 He began his professional baseball career in at the age of 18 with the Winston-Salem Twins of the Piedmont League.In he joined the Wilkes-Barre Barons where he posted a .333 batting average in 98 games, winning the Most Valuable Player Award for the New York–Pennsylvania League.The Barons sold Spohrer's contract to John McGraw's New York Giants for $10,000, a record for a Class B player at the time.