Jewish Baseball News

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Saturday (8/28/2010):

• LF Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers went 2/4 with two doubles and scored the winning run in an 11-inning, 8-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 2007 NL Rookie of the Year is hitting .395 in August after batting just .200 in July. For the season, Braun is batting .295 with 18 HRs and 77 RBIs.
• Just off the disabled list, SP Jason Hirsh of the “AAA” Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees pitched two scoreless innings in a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Bisons. The 6’8″ right-hander removed himself from the game after feeling shoulder pain resume.
• C Charlie Cutler of the “AA” Springfield Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals) went 3/4 with an RBI single and scored a run in a 10-5 victory over the Arkansas Travelers. The 24-year-old San Francisco native hit .292 with the “A-advanced” Palm Beach Cardinals earlier this season but has struggled in “AA” ball, where he is hitting .214.
• 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) hit an RBI double and drew a walk in a 3-2 win over the Bowling Green Hot Rods. The victory clinched the TinCaps’ second consecutive trip to the playoffs. A 6’7″ native of Wellesley, Mass., Freiman leads the TinCaps in doubles (36), HRs (14/tie) and RBIs (74/tie).
• RF David Rubinstein of the “A” West Virginia Power (Pittsburgh Pirates) went 2/4 with an RBI single in a 7-4 loss to the Augusta GreenJackets. An 11th-round pick in the 2008 amateur draft, Rubinstein ranks 2nd among Power players in batting average (.286), doubles (34) and stolen bases (21), and is 4th in on-base percentage (.346) and slugging percentage (.406).
• Playing in the DH slot, 1B Mike Schwartz of the rookie-league Bristol White Sox (Chicago White Sox) went 1/4 with a two-run single in a 9-6 win over the Pulaski Mariners. A 2010 draftee with an uncanny ability to draw walks — he leads the Sox with 26 in just 105 at-bats — Schwartz is batting .248 with an on-base percentage of .423.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Thursday (8/26/2010):

• Fresh off his first visit to the disabled list in an 18-year career, C Brad Ausmus of the Los Angeles Dodgers went 3/4 and scored a run in a 7-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the 81^st time Ausmus has had 3 or more hits in a game but the first time in more than two years. (He went 4/4 against the Brewers on July 27, 2008.) Ausmus is batting .240, with 2 RBIs in 50 at-bats.
• LF Adam Stern of the “AAA” Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers) stroked a pinch-hit RBI single in a 7-3 victory over the New Orleans Zephyrs. The 30-year-old University of Nebraska alum ranks 1^st on the Sounds in on-base percentage (.397) and 2^nd in batting average (.324).
• 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) went 2/5 with two doubles and a run scored in a 6-4 win over the Great Lakes Loons. A 6’7″ native of Wellesley, Mass., he leads the TinCaps in HRs (14/tie) and ranks 2^nd in doubles (34), RBIs (73) and slugging percentage (.447).
• In his sixth appearance (and first start) since being promoted to “A” ball, RP Jason Markovitz of the Clinton LumberKings (Seattle Mariners) pitched 3 scoreless innings en route to a 6-3 win over the Quad Cities River Bandits. The 21-year-old rookie gave up just one hit and 2 walks while striking out four. The performance marked a significant recovery from Markovitz’s most recent outing, when he gave up two singles, a double, a grand-slam HR and a walk in less than an inning of relief.
• C Ryan Lavarnway of the “AA” Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox) went 2/3 with a solo HR and a walk in a 6-3 loss to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The home run — Lavarnway’s 4^th in the past seven games — put the Sea Dogs ahead 3-2, but the lead didn’t last. In 114 games this season with Portland and the “A-Advanced” Salem Red Sox, Lavarnway is batting a combined .287 with 20 HRs, 89 RBIs, a .388 on-base percentage and .486  slugging percentage.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Friday, Aug. 13, 2010.

It was a memorable day for Jewish pitchers in the minor leagues. Three had lengthy stints in which they gave up one or no runs and racked up multiple strikeouts without giving up a single walk:

• SP David Kopp of the “AA” Springfield Cardinals (St. Louis Cardinals) struck out six and walked none in a 6-1 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks. A 24-year-old out of Clemson, Kopp got roughed-up during a mid-season stint in “AAA”, where he went 0-5 with an 8.63 ERA. He has fared far better with the “AA” Cardinals, going 10-3 with a 3.14 ERA.
• SP Dylan Axelrod of the “A-Advanced” Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox) gave up just four hits and one earned run over 7 innings, but the Dash gave up three runs in the 8th en route to a 4-3 loss to the Frederick Keys. Axelrod struck out nine batters while walking none. Since being promoted to “AA” earlier this season, Axelrod is 6-2 with a 2.20 ERA and a phenomenal strikeout-to-walk ratio of 68-10.
• RP Jason Markovitz of the “A” Clinton LumberKings (Seattle Mariners) pitched 3 innings of one-hit ball in a 15-4 loss to the Burlington Bees, striking out four and walking none. A 21-year-old who was drafted in the 13th round of the 2010 amateur draft, Markovitz was promoted to the LumberKings after just 11 games with the “A-short season” Everett AquaSox.

