EXL: Tempo brings two foreign players
Only two foreign players, who will play in Extraliga for Tempo Praha, are left to be introduced on our page. Beside Jake Rabinowitz, we will see Phillip Steering and Joseph Samuel Wagman.
Phillip Steering showed a convincing performance in 2019 season in Bundesliga, where he played for Hamburg Stealers. He earned .357/.424/.643 in the regular season, with 40 hits (12 doubles), which topped the league stats. He also earned Player of the Week award in the first week of the league.
Before Bundesliga, Steering played college baseball in USA, where he has several achievements. He was in All Pacific-West Conference selection two times as the first baseman. He also earned univeristy record at University of Hawaii at Hilo in HR, OBP and SLG in a single season. Steering holds university record in hits, runs, RBI, doubles and homeruns. He should play as a catcher in Extraliga, but he can also help out on the first base, or in the outfield.
Joey Wagman should bolster Tempo’s pitching squad. Wagman was drafted in 17th round by Chicago White Sox in 2013. He spent five seasons in MiLB, where he played for minor teams of White Sox and Oakland Athletics. Wagman got as far as Double-A, where he had 4.43 ERA in 124 games. Years 2018 and 2019 saw him move to independant leagues in USA. He was also part of Isreal National team in 2019, and helped his team to qualify for Olympic Games in Tokio. At European Championship Wagman threw 10.2 IP with 7H and 0R. He also threw 4.2 IP against Czech National team, where Czechs only scored once against him, after an error in the Israeli defense.
During the Olympic Games qualification he started games against Spain and South Africa. In the first case, he earned a complete game shutout. In the second, Wagman allowed only one run. We are not sure what the deal between the player and Tempo is, but it is possible, that Wagman will miss Extraliga games between mid July and mid August, as he is likely to join his national team at the Olympics.
