Alex Fink signs pro contract to play for Lake Erie Crushers
Alex Fink, a star player for the Springfield Tigers high school and town team baseball, and currently teaching at Springfield High School, has signed a contract to continue his baseball career at the professional level.
Fink has signed a contract with the Lake Erie Crushers out of Avon, Ohio, of the Frontier League. He is the third Springfield High School graduate to join the professional ranks in sports, joining 2010 Springfield graduate Jordan Milbrath, who is in the Cleveland Indians’ organization, and 2011 graduate Tyler Marz, who is on the Tennessee Titans’ practice squad after signing as an undrafted free agent. “It’s exciting,” Fink said last week, because the three of them used to participate in sports together.
Fink went undrafted in the Major League Baseball draft this past season after finishing his career at Augustana College as the school’s all-time leader in hits. Fink had a great career at Augustana, setting numerous single-season and career records. Fink finished his career as Augustana’s all-time leader in hits with 285 while also setting program records in career doubles with 66 and career RBIs with 214. He tied for the fourth most home runs in a career with 28 while finishing third in school history with 180 runs scored. During his career Fink was named to the Academic All-NSIC team three times, two time All-NSIC member and and a two time NSIC All-Tournament team member.
“To see Alex come from a small town, achieve what he did in our program and now sign a professional contract is a credit to him,” said Augustana head coach Tim Huber. “He always had hitting ability but when he got to college he had some changes to make to reach the level he did. He put a lot of time into his swing and it paid off during his time at Augie and I think now will carry over into pro baseball.”
“I’m proud of Alex for sticking with it,” said Huber. “He definitely has the ability to be a professional hitter but it is tough to catch on with a team sometimes. He did some tryouts this summer but nothing opened up for him. It is great he is getting this opportunity. His baseball knowledge is right at the top of the guys I have coached. Lake Erie is lucky to have him.”