Former Virginia baseball standout Derek Fisher was promoted Wednesday by the Houston Astros and is making his Major League Baseball debut this evening against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Wearing uniform No. 21, Fisher is playing left field and batting eighth. Game time is 8:10 p.m. ET/7:10 CT.
A native of Lebanon, Pa., Fisher is the 38th Virginia baseball player to reach the Major League Baseball level and the 15th Cavalier to make the big leagues after working with the current coaching staff (since 2004). He is the first player from UVA’s 2014 College World Series team to reach the big leagues.
Counting Fisher, Virginia currently eight nine former players at the Major League level. Eleven former Cavaliers have spent time on Major League rosters this season: Kyle Crockett (Cleveland), Sean Doolittle (Oakland), Fisher, Phil Gosselin (Pittsburgh), Brandon Guyer (Cleveland), John Hicks (Detroit), Jarrett Parker (San Francisco), Mark Reynolds (Colorado), Chris Taylor (L.A. Dodgers), Tyler Wilson (Baltimore) and Ryan Zimmerman (Washington).
Fisher was tearing up opposing pitching at the triple-A level for the Fresno Grizzlies this season, batting .335 with 16 home runs and 45 RBI in 60 games. He currently leads the Pacific Coast League in total bases (149) and ranks third in homers and stolen bases (13), fifth in RBI and hits (82) and sixth in runs (42).
He has played 354 career minor league games, with 61 homers and 226 RBI while batting .283. He was a Texas League All-Star last year with double-A Corpus Christi and was tabbed an MiLB.com Astros Organization All-Star in 2015.
Fisher was a first-round draft pick of the Astros in 2014, taken with the 37th overall pick as part of the Competitive Balance Round A.
Fisher played in 155 games over three seasons at Virginia, where he played on three NCAA tournament teams, including UVA’s 2014 squad that reached the CWS Finals. He batted .281 in his career at Virginia with 169 hits, including 16 home runs, and drove in 127 runs. He recorded 12 career triples, which ranks third in program history. Fisher racked up 12 RBI during the 2014 NCAA Tournament, most of any player in the field.
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Chris Graham
