Wanger was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on April 7, 1997. He is Jewish.[3][2][4] His parents are David Wanger (who played baseball at Harvard University) and Gwen Kane-Wanger (who played field hockey and lacrosse at Brown University).[5] Some of his family, including his grandmother, are Holocaust survivors.[3][6] He now lives in Coral Gables, Florida.[7]
High school
Wanger attended Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts, where he played for the school's baseball team.[8] In his senior season, as a pitcher he had a 0.73 ERA in 48 innings, and pitched the first perfect game in school history.[8][9] He was All-Independent School League in 2013, 2014, and 2015, and in 2015 was also the Independent School League MVP, Prep Baseball Report All-Massachusetts first team, and Boston Globe Prep All-Scholastic.[8] He also played football (as a defensive end) and basketball (as a forward) for the school.[8]
College
Wanger first attended Yale University, where he graduated in 2019 with a degree in economics and environmental engineering.[5][10] Playing for the Yale Bulldogs, he was primarily a first baseman and a pitcher.[10] In his sophomore year in 2017 he batted .317/.415/.610(4th in the Ivy League) with 8 home runs (4th) and led the League with 48 RBIs.[10] He was named 2017 American Baseball Coaches Association/RawlingsNCAA Division I Northeast All-Region First Team, New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) Division I All-New England First Team, a unanimous All-Ivy First Team selection, and a first-team All-American (D-I) by the Jewish Sports Review.[8] In 2018, on the mound, he was 2-0 with six saves (2nd in the league) and an 0.90 ERA (leading the league), as in 30 innings over 16 games he gave up 21 hits and struck out 32 batters. He was named All-Ivy First Team as a relief pitcher, All-Ivy Second Team as a first baseman, and 2018 NEIBA Division I All-New England Third Team.[8] After the 2018 season, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[11] Wanger suffered a serious hamstring injury in the fourth game of his senior season in 2019, which caused him to have season-ending surgery and redshirt.[12][3]
Wanger then attended the University of Miami as a graduate student at the Herbert Business School, earning a Master of Science in international business. He pitched in relief for the Miami Hurricanes in 2021.[14] Prior to the season, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper named him a preseason Second-Team All-American.[15] In March 2021 he had minor surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, and he was back on the mound two months later.[16][17]
On March 9, 2022, Wanger re-signed with the Barnstormers for the 2022 season.[20] Wanger appeared in only two relief appearances and pitched only 2.2 innings for the Barnstormers, with 2 strikeouts and giving up six hits and five runs.[19] With Lancaster, he won the Atlantic League championship.[21]
Post-playing career
On February 20, 2023, Wanger joined the Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee as part of its fellowship program for retired Olympians and Paralympians.[22]
He pitched for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, giving up a run in two innings over two relief appearances, and also played first base in one game.[27]
