JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Tuesday (9/21/2010):

• 3B Danny Valencia of the Minnesota Twins went 2/4 with an RBI single in a 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians, guaranteeing the Twins their 6th A.L. Central title in the past 9 years. Though he wasn’t called up from the minors until June and didn’t become a regular starter until July, the 25-year-old is making a serious bid for Rookie of the Year. Valencia leads A.L. rookies in batting average (.337) and slugging percentage (.471), ranks 2nd in on-base percentage (.379), and is 4th in doubles (17).
• If you tuned into the Versus Network at 8:05pm ET last night (9/21/2010), you witnessed another virtuoso playoff performance by 2B Jason Kipnis of the “AAA” Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians). The 23-year-old, who was called up from “AA” for the post-season, got on base 4 times and fell a single short of hitting his second straight cycle in a 12-6, national-championship win over the “AAA” Tacoma Rainiers (Seattle Mariners). Kipnis’ performance wasn’t enough to win game MVP — that honor went to teammate Jerad Head — but his 10/22 run during the “AAA” playoffs won’t hit his chances of starting the 2011 season in Columbus.

Jewish baseball fans take note: last night’s “AAA” championship marked the final minor-league game of the 2010 season. We at Jewish Baseball News will do our best to keep you apprised of player developments during the off-season.

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