By Pete Cava
PBR Indiana, Correspondent

Before reaching this year’s postseason with Tampa Bay, outfielder Kevin Kiermaier’s major league career consisted of half of one inning in the Rays’ 163^rd game of the season.

A Fort Wayne native, Kiermaier is one of four Indiana-born big leaguers playing in this year’s American League and National League Division Series.  He joins Athletics RHP Jarrod Parker (Fort Wayne), Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (Indianapolis), Pirates SS Clint Barmes (Vincennes) and Braves OF Jordan Schafer (Hammond).   

Kiermaier played for Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne and Parkland Junior College in Champaign, Ill., before Tampa Bay selected him in the 31st round of the 2010 draft.  He blossomed into a prospect this year with a .310 average at Montgomery (Double-A Southern) and was cited as the top defensive player in the Rays organization.  He joined Durham at the end of July and helped the Bulls to the Triple-A International League crown.         

The Rays added Kiermaier to their roster for late-inning defense on September 30.  He made his major-league debut that night in the ninth inning of Tampa Bay’s win over the Texas Rangers as the Rays clinched the AL Wild Card.  “You can call it a Cinderella story,” he told the Tampa Bay Times, “but there was a lot of hard work and I'm just thankful for the opportunity.”

Parker went 12-8 with a 3.97 ERA as Oakland’s No. 2 starter during the 2013 season.  In 2006 his 8-1, 1.19 record helped Norwell (Ossian) to the IHSAA 3A championship game.  Parker was the Arizona Diamondbacks’ top draft pick (and ninth overall) in 2007.  The A’s acquired him after the 2011 campaign. 

Lynn helped Brownsburg High School to three consecutive IHSAA title games.  He went 16-0 as a senior in 2005, earning the win as Brownsburg defeated Evansville North for the state 4A title.  Pitching for Ole Miss, he earned a silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.  St. Louis drafted him in 2008 with a supplemental first-round pick (39^th overall).  Lynn moved into the Cardinals rotation in 2012 and went 15-10 this year with a 3.97 ERA.  

Barmes, Pittsburgh’s starting shortstop, played for Vincennes Lincoln High School’s regional championship team in 1996.  After two years at Olney (Ill.) Central College, he led Indiana State University with a .375 average in 2000.  The Colorado Rockies made him their tenth-round draft pick that June.  A big leaguer since 2003, Barmes also played for Houston before joining the Pirates in 2012.    

Schafer’s father coached the junior varsity baseball team at Hobart High School before the family moved to Florida when Jordan was 6 years old.  He starred for the Winter Haven, Fla., High School team, signing with the Braves in 2005 as a third-round draft pick.  He jumped from Double-A to Atlanta in 2009, homering in his first major league at-bat.  After spending 2011-2012 with Houston, Schafer returned to Atlanta this year and batted .247 with 22 stolen bases in 94 contests.  

Kiermaier, Parker, Lynn, Barmes and Schafer aren’t the only Hoosier natives in uniform this October.  Don Mattingly (Evansville) manages the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lloyd McClendon (Gary) is the batting coach for the Detroit Tigers.  Mattingly, a standout first baseman for the Yankees from 1982 to 1995, led undefeated Evansville Reitz Memorial High School to a state title in 1979.  McClendon, a utilityman for the Reds, Cubs and Pirates from 1987 to 1994, played for Gary Roosevelt High School and Valparaiso University.  In the 1971 Little League World Series McClendon slammed five home runs to lead his Gary team to the championship game against Taiwan. 

Mattingly and McClendon are members of the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame.