By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana Correspondent

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Jeremy Hazelbaker joined the ranks of Indiana natives in Major League Baseball on Sunday, April 3, making his debut with St. Louis in an Opening Day 4-1 road loss to Pittsburgh. 

Hazelbaker led off the top of the seventh, pinch-hitting for Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright.   The 28-year-old Muncie native struck out against Pirates reliever Tony Watson. 

Hazelbaker exelled in baseball and basketball at Wapahani High School in Selma, Ind.  He also played summer ball for Muncie’s American Legion Post 19.  As a sophomore in 2004, he helped Wapahani to the IHSAA 2A championship game at Victory Field in Indianapolis, where the Raiders dropped a 2-0 decision to Hammond Bishop Noll.     

After hitting .506 as a senior in 2006, Hazelbaker went to Ball State on an athletic scholarship.  A third baseman as a prep, he spent two years as Ball State’s starting second baseman.  The left-handed hitter shifted to center field as a junior and batted .429 from the leadoff position to earn 2009 first-team Mid-American Conference honors.  

The Red Sox made Hazelbaker their fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft.  He showed promise at Greenville, S.C. (Class A South Atlantic), in 2010, when he stole 63 bases.  After languishing in the Boston system for five seasons, the Dodgers acquired him in October 2013.    

Hazelbaker split the 2014 campaign between Chattanooga, Tenn. (AA Southern), and Albuquerque, N.M. (AAA Pacific Coast).  After 14 games and a .245 average at Tulsa, Okla. (AA Texas), the Dodgers released him last May.  He signed with St. Louis, batting .308 in 40 contests at Springfield , Mo. (AA Texas), and .333 in 58 contests for Memphis, Tenn. (AAA Pacific Coast). 

A free agent after the season, Hazelbaker re-signed with St. Louis in January.  One of two non-roster outfielders invited to the Cards’ Spring Training camp, he wound up on 25-man roster when shortstop Ruben Tejada went on the disabled list. 

Hazelbaker grew up rooting for the Chicago Cubs.  “That’s the team my family lived and died with,” he said. 

He credits his Wapahani High School coach for his success.  “We had a real small school,” Hazelbaker explained, “but the thing about us was that we always worked as hard, or harder, than any other team.  

“Brian Dudley, our coach, who’s still there now, did a great job of putting a team together that really knew how to win and knew how to play.  We weren’t always the most talented, but we definitely worked the hardest.”  

Hazelbaker is the first Indiana-born player to debut in the Major Leagues this season.  A total of 370 Hoosier natives have played big-league baseball.   

Pete Cava is the author of Indiana-Born Major League Baseball Players: A Biographical Dictionary, 1871-2014, now available from McFarland Publishers.