MOSES LAKE — Former Moses Lake baseball player BJ Garbe has been elected to the Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association Hall of Fame. Garbe was the first athlete elected into the Moses Lake Hall of Fame when it was started by Greg Kittrell and Donnie Lindgren. Lindgren said he had the pleasure of informing Garbe that he’d been elected.

Garbe was named the 1999 Gatorade National Player of the Year. The Moses Lake native was selected fifth overall in the 1999 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins, while teammates Ryan Doumit and Jason Cooper also went in the top 63 the same year.

Garbe began his professional career with the Minnesota affiliate, the Elizabethton Twins, hitting .316 in 41 games. The former Chief spent time with a number of other farm system teams before being traded to his childhood team, the Seattle Mariners, in 2004, appearing in three games for the Mariners that season.

Spending two more seasons with the Mariners organization, Garbe spent his final professional season with the Carolina Mudcats in 2005, a Florida Marlins affiliate. Garbe finished his professional career with a batting average of .235 over 722 games.

Garbe is now the CEO of Ten Pen Brewing and still calls Moses Lake home.