Robert Eric Widlansky (born November 6, 1984) is a former professional

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 tea ...

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 cat ...

who played internationally for the

Israel national baseball team The Israel national baseball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בבייסבול) represents Israel in international competitions. It is managed by Israeli-American former Major League Baseball World Series champion, World Baseball Classic champion, ...

. In college, he won the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

batting title his senior season, with a

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

(FAU) school-record .430 average. Widlansky was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year, and an

NCAA All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

. Widlansky was drafted by 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) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the 11th round of the 2007 MLB first-year player draft. With 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 th ...

of the

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

, he broke the team record for most RBIs in a single month in July 2008, and was chosen to play in the 2008 New York–Penn League All-Star Game. In 2009 at Class A Advanced

Frederick Keys The Frederick Keys are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. The Keys are based in Frederick, Maryland. The franchise is named for "Star-Spangled Banner" writer Francis Scott Key, a native of Frederick County. A new team masco ...

he was named the

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 ...

's Offensive Player of the Week three times, and the Player of the Month for August. Widlansky won the Carolina League batting title with a .340 batting average, and was named the Orioles' 27th-top prospect. In 2010–11, he played in the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

for the

Perth Heat The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the Australian Baseball League. It is now the most successful team in ABL, winning 15 Claxton Shields. Australian Baseball League (1989–19 ...

. In June 2012, he was voted Topps Eastern League Player of the Month while playing for the

Bowie Baysox The Bowie Baysox are a Minor League Baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and play in the Eastern League. Their home ballpark is Prince George's Stadium. History From 1989 to 1992, ...

, in July he was an Eastern League Mid-Season All Star, and later that year he was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star. In September 2012, Widlansky played on Team Israel in the qualifying round to the

World Baseball Classic The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...

. Widlansky has played Triple A ball for the Orioles and the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

. Through 2013, in his minor league career he had a .283 batting average with 271 runs, 141 doubles, 46 home runs, and 334 RBIs in 615 games. Widlansky served as an Assistant Baseball Coach at Florida Atlantic University for the 2014 – June 2015 season.

Personal life

Widlansky is the son of Richard and Brina Widlansky, and was born in

Plantation, Florida Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 91,750. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the Eve ...

. He has two brothers, Josh and Ari.

Baseball career

High school

Widlansky played high school baseball at

J. P. Taravella High School J. P. Taravella High School is a secondary school located in Coral Springs, Florida which teaches grades 9–12. The school is a part of the Broward County Public Schools district. The school was named after Joseph Phillip Taravella (1919–1978), ...

Coral Springs, Florida Coral Springs, officially the City of Coral Springs, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located approximately northwest of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. C ...

. He was honored both his junior and senior seasons as the "

Broward County Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 ...

Coaches 6A Player of the Year." He also was named All-County (Broward) and All-State (Florida) twice in his high school career. He set school records for doubles in a season, career doubles, and career batting average. After graduating, he was drafted by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

in the 2003 MLB First-Year Player Draft (34th round), but declined as he instead chose to attend

College

At FAU, Widlansky saw playing time immediately as a freshman at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, and ended up playing in 48 games for the season. Highlights of his collegiate career include: an

Atlantic Sun Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisi ...

Championship his freshman year, started all 60 of FAU's games his sophomore year, a

batting title In baseball, batting average (AVG) is a measure of a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat. In Major League Baseball (MLB), it is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats (AB). In MLB, a player in each league win ...

his senior season (.430 average; breaking the school's season record), and Sun Belt Player of the Year,

honors, and First-Team All-Conference honors his senior season. In 2005, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

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 c ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. He switched from third base to the outfield in 2007. In 2007, he also hit 15 home runs and had 69 RBIs. In his four seasons at FAU (2004–07), he batted .351 in 172 games with 27 home runs and 134 RBIs.

