Regardless of who stood in the batter’s box, Jewish pitcher Max Lazar’s first career strikeout would have been a big deal.
But as it was, that moment in Saturday night’s game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks was significant for connoisseurs of Jewish baseball history as well.
The batter Lazar struck out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Diamondbacks outfielder Joc Pederson, is also Jewish. So is the player who gloved the pitch, Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs.
That meant that Pederson’s at-bat became a rare trifecta in which the pitcher, catcher and batter were all Jewish. According to the Jewish Baseball Museum, Lazar’s strikeout of Pederson was only the third instance of a Jewish pitcher-catcher-batter combination in the more than 100-year history of MLB. It was also only the eighth-ever occurrence of a Jewish pitcher-catcher battery.
The last all-Jewish trifecta happened 11 years ago almost to the day, when Boston Red Sox reliever Craig Breslow — who is now the team’s chief baseball officer — struck out Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar on Aug. 15, 2013, with Ryan Lavarnway catching. The first Jewish trifecta happened 62 years earlier — and ended far more poorly for the pitcher — when Detroit Tigers pitcher Saul Rogovin gave up a home run to Philadelphia Athletics first baseman Lou Limmer, with Joe Ginsberg catching.
Stubbs and Pederson — who both played for Team Israel in the 2023 World Baseball Classic — are no strangers to Jewish baseball history. In 2021, both of them, along with Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried and Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, played in what is likely the most Jewish World Series in baseball history, judged by the number of Jewish players.
In 2022, Stubbs formed a Jewish battery with Phillies pitcher and fellow Team Israel player Bubby Rossman, the last Jewish pitcher-catcher duo prior to Stubbs and Lazar on Saturday.
And earlier this season, Stubbs participated in another moment of Jewish baseball lore, when, stepping in as a pitcher near the end of a blowout loss, he gave up a grand slam to Oakland Athletics second baseman Zack Gelof, who also played for Israel in 2023. According to the Jewish Baseball Museum, it was the first-ever grand slam hit by a Jewish batter off a Jewish pitcher.
Lazar, 25, is a Florida native who had been one of the top relief pitchers in the minor leagues this season, and who was making his MLB debut in Saturday’s game. According to Jewish Baseball News, he is the 15th Jewish player to appear in MLB this season.
Stubbs applauded Lazar’s performance, despite the Diamondbacks’ lopsided 11-1 win.
“I’m sure having Joc Pederson as your first strikeout is probably a cool one to have on the mantle,” Stubbs said after the game. He did not mention the Jewish significance of the at-bat.
