Oakland Athletic 2B Joey Wendle made his major league debut today against the Houston Astros.  A standout for the 2010 Sanford Mainers, Wendle is the 129th graduate of the NECBL to reach the Big Leagues and the ninth to debut this season.  He is the 52nd New England League alumnus to play in the Majors in 2016.

West Chester’s Wendle was a first team All-NECBL pick in 2010, when he ranked second in the league with 51 hits.  He hit .311 with eight extra base hits and 11 steals; Wendle also fielded at a .974 clip for the Mainers.

He was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the sixth round of the 2012 draft after one of the most individual impressive seasons in college baseball memory.  As a senior, Wendle won the Triple Crown of a national championship, a baseball first team All-American selection and an Academic first team All-American selection.  Wendle was a first team All-American for hitting .399 with 12 homers and 59 RBI.  He led cold weather West Chester to the Division II College World Series championship.  Finally, Wendle earned First Team Academic All-American honors thanks to his 3.6 GPA.

Interestingly, Wendle was coached by Mitch Heckert at West Chester.  Heckert started the 2005 NECBL All-Star game as a Manchester Silkworm (now Winnipesaukee Muskrats).

Wendle was a New York-Penn and Carolina League All-Star in his first two professional seasons.  He reached Double-A with Cleveland before being traded to Oakland in the 2014 offseason for Brandon Moss.

Wendle was hitting .279 and slugging .452 for Triple-A Nashville at the time of his call-up.

The NECBL congratulates Joey for his outstanding accomplishment.