Jewish Baseball News

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your players of the day for Sun., August 1, 2010:

• 3B Danny Valencia of the Minnesota Twins went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI in a 4-0 win over the Seattle Mariners, the Twins’ 8th-straight victory. The 25-year-old rookie is batting .388 for the season (103 at-bats) and .486 over his last 10 games.
• LF James Rapoport of the Memphis Redbirds (AAA) went 2-for-5 with a triple and an RBI in a 12-6 victory over the Omaha Royals. Rapoport, who majored in public policy at Stanford Univ., is batting .253 since being called up to “AAA” ball.
  
• 2B Joshua Satin of the Binghamton Mets (AA) went 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored in an 8-3 win over the Erie SeaWolves. Since being promoted from the “A+) St. Lucie Mets, the 25-year-old UC-Berkeley product is batting .311 with one home run and 22 RBIs in 167 at-bats, as well as a .408 on-base percentage.
• SP David Kopp of the Springfield Cardinals (AA) pitched a beauty of a game, giving up just one run, four hits and no walks in seven innings against the New Arkansas Naturals. But the Cards managed just two hits in a 1-o loss. Kopp — who went 0-and-5 during a mid-season stint with the Memphis Redbirds (AAA) — is 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA for Springfield.
  

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Midway through the 2010 season, Jewish minor leaguers are performing well. The 20 Jewish pitchers have a collective won-loss record of 59-52, a 3.85 ERA and a 2.17 strikeout-to-walk ratio through games played July 14. The 28 position players have a combined batting average of .274 and a walk-to-strikeout ratio of .503, according to Jewish Baseball News calculations.

A list of category leaders and laggards is shown below. But first, a few clarifications:

• Players marked with an asterisk have played in two or more leagues this season, and the statistics shown reflect their collective performance across all leagues. The team shown is the players’ current one.
• Calling David Kopp the winningest pitcher is slightly misleading. Kopp assembled an 8-1 record and 3.08 ERA with the “AA” Springfield Cardinals before being called up to the “AAA” Memphis Redbirds. In his first four games in Memphis, Kopp went 0-4 with a 7.53 ERA.
• Jake Lemmerman, a shortstop from Duke University and the top Jewish pick in the 2010 amateur draft, is tearing up the Rookie Pioneer League. Through 20 games with the Ogden Raptors, Lemmerman was batting .358 and had a .506 slugging percentage.

Now, your category leaders.

Position players

• Highest batting average(100+ at-bats) : Casey Haerther, “A” Cedar Rapids Kernels (.319)
• Lowest batting average (100+ at-bats) : Jake Wald, “AA”  Mobile BayBears (.175)
• Most home runs: Ryan Lavarnway, “A+” Salem Red Sox (14)
• Most triples: Sam Fuld, “AAA” Iowa Cubs (4)
• Most doubles: Nathan Freiman, “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (29)
• Most RBIs: Ryan Lavarnway, “A+” Salem Red Sox (63)
• Most walks: Ryan Lavarnway, “A+” Salem Red Sox (44)
• Most strikeouts: Nathan Frieman, “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (76)
• Best walk/strikeout ratio: Sam Fuld, “AAA” Iowa Cubs (1.25)
• Worst walk/strikeout ratio: David Rubinstein, “A” West Virginia Power (.31)
• Highest on-base percentage: Joshua Satin, “AA” Binghamton Mets (.403)
• Highest slugging percentage: Ryan Lavarnway, “A+” Salem Red Sox (.487)
• Highest OPS (OBP+slugging): Ryan Lavarnway, “A+” Salem Red Sox (.879)
• Most stolen bases: David Rubinstein, “A” West Virginia Power (13)

Pitchers

• Most victories: David Kopp*, “AAA” Memphis Redbirds (8)
• Most losses: Jason Hirsh, “AAA” Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees; Richard Bleier, “AA” Frisco RoughRiders (6)
• Best win-loss record: Michael Schlact*, “A+” Bakersfield Blaze (3-0)
• Best ERA (at least 25 innings): Dylan Axelrod*, “A+” Birmingham Barons (2.367); Daniel Rosenbaum, “A” Hagertown Suns (2.363)
• Worst ERA (at least 25 innings): Scot Drucker, “AAA” Toledo Mud Hens (5.56)
  
• Most strikeouts: Daniel Rosenbaum, “A” Hagertown Suns (85)
• Most walks: Aaron Poreda*, “AAA” Portland Beavers; Eric Berger, “AA” Akron Aeros; David Kopp*, “AAA” Memphis Redbirds (39)
• Best strikeout/walk ratio (20+ innings): Dylan Axelrod*, “A” Birmingham Barons (5.2)
• Worst strikeout/walk ratio (20+ innings): Aaron Poreda*, “AAA” Portland Beavers (0.9)

