Joey Wagman, the Israeli National Team star right-hander who recently signed for the Aguila de Veracruz of the Mexican Baseball League (LMB), is the featured guest of the February edition of WBSC's The Global Game podcast in English.
Wagman said on the WBSC podcast that 2021 was probably "the craziest baseball season of my life, a well-travelled six months."
He spoke about his Olympic experience at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
"Falling a couple of outs short of a medal game in the Olympics left me with a bitter mouth, but what is really staying with me, it's the two weeks spent in the Village soaking with the Olympic experience."
He represented Israel against the United States in Tokyo.
"If you had asked the 18-year old me if I would pitch in the Olympics against the US, he would have answered 'wait a minute'. It is a dream come true."
The Chicago White Sox drafted Wagman out of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, after nine months, they released him. The right-hander had another opportunity with the Oakland A's, the club he grew up rooting for.
He joined the Israeli National Team for the World Baseball Classic Qualifier in 2016.
"As a younger player on that team, I tried to soak up all that knowledge. It was fantastic, eye-opening. It gave me something to get going."
Israel won the Tokyo 2020 Europe-Africa Qualifier in Italy in September 2019. The journey started much earlier.
"We started in July in Bulgaria. We almost didn't make it out of pool B. We also had to go Lithuania before getting to the European Championship and advance to the Qualifier."
His "crazy" 2021 season had the last stop at the European Championship in Italy.
"The way the Olympics ended, I thought I had to go to the European Championship. We had an 18-man team, while the others had 24 players. Our young Israeli-natives had a chance to play. We showed up to maintain our status in the European Championship."
Israel finished second in the European Championship, and Wagman was a key to the accomplishment. After pitching the opening game against Russia, he came back on a three-day rest against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinal.
"I knew three-quarters of their roster after playing for Tempo Prague in the Czech Extra Liga."
Wagman went seven innings but left with the team trailing 2-1. He gave up the go-ahead home run to young prospect Marek Chlup: "He sent my hanging slider to the moon."
He stayed in the game, playing left field: "I hadn't hit in a game or played in the outfield since high school."
Wagman tied the game on a bunt and walked it off on a single to center off right-hander Marek Minarik.
"He had been my teammate. He knew I was not a hitter. He threw me four changeups in a row, his best pitch."
He turned one into the walk-off hit.
"Joey Wagman as a hitter has since been retired," he said. "It was the most fun I had playing baseball."
The fun will continue with LMB's Aguila de Veracruz.
"For me, the most satisfaction comes from competing at a high level."
