Judson Edward Fabian (born September 27, 2000) 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 ...
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...
in the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
organization.
Amateur career
Fabian attended
Trinity Catholic High School in
Ocala, Florida, where he played
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
. In 2018, his junior year, he batted .453 with 11 home runs. He played in the
Under Armour All-America Baseball Game
The Under Armour High School All-America Baseball Game is a high school baseball all-star game held annually to spotlight the United States' top high school players who are juniors or seniors. The game is played in late July or August, at Wrigley ...
at
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago ...
that summer. He graduated from high school early, and enrolled at the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
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 ...
in January 2019.
In 2019, Fabian's freshman year at Florida, he played in 56 games (making 54 starts) in which he batted .232 with seven home runs, 26 RBIs, and seven stolen bases. That summer, he played in the
Cape Cod Baseball League with the
Bourne Braves
The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the ca ...
, and was the youngest ever selection to Cape Cod League All-Star Team. As a sophomore in 2020, Fabian batted .294 with five home runs and 13 RBIs over 17 games before the season was cut short due to 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 ...
. He played in the
Florida Collegiate Summer League
The Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) is a six-team wood bat collegiate summer baseball league located in the Central Florida region of the southeastern United States. The league was founded in the fall of 2003 and began play in the summe ...
that summer, batting .304 with two home runs and 11 RBIs alongside a .971 fielding percentage over 19 games.
In 2021, as a redshirt sophomore (given a redshirt due to the cancellation of the 2020 season), Fabian began the season struggling with high
strikeout rates. Throughout the course of the year, he decreased his strikeout numbers (going from a 37.4% strikeout rate in April to 29% at the end of the season) and also began hitting for power, and was named to the All-
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
First Team. He finished the season batting .249 with twenty home runs and 46 RBIs over 59 starts in center field. He became the fifth player in Gator baseball history to reach twenty home runs in a single season. After the season, Fabian was selected by the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
in the second round with the 40th overall selection of the
2021 Major League Baseball draft.
On August 1, after failing to agree with the club on a
signing bonus, Fabian announced that he would return to Florida for his redshirt junior season. For the 2022 season, Fabian appeared in 66 games and
slashed .239/.414/.598 with 24 home runs and 55 RBIs, striking out 22.2% of the time while walking 20%.
Professional career
The
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
selected Fabian 67th overall in the
2022 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the team for $1 million.
Fabian made his professional debut with the
Rookie-level Florida Complex League Orioles and was later promoted to the
Delmarva Shorebirds
The Delmarva Shorebirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Salisbury, Maryland. They are members of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Their home games are played at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. The Shor ...
of the
Single-A
Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A, Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classified at the Single-A level, one for each ...
Carolina League
The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...
. In late August, he earned another promoted to the
Aberdeen Ironbirds
The Aberdeen IronBirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in the city of Aberdeen in Harford County, Maryland. They are the High-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles and compete in the South Atlantic League. They were previously members of the ...
of the
High-A
High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...
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 ...
. Over 22 games between both teams, he batted .333 with three home runs, 16 RBIs, and nine doubles.
References
External links
Florida Gators bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabian, Jud
2000 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Ocala, Florida
Baseball players from Florida
Baseball outfielders
Florida Gators baseball players
Bourne Braves players
Florida Complex League Orioles players
Delmarva Shorebirds players