Garrett Wittels

Garrett Nicholas Wittels (born May 11, 1990) is an American former professional baseball infielder who played in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

Wittels played college baseball for the Florida International University Golden Panthers in Miami, Florida. He finished the 2010 season with a 56-game hitting streak, two hits shy of the Division I record. He also set the FIU season record for hits. He was nominated for the Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award for his 2010 performance, won Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year honors, and was named a NCBWA and Louisville Slugger/TPX Preseason All-American prior to the 2011 season.

He played minor league baseball in 2011 and 2012, with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League being the highest-level team he played for.

Personal life His parents are Lishka Wittels (a member of the Jewish-Cuban community, and a descendant of Turkish Jews) and Michael Wittels, an orthopedic surgeon, and he has three siblings. He is from Bay Harbor Islands, Florida and is Jewish. When he was eight years old, his father put a batting cage in their home's backyard. He attended Jewish day school until middle school. There, he was Miami Herald Third Team All-Miami Dade in 2006 and 2007, and Second Team All-Miami Dade in 2008. He finished two hits shy of Robin Ventura's 58-game streak in 1987 (then, as a sophomore with Oklahoma State University), the Division I record.

Wittels was nominated for the Best Male College Athlete ESPY Award for his 2010 performance, won Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year honors, was named to the All-Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament Team, and led FIU to a Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament championship. Sports Illustrated writer Joe Lemire called him: "Arguably the most famous player in Div. 1 baseball". He wore number 10. The streak ended when Wittels went 0 for 4 in the 2011 season opener. In 2011, Wittels batted .345.

He finished his FIU career hitting .352 with 7 home runs and 116 RBIs over the course of three seasons.

False rape accusation On December 27, 2010, Wittels and two friends were falsely accused of raping a 17-year-old girl at the Nassau, Bahamas' Atlantis Resort and Casino. Florida International University said in February 2011 that it would not suspend him on the basis of the pending rape charge.

The charges were dropped by the Bahamian attorney general on June 20, 2011, after evidence pointed to an elaborate plot by the father of one of the girls to extort money from the Atlantis. The Huffington Post reported that security camera footage did not support the women's version of events.

In 2012, Wittels played for the Batavia Muckdogs (NYPL; Low-A, Quad Cities River Bandits (Midwest League; Single-A), Springfield Cardinals (Texas League; Double-A), and Memphis Redbirds (Pacific Coast League; Triple-A), batting a combined .243. The Cardinals released him on October 9, 2012, but re-signed him the following February.