Chace Numata

Chace Kekoa Kenji Numata

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 200 lb.
• High School Pearl City High School

• Born August 14, 1992 in Pearl City, HI USA
• Died September 2, 2019 in Erie, PA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Catcher Chase Numata played ten seasons of minor league baseball before dying in an accident in the last days of the 2019 season.

Born in Pearl City, HI, he went to the local high school from which he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 14th round in the 2010 amateur draft. He was a shortstop in high school, but the Phils turned him into a catcher. He played in the Phillies system from 2010 to 2017, starting with two seasons with the GCL Phillies at age 17 and 18. He was never a great hitter, as his personal bests for homers in a season was 4, and he did not hit above .235 in his first three years. He began to show a bit more production in 2015, when he hit .263 in 73 games for the Clearwater Threshers of the Florida State League. However, he was a very solid defensive catcher with a great throwing arm and leadership qualities which meant teams were always happy to have him around even if he was confined to hitting in the bottom of the line-up. He played for the Melbourne Aces in the 2014-2015 Australian Baseball League, hitting .259/.293/.322 as the starter ahead of Kellin Deglan. He hit a career-best .308 in his second season with Clearwater in 2016, then graduated to the AA Reading Fightin' Phils in 2017 when he hit .249 in 84 games.

He became a free agent after the 2017 season and signed with the New York Yankees who issued him an invitation to spring training in 2018. Injuries limited him to 45 games that season, including a rehabilitation stint of 7 games back in the Gulf Coast League and a return to the FSL for another 9 games. With the AA Trenton Thunder, he hit just .180 in 38 games and became a free agent after the season. He then signed on with the Detroit Tigers and spent the bulk of the 2019 season with the Erie SeaWolves, again in the Eastern League, but also had his only taste of AAA ball, with 6 games with the Toledo Mud Hens in the International League. Between the two stops, he played 77 games, and hit .244 with 4 homers and 28 RBIs. On the final week-end of the season, on August 30th, he was found by a passing motorist at 2:15 AM lying unconscious on the pavement in downtown Erie, PA and bleeding from his head. Police officers were summoned and he was rushed to hospital, but he never recovered consciousness and died on September 2nd. Security footage showed that the motorized skateboard he was riding on had stopped suddenly, sending him falling forward. He had just turned 27 a couple of weeks earlier.

Further Reading

• Kelsie Henegan: "Numata finds right pace to slow down run game: Former Phillies prospect brings defensive focus to Yankees system", milb.com, November 20, 2017. [1]
• Jeff Seidel: "Tigers prospect who died Monday was the beloved heart and soul of his team", mlb.com, September 3, 2019. [2]
• Jeff Seidel, Joe Guillen and Kirkland Crawford: "Tigers minor leaguer Chace Numata dies from injuries in skateboarding accident", The Detroit Free Press, September 2, 2019. [3]
• Ben Weinrib: "Tigers minor leaguer Chace Numata dies at 27 after motorized skateboarding accident", Yahoo Sports, September 2, 2019. [4]