HAVERFORD, Pa. – Tommy Bergjans '15, a three-time All-American and Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year, is headed to the Philadelphia Phillies organization after being traded by the Dodgers as part of the Carlos Ruiz trade. The trade also included Dodgers' catcher A.J. Ellis in the trade package.
Bergjans became the third Haverford player in program history to be selected in the Major League Baseball (MLB) amateur draft following his standout career with the Fords that was capped in 2015. The Dodgers used their eighth round pick (252nd overall) to nab the Haverford right-hander. Since that time, Haverford's Stephen Ridings '17 was picked by the Chicago Cubs in the eighth round of this past summer's MLB draft to become the fourth Haverford player drafted.
At the time of the trade, Bergjans was playing in the California League for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. The Quakes are the Class A – Advanced affiliate of the Dodgers. The Haverford graduate had won three games as a starter with the club and had struck out 133 batters in his 130 innings of work on the year. Bergjans began making his rise up the minor league ranks after starting his career in 2015 with the Ogden Raptors of the Rookie League where he was 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. He was then promoted to the Great Lake Loons and notched another win to go along with a 3.60 ERA as he struck out 37 batters in 40 innings before being assigned with Rancho Cucamonga prior to the start of the 2016 season.
Bergjans capped his decorated Haverford career with a standout senior season that saw him post a 5-3 record, 1.07 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 67.1 innings. The Manhattan Beach, Calif. native was the NCAA Division III leader in strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings (14.48), second in ERA, 10th in strikeout to walk ratio (7.93) and 14th in WHIP (.92). He became the first player in program history to strike out over 100 batters in a season and is the Centennial Conference's all-time leader in strikeouts. The Fords' pitcher posted eight 10-plus strikeout outings in 2015 and finished his career with 18 total.
In 2014, Bergjans sported a 9-2 record, a 1.08 ERA, 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a 0.88 WHIP. The right-hander ranked among the Division III national leaders in hits allowed per nine innings (second, 4.58), strikeouts (third, 96), strikeouts per nine innings (seventh), ERA (ninth), victories (10th) and WHIP (14th). He was named a first-team All-America member by D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and became the eighth player in conference history to earn back-to-back pitcher of the year awards. During the summer after his junior year, Bergjans pitched in the Cape Cod League, the most prestigious amateur baseball league in the country, for the Orleans Firebirds.
As a sophomore, Bergjans was a second-team D3baseball.com All-America member while also making the website's All-Mid-Atlantic Region first team and ABCA All-Region second team. He was named to the all-conference first team and the Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year, a first for a Haverford pitcher. During his freshman season, he was awarded an All-Centennial Conference second team accolade after going 6-4 with a 2.72 ERA and 78 strikeouts. His strikeouts (third) and ERA (fourth) placed in him in the top five among conference foes.
The pitcher graduated as the program's all-time leader in ERA (1.69), lowest opponent's batting average (.195), most strikeouts per nine (11.91), wins (27), innings pitched (282.2), strikeouts (374). He also led Haverford to the Centennial Conference Championship in 2012 and 2014 including victories in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional. Bergjans was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American third team and 2013 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area team. He capped off his career at Haverford College with receiving the Varsity Cup which is awarded to the most outstanding athlete of the senior class. Ruiz caught the fourth-most games in Phillies history (1,029) and is one of just two catchers in MLB to have caught four separate no-hitters.
Ruiz played a key role in five National League East division championships (2007-11), two National League pennants (2008-09), and one World Series Championship (2008) with the Phillies. In his 11 career World Series games, Ruiz recorded a .353 batting average with a .488 OBP, 1.194 OPS, four doubles, one triple, two home runs, five RBI and six runs. His most memorable hits of those postseasons were a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 3 of the 2008 World Series along with a three-run home run off Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the 2009 NLCS.
Bergjans is expected to be assigned to the Clearwater Threshers, the Phillies' Class A – Advanced affiliate. The Threshers play in the Florida State League and are currently two games behind the Dunedin Blue Jays (Toronto Blue Jays affiliate) with 10 games remaining in the regular season.