Jason Kanzler Unlikely Hero as Fort Myers Takes Florida State League Crown

Apr 23, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Practice baseballs rest on the grass prior to a game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

He was the nine hitter and 0-4, a 20th round draft pick, old for his league with a mustache not seen in professional baseball since Rollie Fingers  retired in 1985, and on Monday night, Jason Kanzler became Fort Myers’ unlikely hero. With one out and Adam Brett Walker on second in the 11th inning of the Florida State League finale, the 24 year old Brooklynite lofted a fly ball out of the reach of Daytona Cubs’ center-fielder Jacob Hannemann , out of the reach of anyone – a home run to break a five inning tie and give the Miracle a 4-2 midnight hour lead. All it took was one scoreless inning from closer Zach Jones and at approximately 10:35 PM EST, Fort Myers had the FSL crown, their first in 29 seasons.

Pitching in to bring Kanzler to that pivotal moment was D.J. Baxendale, who salvaged a mediocre season with a strong-playoff performance: 5 2/3 innings, two unearned runs, seven strikeouts. A bullpen of Jones,  Brandon Peterson, Nick Biurdi, and D.J. Johnson followed with 5 1/3 shutout frames. For Daytona, 24 year old Jose Rosario threw four hitless innings to keep the score tied after starter Rob Zastryzny made an early exist.

The game-winning home run was more than just an apparition. Kanzler quietly had a break-out season in 2014, hitting .282/.344/.444 over 111 games between Fort Myers and Class-A Cedar Rapids. Nor is it his first bout of playoff heroics. He opened the post-season last Tuesday by homering and driving in six runs as Fort Myers topped Bradenton 8-7.

In addition, to Kanzler’s late game efforts, the Fort Myers offense was also paced by Tyler Grimes, who doubled in a run in the fourth, and Aderlin Mejia, who reached base four times from the leadoff spot.

Bill James hypothesized that one could determine the playing level of a league, be it professional, semi-pro, college, or even high school, by looking at fielding percentage. The higher percentage, the better the league.  Well the Advanced-A FSL is still a few rungs below the majors and Dan Vogelbach scored both of Daytona’s runs on Fort Myers errors. The game was not pretty by championship standards, with two errant throws, two miffed ground balls, one missed catch and a combined five errors between the two clubs.

After sweeping Bradenton in the FSL semi-finals, Fort Myers took an early 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 championship series off of painless 5-0 and 5-1 victories on Thursday and Friday. An 8-7 win on Saturday and a rain-out Sunday kept Daytona alive before their season came to a close sunday night.

Although both Forty Myers and Daytona were light on prospects, this series served as something of a small-scale clash of player-development juggernauts. The Twins, the parent club of the Miracle, were listed by Keith Law as fielding the second best farm system in all of baseball. The Cubs ranked first.

Chicago has already started graduating some of its top prospects in Javier Baez and Jorge Soler. Minnesota’s Byron Buxton and Alex Meyer should not be far behind. May this series have been a Florida preview of a looming midwest rivalry? If so, score one for Minnesota, Fort Myers, and Jason Kanzler.