Eric Brodkowitz

From BR Bullpen

  • Bats Right, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 3", Weight 210 lb.

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Biographical Information[edit]

Eric Brodkowitz has pitched for the Israeli national team.

His father Ken had played baseball in college before an injury. [1] He was 3-3 with a 6.25 ERA as a freshman at Yale and pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings as a sophomore in 2016. In '17, he was 6-3 with a 5.58 ERA. He tied for 4th in the Ivy League in wins. As a senior, he improved to 6-2, 2.76. He tied Noah Zavolas for the most wins in the Ivy League. He was named All-Ivy League. [2] While in college, he became more active with Judaism. [3]

He joined Israel for the 2019 B-Level European Championship. He was 1-0 with a 5.59 ERA, fanning 15 in 9 1/3 IP (he got the win over Ireland) as Israel won the event. He led the team in whiffs, six ahead of Joey Wagman and in IP (2 1/3 ahead of Matt Soren). He tied Rody Castelló for 3rd in the event in innings and led in K (one ahead of Evgenii Chernozemsky). [4] Israel moved on to the 2019 European Championship Playoff and he closed out the opening win over Lithunia, retiring all nine batters (three by K) to save the win for Wagman. Only Gabe Cramer had more innings in the event with a 0.00 ERA. Israel won again for a spot in the 2019 European Championship. [5]

Brodkowitz made three appearances in the 2019 Euros. He started against Sweden and went four innings (4 H, 4 BB, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K) before Benny Wanger relieved with a 2-2 tie; Israel went on for a 4-3 win. Against the champion Dutch national team, he relieved Dean Pelman with a 12-4 deficit in the 8th. He walked Curt Smith then Jonathan Schoop hit into an error. Brodkowitz walked Ademar Rifaela and Dashenko Ricardo grounded in a run. He fanned former major leaguer Yurendell de Caster then walked Kalian Sams to re-load the bases. Dwayne Kemp grounded out to end the frame. Jake Rosenberg took over in the 9th. Finally, in the Bronze Medal Game against Spain, both teams were resting key players as they had already qualified for the 2019 Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier. He thus got a fair bit of work, relieving Alon Leichman in the 4th with a 11-8 deficit, one on and two out. He yielded a BI triple to former major leaguer Engel Beltre then retired Jhonny Bethencourt. In the 5th, he threw a scoreless frame, then allowed one in the 6th and 3 in the 7th. Rosenberg took over with a 16-11 deficit and that was the final score. The final day of action did not count for the stat leaderboard; he tied for 3rd in walks issued, behind Elvis Hammarstedt and Richard Brereton. [6]

In the Europe/Africa Olympic Qualifier, he did not make an appearance as Israel relied primarily on players with pro experience on the way to qualifying for the 2020 Olympics. Is was the first time an Israeli team had qualified for a team sport in the Olympics in decades, though many of the players were American Jews who had obtained Israeli citizenship to play for them in baseball. The Olympics were then delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [7]

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