Minor leagues and Australian Baseball League

Widlansky was drafted in the 11th round (339 overall) in the 2007 MLB draft by the Baltimore Orioles. He was assigned to the

of the

as a left fielder. While playing for the Ironbirds, Widlansky broke the team record for most RBIs in a single month in July 2008. Widlansky was chosen by fans to be on the American League roster of the 2008 New York–Penn League All-Star Game. On August 20, 2008, he was promoted to Class-A

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 Shore ...

, for whom he played 12 games. On May 19, 2009, he was promoted to the Class A Advanced

. Widlanksy averaged .431 in the first half of the season and was named the

's Offensive Player of the Week three times, as well as the Player of the Month for August. Manager

Richie Hebner Richard Joseph Hebner (born November 26, 1947) is an Americans, American former professional baseball player and Coach (baseball), coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from through , most prominently as a member of the Pi ...

said: "Everything he hits is right on the button. Even his outs are hit hard." Widlansky finished with a .340 batting average to win the Carolina League batting title. He was named the 27th-top prospect for the Baltimore Orioles. In 2010, Widlansky was promoted to the Class AA

. He did not play a complete season due to a fractured left ankle. During the winter of 2010–11, Widlansky traveled to

Perth, Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to compete in the

(ABL). He had a productive season playing for the

. He averaged .325 with 4 home runs, 30 runs, and 22 runs batted in and helped the Heat to win their first ABL Championship. He came back to the United States and played half a season for the

. In 2012, he again played for the Bowie Baysox. On June 30, 2012, he was voted Topps Eastern League Player of the Month, and in July he was an Eastern League Mid-Season All Star. During the All Star break, Widlansky was promoted to the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL ...

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

. In 2012 with the Bowie Baysox, he batted .316 (second among all Orioles minor leaguers, and third in the Eastern League)/.404/.446 with 83 RBIs (leading all Orioles minor leaguers), 8 home runs, 71 runs, and 11 stolen bases. He was also among the league leaders in the Eastern League in doubles (35, 2nd), on-base percentage (.404, 2nd), walks (64, 4th) and hits (148, 5th). He helped the team reach the playoffs with the best hitting of his career. In December 2012, he was named an MiLB.com Organization All-Star. He was also named ''The Jewish Baseball News'' Most Valuable Player among Jewish minor leaguers for 2012. That month, Widlansky was drafted by the Angels in the AAA Phase of the Rule 5 draft, after six seasons in the Baltimore Orioles organization.Mike Ashmore (March 12, 2014)
"Somerset Patriots add Robbie Widlansky, Cory Harrilchak"
''Courier News''. Retrieved March 19, 2014. In 2013, he played for Triple A Salt Lake and hit .367 in 16 games, and in Double-A he batted .261 with 8 home runs and 46 RBIs in 88 games. In 2014, he was signed by the

Somerset Patriots The Somerset Patriots are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, that is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They compete in the Eastern League, known as the Double-A Northeast in 2021, and ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

. Somerset manager Brett Jodie said: "Robbie does a lot of things well. He is that hard nose type of player that you need on your team. He has some power, he is a tough out, he can run a little and play a few different positions." He was released in June 2014 after hitting .214 in 33 games played.

World Baseball Classic

In September 2012, Widlansky played on Team Israel in the qualifying round to the

. Widlansky did not appear in the first, or second games of the tournament. During the third and final game of the qualifier, Widlansky entered the game as a pinch hitter for

Cody Decker Cody Marshall Decker (born January 17, 1987) is an American former professional baseball player who played for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). A right-handed power hitter, he played first base, third base, left field, and coul ...

and was intentionally walked, and stayed in the game in left field, and again walked during his second at bat.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widlansky, Robbie 1984 births Living people Aberdeen IronBirds players Arkansas Travelers players Bowie Baysox players Delmarva Shorebirds players Florida Atlantic Owls baseball players Bourne Braves players Frederick Keys players Jewish American baseball coaches Jewish American baseball players Norfolk Tides players Salt Lake Bees players Somerset Patriots players All-American college baseball players Perth Heat players Toros del Este players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic American expatriate baseball players in Australia 21st-century American Jews