Hans Michael Crouse (born September 15, 1998) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He made his MLB debut in 2021.

Amateur career

Crouse attended

Dana Hills High School Dana Hills High School is a high school in Dana Point, California opened in 1973. The school's enrollment of nearly 3,000 students is drawn from the nearby communities of Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, Capistrano Beach, and San Juan Capistrano. When ...

in Dana Point, California. As a senior, he

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...

99 batters in innings, posting a 7–3

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of matc ...

with a 0.88

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). He helped lead Dana Hills to the finals of the National High School Invitational and was named the '' Orange County Registers high school pitcher of the year. He committed to the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

. Crouse was considered one of the top prep prospects for the

2017 MLB Draft The 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on J ...

Professional career

Texas Rangers

Crouse was selected in the second round, 66th overall, by the Texas Rangers. He signed with the Rangers for a $1.45 million bonus and was then assigned to the

AZL Rangers The Arizona Complex League Rangers are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Texas Rangers, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona. The team is compose ...

of the Rookie-level

Arizona League The Arizona Complex League (ACL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona, since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League (AZL). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it ...

, where he spent all of his first professional season, posting a 0.45 ERA with thirty strikeouts in twenty innings pitched along with an 0.70 WHIP. In 2018, he split time between the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

of the

Class A Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cre ...

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

and the

Hickory Crawdads The Hickory Crawdads are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League (SAL) and the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Hickory, North Carolina, and play their home games at L. P. Frans Stadium, which opened i ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

, compiling a combined 5–3 record and 2.47 ERA in 13 total starts between both teams. Crouse was ranked as the #73 overall prospect in baseball by Baseball America in their preseason 2019 Top 100 list. Crouse was also ranked as the #85 overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline in their preseason 2019 Top 100 list. Crouse was ranked as the #95 overall prospect in baseball by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's Keith Law in his preseason 2019 Top 100 list. Crouse was assigned back to Hickory for the 2019 season. Crouse produced a 6–1 record with a 4.41 ERA in innings in 2019. He was hampered by

bone spurs An exostosis, also known as bone spur, is the formation of new bone on the surface of a bone. Exostoses can cause chronic pain ranging from mild to debilitatingly severe, depending on the shape, size, and location of the lesion. It is most commonl ...

in his right elbow throughout the season, which forced him to miss almost a month of action and required surgery following the season to remove. Crouse did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Crouse opened the 2021 season with the

Frisco RoughRiders The Frisco RoughRiders (often shortened to 'Riders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Frisco, Texas, and are named for the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regime ...

of the

Double-A Central The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, going 3–2 with a 3.35 ERA and 54 strikeouts over 51 innings.

Philadelphia Phillies

On July 30, 2021, Crouse,

Kyle Gibson Kyle Benjamin Gibson (born October 23, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillie ...

, and

Ian Kennedy Ian Patrick Kennedy (born December 19, 1984) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, ...

were traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Spencer Howard, Kevin Gowdy, and

Josh Gessner Below are select minor league players and the rosters of the minor league affiliates of the Texas Rangers: Players Dane Acker Dane Harrison Acker (born April 1, 1999) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Texas Rangers organizatio ...

. He split the remainder of the minor league season between the

Reading Fightin Phils The Reading Fightin Phils (also called the Reading Fightins) are a Minor League Baseball team based in Reading, Pennsylvania, playing in the Northeast Division of the Eastern League. The team plays their home games at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Re ...

and the

Lehigh Valley IronPigs The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and are named in reference to pig iron, used in the ...

. On September 26, 2021, Crouse's contract was selected to the active roster to make his MLB debut that day versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was outrighted off the 40-man roster on November 9, 2022.

Personal life

Crouse has over twenty tattoos and designs them all himself.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crouse, Hans 1998 births Living people People from Dana Point, California Sportspeople from Orange County, California Baseball players from California Major League Baseball pitchers Philadelphia Phillies players Arizona League Rangers players Spokane Indians players Hickory Crawdads players Frisco RoughRiders players Reading Fightin Phils players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players