Jacob Steinmetz, a 17-year-old from the Woodmere, New York made history today as the first Orthodox Jew ever drafted to Major League Baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Steinmetz with the 77th overall pick in the 2021 first-year player draft. At 6-foot-6 and 224 pounds, this Orthodox Jewish pitcher wraps tefillin with one arm and throws a 97 miles per hour fast ball with the other
Having just graduated from Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR), Steinmetz is set to play at Fordham in the fall. Steinmetz prays daily, keeps strictly kosher, and when his games fall on Shabbos, he stays in a hotel which is in walking distance to the field.
“It’s never been frustrating to me,” Steinmetz told the NYPost. “It’s just something I’ve always done. It makes me who I am.”
“It’s definitely made [my life] different, but in a good way.”
To read more about this amazing athlete click here.
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I don’t this this kid is the first Orthodox Jew in the big leagues…
https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/where-have-you-gone-sandy-koufax/amp/
Sandy wasn’t orthodox
Sandy Koufax respected his religion enough not to pitch the first game of the 1965 World Series, but was not Orthodox.