draft picks out of Division II schools are rare since the draft was shortened to 20 rounds in 2021.
The move to the Tiger’s organization brings Barnhart back to Michigan, closer to Hillsdale, where he got his start.
“Zane, alongside all of his former teammates that are huge Detroit Tiger fans, are thrilled that he is a part of the Tigers organization,” Vessella said. “It might shorten his path to the big leagues. We will just have to wait and see what happens.”
