June 20 • 2019 25
jn

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.

