JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Last week, Baseball America named SS Jake Lemmerman one of the Top 20 prospects from the Rookie Pioneer League.

Earlier today (10/4/2010), the venerable publication named 2 more Jews to one of its annual ‘top 20’ lists. Both 2B Jason Kipnis and C Ryan Lavarnway were listed as top prospects from the “A-advanced” Carolina League.

Kipnis, part of the Cleveland Indians’ franchise, began the 2010 season with the “A-advanced” Kinston Indians and later was promoted to the “AA” Akron Aeros, finishing the year with a combined batting average of .307, 8 triples, 16 HRs, 74 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of .878. When the “AAA” Columbus Clippers called him up for the post-season, he went 10/22, hitting for the cycle in one game and falling a single short of a cycle in the next.

Says Baseball America:

Kipnis has a balanced approach and drives the ball to all fields. He’s aggressive at the plate but not overly so, and he should hit at least .280 in the majors with average power, if not more.

Lavarnway, part of the Boston Red Sox’ farm system, split the 2010 season between the “A-Advanced” Salem Red Sox and the “AA” Portland Sea Dogs. He hit a combined .288 with 22 HRs, 102 RBIs, .393 on-base percentage, and .489 slugging percentage. His 102 RBIs were tops among Red Sox farm hands, and he led all Jewish minor-leaguers in HRs, RBIs and walks (70).

Here is an excerpt from Baseball America’s commentary:

If he puts everything together, he could be a big league regular, but it may be more realistic to project him as an offensive-minded backup who also could fill in at first base and DH.

As of today, Baseball America has published ‘Top 20’ lists for nine of the 16 minor leagues associated with Major League Baseball. The remaining 7 will be released from Oct. 5 through Oct. 13.

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