Merrillville native Jeff Samardzija is this year’s highest-paid Indiana-born major leaguer, according to published reports.  

USA Today listed the salaries for all big league players prior to opening day.  The newspaper showed a base salary of $19,800,000 for Samardzija, a right-handed starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. 

Nicknamed “The Shark,” Samardzija is a former two-sport star at Valparaiso High School and the University of Notre Dame.  He gave up a potential career as a wide receiver in football to play professional baseball.  

Now in his eleventh big-league campaign, the 33-year-old Samardzija was a fifth-round draft pick by the Cubs in 2006.  He reached the majors with Chicago in 2008 and has played for the Oakland Athletics (2014), Chicago White Sox (2015) and San Francisco (2016-present).  

Samardzija opened this season on the disabled list with a pectoral injury.  He has 68 wins, 87 losses and a 4.10 earned run average heading into this year.  An All-Star in 2014 with the A’s, Samardzija has logged 200-plus innings in each of the past five seasons.  

Salaries for all 13 Indiana-born big leaguers on opening-day rosters for 2018: 

Jeff Samardzija (Merrillville), RHP, San Francisco Giants               $19,800,000

Lance Lynn (Indianapolis), RHP, Minnesota Twins                         $12,000,000 

Tommy Hunter (Indianapolis), RHP, Philadelphia Phillies               $9,000,000

Kevin Kiermaier (Fort Wayne), OF, Tampa Bay Rays                      $6,083,333        

Tucker Barnhart (Indianapolis), C, Cincinnati Reds                         $4,437,500

Kyle Gibson (Greenfield), RHP. Minnesota Twins                           $4,200,000

Clayton Richard (Lafayette), LHP, San Diego Padres                       $3,000,000

Drew Butera (Evansville), C, Kansas City Royals                             $2,300,000

Josh Phegley (Terre Haute), C, Oakland Athletics                            $905,000

Jerad Eickhoff (Evansville), RHP, Philadelphia Phillies                   $568,000                    

Alex Meyer (Greensburg), RHP, Los Angeles Angels                      $551,500              

Sean Manaea (Valparaiso), LHP, Oakland Athletics                         $550,000

Dillon Peters (Indianapolis), LHP, Miami Marlins                            $545,000

Pete Cava is the author of “Tales From the Cubs Dugout” and “Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players:  A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014.”