Isaac Benard

Isaac Marvin Benard

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 225 lb.
• School Mount Hood Community College
• High School Hanford High School

• Born January 2, 1996 in Scottsdale, AZ USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Isaac Benard has played in the minors and for the Nicaraguan national team. His father, Marvin Benard, played in the majors starting shortly before Isaac's birth.

Benard hit .385 as a college sophomore. The Tampa Bay Rays took him in the 23rd round of the 2016 amateur draft; Paul Kirsch was the scout. He hit .255/.352/.364 that summer for the Princeton Rays and played error-free ball in the corner outfield. For the 2017 Hudson Valley Renegades, he batted .243/.341/.322. Let go by the Rays, he signed with the independent Traverse City Beach Bums and produced at a .284/.382/.390 clip in 2018, with 19 steals in 26 tries. He tied Travis Harrison for 7th in the Frontier League in swipes.

He then played for Nicaragua in the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier, following in his father's footsteps. Hitting 2nd, he hit only .174/~.174/.217 but had 5 runs and 6 RBI in their 5 games, including 5 RBI in their win over Team Canada in the 3rd/4th place game. Nicaragua got a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games and he was 3rd in the Qualifier in RBI, behind MVP Garabez Rosa and teammate Jilton Calderón. He hit .280/.347/.389 for the Florence Freedom that summer. In the 2019 Pan Am Games, he eked out a .105/.150/.158 batting line for the Bronze Medal winners; he had 9 putouts, 2 assists and one error while playing all three outfield slots. He had one of Nicaragua's two hits off Philippe Aumont of Canada.

Isaac was on Nicaragua's announced roster for the 2020 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers when that was one of the first baseball events to be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 minor league season was also wiped out by the pandemic. Returning to action in '21, he was 0 for 6 in the 2021 Americas Olympic Qualifier and had 7 putouts as their main left fielder. He batted .309/.376/.466 for the Lake Erie Crushers that summer.

The Arizona-born flyhawk hit .316/.401/.596 with 30 doubles, 23 homers and 75 runs in 99 games for the Gateway Grizzlies. He tied Justin Wylie for 10th in the Frontier League in runs (both would have team success that fall in the WBC Qualifiers), tied Brantley Bell for third in doubles, was 9th in dingers and was 9th in slugging (between Brad Zunica and Carlos Martinez). He was only 1 for 12 with a walk in the 2022 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers but his hit was a three-run homer off Pakistan's Muhammad Aslam. Nicaragua would win a spot in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, their first World Baseball Classic.