Dan Vardijan

Daniel Colin Vardijan

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 220 lb.

• School DePaul University
• High School Glenbrook South High School

• Born December 1, 1976 in Chicago, IL USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Dan Vardijan peaked at AA.

The Florida Marlins selected Vardijan in the 25th round of the 1994 amateur draft, two picks after Rocky Biddle. He split 1995 between the GCL Marlins (5-0, 1.64, 21 H in 44 IP) and Kane County Cougars (3 R in 3 IP). He tied for 9th in the Gulf Coast League in wins; he was four innings shy of qualifying for the ERA lead or he would have been second (.17 behind Jeff Martin). He posted a 7-7, 3.35 record for the 1996 Kane County Cougars. His 16 hit batsmen were third in the Midwest League behind teammates Scott DeWitt and Victor Hurtado. He just missed the top 10 in ERA, .01 behind Paul O'Malley. He then missed 1997 due to injury.

The tall right-hander returned to the diamond in a relief role in 1998 with the Brevard County Manatees (2-0, 3.00 in 8 G) and Portland Sea Dogs (1-1, 7.85 in 19 G; 1.95 WHIP). The next year, he fared better with the Manatees (3-2, 7 Sv, 2.60 in 34 G) but struggled more with Portland (0-1, 12 H, 8 BB, 15 R in 4 1/3 IP). Let go by the Marlins, he split 2000 between the Arizona Diamondbacks' High Desert Mavericks (7.65 ERA in 16 G, 1-0, 23 BB in 20 IP) and the independent Yuma Bullfrogs (1.93 ERA in 13 G). He allowed 5 runs (3 earned) in six innings for the 2001 Schaumburg Flyers.

Overall, he had gone 19-10 with 7 saves and a 4.00 ERA in 133 games as a pro (33 starts). In 322 innings, he had allowed 292 hits and struck out 210 while walking 162.

Dan then joined his brother Erik Vardijan on the Croatian national team. Despite his extensive pro background, he had Croatia's second-highest ERA in the 2001 European Championship, giving up 3 hits, 2 walks and 3 runs in two innings; only Damir Karin had a higher ERA. Vardijan was 0-1 with a save. He did far better at the plate, hitting .300/.323/.533; only Tomislav Curkovic had a better slugging percentage for the Croatians. His four RBI tied Robert Tomanic for the team lead and his six runs tied Ryan Brnardic and Curkovic for the most. He tied for 4th in the Euros with four doubles (behind Rodolfo Veitia, David Meurant and Pavel Budsky) and tied Alexandre Nizov and Jurjan Koenen for 7th in total bases.

In the 2003 European Championship, he was 3 for 18 with a walk and 7 whiffs while starting at 1B for Croatia; he had no runs, RBI or extra-base hits this time, a far cry from 2001. He got into one game on the hill and it was a wild one (2 K, 2 HB, WP, 1 H in 1 IP) and he earned a save. Only Dave Draijer had more saves in the tournament. He struggled in the 2005 European Championship, going 0 for 15 with 3 walks at DH and giving up 4 runs (2 earned) while facing only six batters; his 54.00 ERA was double Croatia's next-worst, Marko Pavlakovic.