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are the latest developments among Jewish professional baseball players:

MLB

• Boston Red Sox 1B Kevin Youkilis is having a remarkable season. After 68 games, the “Greek god of walks” is hitting home runs and RBIs at the same pace he did last year, walking more, and striking out less. Far less. Consider this: in 136 games last season, Youk struck out 62 percent more often than he walked (125 strikeouts vs. 77 walks). In 2010, he has walked more times (47) than he has struck out (41). “It’s freakish,” Red Sox first-base coach Ron Johnson told the Providence Journal. “It’s really fun to watch. Where he’s come from and where he is now, to lower his strikeout totals and still have the power and drive in the runs and hit over .300, he’s up there with those superstar guys.” Alas, Youkilis probably won’t appear in next month’s All-Star Game. In fan voting through today, he is ranked a distant 4th among American League shortstops.
• Since inserting rookie 1B Ike Davis into the cleanup spot on May 19, the New York Mets have gone 20-9 after a 19-21 start.
• After serving as the ace of the Texas Rangers’ pitching squad in 2009, SP Scott Feldman got off to a disappointing start this season. But he’s begun to right himself lately. In his past four starts, Feldman has won three games, amassed a 3.70 ERA, struck out 19 in 26.67 innings and walked just nine. Feldman pitches tonight (6/21/2010) against the Houston Astros.
• Los Angeles Dodgers C Brad Ausmus, 41, had only four at-bats this season before suffering a back injury that required surgery. But Ausmus — who had never before been on the disabled list — has begun taking batting practice with his teammates and recently caught his first bullpen session.
• Tampa Bay Rays RF Gabe Kapler went on the disabled list June 12 after straining his right hip flexor.
• For the third time this season, the Milwaukee Brewers called OF Adam Stern up from the AAA Nashville Sounds and then sent him back down. The 30-year-old’s initial call-up was a major accomplishment, given that he hadn’t had a major-league at-bat in four years. But Stern went hitless in eight at-bats during his stints with the Brewers this season.

Minors

• The San Diego Padres promoted SP Aaron Poreda to the Portland Beavers, the franchise’s AAA squad. Since arriving, Poreda has pitched 7.33 scoreless innings in four appearances and struck out seven batters. The 23-year-old spent part of last season in the majors, pitching for both the Chicago White Sox and the Padres.
  
• Springfield Cardinals SP David Kopp (AA/St. Louis Cardinals) has been named a Texas League All-Star. Kopp, 24, leads the league with an 8-1 record and has an 3.08 ERA. According to the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader:

For Kopp, the selection culminates a terrific first half in which he has re-claimed his prospect tag. Kopp underwent a pair of shoulder surgeries in 2008 and 2009, and reached Double-A late last season with little hype. He walked 11 and struck out six in five starts. This year, his line features 45 strikeouts in 69 innings as the right-hander has gone on the attack with a low-90s fastball. The pitch shields his sharp, tight slider from over-use, and managers and scouts are beginning to think of Kopp not in terms of a Double-A pitcher but one with the stuff to reach the majors.

• Reading Phillies RP Michael Schwimer (AA/Philadelphia Phillies) is 5-3 this season and has struck out an impressive 47 batters in 34.67 innings, more than triple the number of batters he has walked (14). “He has good stuff, but he has been a little inconsistent,” Philadelphia Phillies assistant general manager Chuck Lamar told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “He may get a shot by the end of the year to move up to triple-A.”
• The New York Mets recently promoted 2B Joshua Satin to the AA Binghamton Mets. Since arriving, the 25-year-old has hit .320 in six games.
  
• Likewise, the Cleveland Indians moved 2B Jason Kipnis up to its AA squad, the Akron Aeros. Kipnis wasted no time making his mark. After eight games with the Aeros, he is batting .355 with two home runs, three doubles, and an OPS of 1.090.
• Corpus Christi Hooks C Jonathan Fixler (AA/Houston Astros) didn’t take it easy on Frisco RoughRiders SP (and fellow Jew) Richard Bleier this weekend. Fixler, 24, went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs during a 7-1 thrashing of the RoughRiders on Sunday (6/20/2010). Bleier gave up 7 runs and 13 hits in seven innings, and his record fell to 3-6.
  
• The St. Louis Cardinals demoted C Charlie Cutler to its A-advanced farm team, the Palm Beach Cardinals. Cutler had batted just .205 with six RBIs for the AA Springfield Cardinals. But he’s batting .350 after six games with Palm Beach.
• OF Ben Guez took an even bigger fall recently. The Detroit Tigers franchise sent him down from AAA Toledo, where he hit .273 with five RBIs in 66 at-bats, to the Lakeland Flying Tigers (A-advanced).

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