Zach Penprase

Zachary William Penprase (; born February 16, 1985) is an American-Israeli former professional baseball infielder. He played for Israel's national team in several international tournaments and played in American minor and independent leagues for 11 seasons, primarily with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

Amateur career Penprase attended Moorpark High School in Moorpark, California.

He then played college baseball for the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. In both 2005 and 2006 Penprase was Southwestern Athletic Conference All-Conference infielder. In 2006, he led the country in stolen bases, with 60, as he played shortstop. He was named a Jewish Sports Review All Star. He holds school records with 9 triples in a season (2005), 56 stolen bases in a season (2006), and 103 career stolen bases.

In 2010, he finished his degree at Mississippi Valley State.

Professional career Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies selected Penprase in the 13th round of the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. That summer, he played second base and shortstop for the Batavia Muckdogs of the Class A Short Season New York-Pennsylvania League (NYPL), where he was a mid-season All Star, batting .211/.282/.247 with 19 stolen bases. In 2007, he played for the Williamsport Crosscutters of the NYPL and for the Lakewood BlueClaws of the Class A South Atlantic League. He played primarily second base for the Class A Greenville Drive, batting .235/.306/.296. In 2009, he was a Northern League All-Star, and in 2012, he was an American Association All-Star. In 34 games for the Boulders, Penprase slashed .254/.343/.322 with 1 home run and 15 RBIs. He was released by New York on July 9, prior to the start of that summer's Olympics.

International career Penprase competed on the Israel national team for qualification for the 2020 Olympics. He started all six games at shortstop as the team played in the 2019 European Baseball Championship - B-Pool in early July 2019 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, winning all of its games and advancing to the playoffs against Lithuania in the 2019 Playoff Series at the end of July 2019 for the last qualifying spot for the 2019 European Baseball Championship. He batted .381 (8th in the tournament)/.481/.810 (5th) in the B-Pool tournament with 3 doubles (3rd) and 12 RBIs (2nd) in 21 at bats.

Penprase played for Israel at the 2019 European Baseball Championship. He also played for the team at the Africa/Europe 2020 Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy in September 2019, which Israel won to qualify to play baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In the tournament he played third base in every game and batted .313/.400/.313 with 6 runs (tied for 2nd) in 16 at bats.

He played for Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021. He batted 3-for-12 with a stolen base, and appeared in left field, as a pinch runner, as a pinch hitter, and as a designated hitter.

His mother Elaine is Jewish, and his father Rich is Christian. In 2019, he became an Israeli citizen, thereby becoming a dual Israeli-American.