June 20 • 2019 25
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sport climbing competitions and place third in
regionals, earning a spot in the division competition.
Nate will do some outdoor climbing for fun
before he heads to Pennsylvania and the bouldering
nationals.
He’
ll return to the Red River Gorge in Slade, Ky.,
better known in the climbing world as “The Red.
”
Nate’
s tallest climb there is 250 feet, which earned
him the nickname “Ropegun,
” climbing slang for the
best climber in the pack.
Corey Pere, a route setter at Planet Rock, is Nate’
s
private coach. Nate works with him one or two days
a week and with the Planet Rock climbing team two
or three days a week.
“I simply don’
t have the words to accurately
express how much of an impact Corey has had on
Nate’
s climbing journey,
” said Jerrold Emery.
“Nate loves climbing. It’
s a pure and remarkable
type of passion not typically seen in 10-year-olds. To
a large extent, it’
s because of coaches like Corey that
Nate loves the sport.
”
Pere works with Nate on the technical aspects of
climbing, even making sure his shoes are a perfect
fit.
“To loosely quote Corey, ‘
At Nate’
s level of climb-
ing, it’
s the tiniest details that make all the differ-
ence,
’
” Jerrold Emery said.
Becca Saag, Nate’
s coach with the Planet Rock
team and a friend and mentor, said Nate is incredi-
bly passionate about climbing “and you can see that
every time he gets on the wall.
”
“He wants to climb outside of practice and spend
as much time at the gym as he can. Honestly, it’
s
hard to keep him off the walls.
”
Nate’
s mother is Carolyn Emery. The family
attends Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
Want to learn more about Nate and his rock
climbing?
Check out his YouTube channel at youtube.
com/ropegunnate and his Instagram account
@nate.climbs. ■
Elle Hartje had a
near-perfect career
with the Detroit Country
Day School girls tennis
team. She won four
Division 3 state cham-
pionships and her team
won four state titles.
After winning the No.
1 doubles state champi-
onship twice (once with
her sister Sasha), Hartje
won at No. 3 singles as a
junior and No. 2 singles
this season. Her career
record was 97-1.
Team standings through three weeks of the B’
nai B’
rith golf
league season. Listed are points, and holes won, lost and tied.
Nine-hole matches are played weekly at the Links of Novi:
1. Gary Klinger/Dale Taub ..............................39 points (15-7-5)
2. Josh Baker/Josh Harvith ............................38 points (12-6-9)
3. Jeff Vieder/Mitch Cohen ............................38 points (13-8-6)
4. David Swimmer/Art Hurvitz .......................36 points (12-9-6)
5. Howard Genser/Lyle Schaefer ...................33 points (11-9-7)
6. Ryan Vieder/Adam Vieder ..........................32 points (13-10-4)
7. Mitch Lefton/Stu Zorn ................................29 points (12-12-3)
8. Larry Shapiro/Marc Ruskin
.........................23 points (8-14-5)
9. Mike Klinger/Kerry Chaben
.........................22 points (8-13-6)
10. Rich Luger/Richard Spalter
.......................10 points (3-20-4)
D
avid Vinsky. Professional
baseball player.
Vinsky is still rubbing
his eyes a bit to make sure it isn’
t a
dream. He is indeed a pro ball play-
er, the 15th-round selection of the
St. Louis Cardinals in this month’
s
Major League Baseball draft.
Just three years ago, coming
out of Farmington Hills Harrison
High School, Vinsky wasn’
t exactly
deluged by college offers. In fact,
he had just two of them, from
Northwood University and Saginaw
Valley State University.
But after an unbelievable career
at Northwood, he became the
Midland school’
s first MLB draft-
ee in this century. Now that he’
s
signed with the Cardinals, he’
s
joined the work world.
“This is my first job. It’
s the
first time I’
ve had to fill out a
W-4 form,” Vinsky said by phone
last week from Jupiter, Fla., the
Cardinals’
spring training base.
The 20-year-old Novi resident
was drafted June 5. He signed a
minor-league contract June 12 with
the Cardinals and he received a
$100,000 signing bonus.
After a short but busy stay in
Jupiter that included doing drills
and taking batting practice, Vinsky
will be playing this summer with
the Johnson City (Tenn.) Cardinals
in the Rookie Appalachian League.
Vinsky is an outfielder. The 6-0,
195-pounder was a rightfielder
at Northwood and he anticipates
playing either leftfield or rightfield
in the Cardinals’
organization.
“I’
m taking things one step at a
time,” he said. “My goal is to play
Single-A ball next season. If it hap-
pens more quickly than that, great.”
Vinsky wasn’
t surprised to be
drafted by the Cardinals. He was
one of about a dozen position-play-
er prospects who worked out for
Cardinals personnel at Busch
Stadium in St. Louis about a week
before the draft.
The Boston Red Sox, Toronto
Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates
also showed an interest in him.
What did stun Vinsky was where
he was picked in the draft, in the
15th round. He was the 455th over-
all selection.
“My agent told me he thought I
would be drafted in the 25th round
or later,” he said.
Vinsky’
s batting statistics at
Northwood are eye-popping. The
right-handed hitter had a .411
average with 23 home runs and
160 RBI in his Northwood career.
In just three seasons, he became
Northwood’
s career leader in runs
(189), hits (274), doubles (66), RBI
and battling average.
“David loves to hit more than
anything, and he’
s hit at every
level,” said Northwood coach Jake
Sabol. “The ball always finds the
barrel of his bat. His hitting is
what’
s gotten him this far.”
Vinsky said he’
s confident he can
continue to hit in the pros like he’
s
done his entire baseball career.
“I’
ve never struggled hitting. Of
course, now that I’
m in the pros I
need to refine my batting skills and
really focus on looking for the right
pitch to hit,” he said. “I also need
to improve defensively, including
building my arm strength.”
A lifelong Detroit Tigers fan,
Vinsky began playing travel base-
ball when he was 8 in the North
Farmington West Bloomfield
organization, and he ended his
travel career with the Novi-based
Michigan Bulls.
His parents are Stuart and C
aren.
He has twin sisters Marisa and
Erin, 24. He’
ll turn 21 on July 9.
He’
s a year away from earning a
marketing degree from Northwood
but is not sure when he’
ll complete
the work. ■
Hitting Star
David Vinsky
Drafted by St.
Louis Cardinals
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Gary Klinger and Dale Taub
Josh Baker and Josh Harvith
COURTESY OF NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY
COURTESY OF B’
NAI B’
RITH
David Vinsky had a career .411
batting average in three seasons
at Northwood University.