| Gift Ngoepe | |
|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Infielder | |
| Born: March 5, 1990 Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa |
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| Bats: Switch | Throws: Right |
M'Poh "Gift" Ngoepe (born March 5, 1990) is a South African professional baseball player in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization of Major League Baseball. A native of Randburg, Gauteng, Ngoepe became the first Black South African, and the sixth South African to sign a professional baseball contract when he signed in October 2008. He was a member of the South Africa national baseball team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. At the 2009 WBC, he hit consecutive triples off of Mexico's Elmer Dessens in a 14-3 loss to Mexico.[1] He is currently playing for the Pirates' Short-season class A team, the State College Spikes.[2][3]
On 10 August 2009 Sports Illustrated did an article on Ngoepe titled "A Gift From Africa" which covered how he started his baseball career, his upbringing and time with the Pirates since moving from South Africa.[4]
As of June, 2010, Gift has been promoted to the Class-A Short Season affiliate State College Spikes.
At the beginning of the 2011 season, he was promoted to Low Class-A affiliate West Virginia Power.
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