Two minor-leaguers hit home runs:

• 2B Jason Kipnis of the “AA” Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians) went 2/5 with a HR and 2 RBIs in an 11-7 win over the New Britain Rock Cats. A second-round pick in the 2009 amateur draft, Kipnis is batting .333 with 8 HRs and 31 since being promoted to the Aeros mid-season. For the entire season, he is batting .318 with 14 HRs and 62 RBIs.
• 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) hit a three-run HR, accounting for all the TinCaps’ runs in a 3-2 victory over the Lake County Captains. A 6’7″ native of Wellesley, Mass., Freiman has four HRs in his past 10 games and is batting .301 with 14 HRs, 32 doubles and 73 RBIs.

Beset by injuries, Jewish major leaguers have not had much to report lately. But on Friday:

• 3B Danny Valencia of the Minnesota Twins went 2/4 with a ground-rule double and 2 RBIs in a 4-3 win over the Oakland A’s. The 25-year-old rookie is batting .318 but has been in a slump, hitting just .171 over his last 10 games.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010:

• RP Michael Schwimer of the “AAA” Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Philadelphia Phillies) pitched a perfect inning of relief, striking out 2 of the 3 batters he faced in a 5-1 win over the Pawtucket Red Sox. Since being promoted to “AAA” earlier this season, the 6’8″ middle reliever has gone 2-2 with a 1.10 ERA, and “AAA” batters are hitting just .183 against him.
• 2B Joshua Satin of the Binghamton Mets (AA) went 3/3 and hit a HR for the second straight day in a 5-4 loss to the Harrisburg Senators. The 25-year-old Berkeley recruit has the highest on-base percentage on the Mets (.409) and is ranked 2nd in batting average (.318). In 54 games since being promoted to “AAA” ball, he has 3 HRs, 18 doubles and 29 RBIs.
• Batting cleanup, 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) went 2/4 with a home run, walk and 2 RBIs in a 10-6 victory over the Lake County Captains. Freiman leads the TinCaps in home runs (13/tie), runs scored (74) and RBIs (70). The 6’7″ native of Wellesley, Mass., is ranked 2nd on the team in doubles (32) and slugging percentage (.470), and he ranks 3rd in batting average (.304), walks (52) and on-base percentage (.381).

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Friday, Aug. 6, 2010:

• 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) went 3/5 with a home run, walk and 2 RBIs in a 12-3 crushing of the Lansing Lugnuts. A 2009 recruit out of Duke University, Freiman is ranked 1st on the TinCaps in runs scored (71), doubles (32), RBIs (68) and home runs (12/tie); 2nd in slugging percentage (.471) and batting average (.307/tie); and 3rd in walks (48) and on-base percentage (.381).
• 1B Mike Schwartz of the rookie-league Bristol White Sox (Chicago White Sox) went 2/3 with a double and run scored in an 11-3 loss to the Johnson City Cardinals. A 2010 recruit out of the University of Tampa, Schwartz is batting just .224 in 76 at-bats but has a team-leading .410 on-base percentage, thanks to his skill at drawing walks (20 so far this season).

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Here are your Players of the Day for Tuesday, August 3, 2010:

• A day after going 4/7 in a doubleheader, 2B Jason Kipnis of the “AA” Akron Aeros (Cleveland Indians) went 2/4 with a triple and HR in a 5-1 loss to the Altoona Curve. A 23-year-old out of Arizona State, Kipnis raised his batting average to .337, which would be second-highest in the Eastern League if he had enough at-bats. (He began the 2010 season with the “A+” Kinston Indians.)
• 1B Nate Freiman of the “A” Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres) went 3/4 with a double and a walk in a 5-0 win over the Lansing Lugnuts. Freiman, a 6’7″ recruit out of Duke University, is batting .302 with 11 HRs and 65 RBIs in his second minor-league season.
• RP Jeff Urlaub of the rookie-league AZL Athletics (Oakland Athletics) pitched 3 perfect innings and struck out four in a 9-1 loss to the AZL Brewers. A 30th-round pick in the 2010 amateur draft, Urlaub has a 2.84 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 19 innings and just 3 walks.

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