Baseball

Pair of NESCAC Baseball Players Sign with MLB Organizations

HADLEY, Mass. – A pair of NESCAC baseball players have signed professional contracts with Major League Baseball organizations. Amherst’s Christian Fagnant, who graduated in May, has signed a contract to play for the Washington Nationals organization while Hamilton pitcher Jack Eshleman who recently completed his junior year has signed a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent.
 
Fagant had been selected in the 39th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft but elected to attend Amherst. Fagnant has reported to the Nationals' mini-camp in West Palm Beach, part of the Florida Complex League.
 
Fagnant appeared in 27 of 36 games in his senior season for the Mammoths, starting 25 behind the plate. He batted .286 for Amherst with a .398 on-base percentage and a .495 slugging percentage thanks to four doubles and a team-high and career-high five home runs. He drove in 19 runs and scored a career-high 20 runs. 

Fagnant lost two seasons to the COVID-19 Pandemic but helped the Mammoths go 62-43-2 in 107 games over his final three seasons. 

Fagnant, whose father Ray played in the Boston Red Sox organization for three seasons, reaching the AA level, finished his Amherst career with a .276 batting average and .373 on-base percentage for 78 games, 72 of which he started. 

Eshleman, who collected All-NESCAC and ABCA and D3baseball.com All-Region honors in 2024, is the first Hamilton baseball player to sign a contract with a Major League Baseball organization. His agent is Hamilton alum John Shinn '02. Eshleman reported the Blue Jays' Single-A minor league affiliate in Dunedin, Fla.
 
In just three seasons with the Continentals, Eshleman ended up second on the program's all-time list with 162 strikeouts in 122.2 innings pitched. He won nine games and lost just four in his career and posted a team-record 2.57 earned run average (minimum 90 innings pitched).

In 2024 Eshleman was 18th in NCAA Division III with a 2.05 earned run average, 10th with a 0.91 WHIP, 26th with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.75, and 34th with 6.32 hits allowed per nine innings. His opponents hit just .199 against him with one home run, and he struck out a program-record 69 batters. Eshleman finished with 57 innings pitched, a 4-1 record, and three complete games in eight starts.