Ryan Braun: Difference between revisions

Ryan Braun
Milwaukee Brewers – No. 8
Third baseman
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
May 25, 2007, for the Milwaukee Brewers
Career statistics (through September 5, 2007)
Home Runs	30
RBI	79
Batting Average	.328
On-Base Percentage	.372
Slugging Percentage	.648
Stolen Bases	14
Teams
Milwaukee Brewers (2007–present)
Career highlights and awards
NL Rookie of the Month Award: June 2007 & July 2007 NL Player of the Month Award: July 2007

This article is about the Brewers' third baseman. For the Royals' pitcher, see Ryan Braun (baseball pitcher).

Ryan Joseph Braun, nicknamed The Hebrew Hammer (born November 17, 1983, in Mission Hills, California), is an American right-handed third baseman who broke into baseball's Major Leagues with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007.^[1]

Braun was a 4-year letterman on the Granada Hills High School baseball team, and 3-year team captain and MVP. He played shortstop, and also pitched until his junior year. As a sophomore in 2000 he recorded the highest batting average of his prep career (.456), while posting a .654 on base percentage. As a junior he hit .421, with a .668 OBP. As a senior he batted .451, with an OBP of .675. He broke the school record for career home runs, with 25.

He was 2-time all-area selection by the Los Angeles Times, and a 3-time choice by the Los Angeles Daily News. Braun was rated the 6th-best shortstop prospect in the country by Team One Baseball,^[2] and rated among the top 100 overall prospects by Baseball America. He graduated in 2002, but went undrafted because he told teams that he intended to go to college.^[3][4]

Offered scholarships to Stanford University and UC-Berkeley, he instead attended the University of Miami. He chose Miami for its academics, its athletics, and its social scene, noting, "I think the girls were the deal closer on the recruiting trip."[1] There, he was named "National Freshman of the Year," as well as a 1st-team "Freshman All-American," by Baseball America in 2003. He was also named 1st-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.[2] He clinched the awards by batting .364 with 74 RBIs and 17 home runs. As a sophomore SS/DH, Braun hit .335 and slugged .606, stealing 21 bases.

During his junior year, his final and most successful at Miami, Braun batted .396 with 18 home runs, a .726 slugging percentage, 76 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases. He was 9th in slugging, and 10th in RBIs, in NCAA Division I, and was named to Baseball America's 2005 College All-American Team as the DH. He moved from shortstop to third base during the year. His performance earned Braun a spot as one of the finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, the most prestigious individual award in college baseball.^[5]

The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Braun in the 1st round (5th overall) in the 2005 Amateur Baseball draft as a third baseman, and Braun signed for $2,450,000. The consensus among pro scouts was that Braun was the most gifted athlete in the draft, a five-tool player, and perhaps the most polished player overall.

Assigned to the Helena Brewers in the Advanced Rookie Pioneer League in 2005, Braun batted .341/.383/.585 in 10 games, he was then promoted to the West Virginia Power in the Single-A South Atlantic League, where he hit .355/.396/.645, and was rated the 5th-best prospect in the league.

Braun began 2006 playing for the A-Advanced Brevard County Manatees, where he earned a spot in the Florida State League All-Star game, and played in the All-Star Futures Game in Pittsburgh. He was rated the top third base prospect in the FSL, and Baseball America rated Braun the best batting prospect in the league. On June 21st, Braun was promoted to the Class AA Huntsville Stars (Alabama) of the Southern League. Collectively between Class A and Class AA, Braun finished with a .289 average, 22 home runs, 77 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases. He received the 2006 Robin Yount Performance Award as the Milwaukee Brewers Minor League player of the year.^[6]

In 2006 in the Arizona Fall League he hit .326/.396/.641 in 92 at-bats, and was rated as one of the top three prospects.^[7] He led the AFL with 16 extra-base hits, tied for tops with 9 doubles, ranked 2nd in slugging percentage (.641) and HR/AB ratio (1/15), tied for 2nd in home runs (6), and tied for 3rd in RBIs (25).

Baseball America rated Braun the Brewers' # 2 prospect for 2007. He began the year with the Nashville Sounds of the AAA Pacific Coast League. Before being called up to the majors in late May, in 113 at bats he led the PCL with a .726 slugging percentage while batting .354 (6th), with 10 home runs (T-2nd) and a .426 on base percentage (5th). At the same time, Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino were batting a combined .214 while playing third base for the major league club.^[8]

The Brewers brought Braun to spring training in 2007.^[7] Their regular third baseman Corey Koskie, suffering from post concussion syndrome, missed all of spring training.^[9] While the Breweres intended to platoon Counsell and Graffanino to start the season, they also gave Braun an extensive look. In his first spring training game, Braun went 4-5 with a grand slam, a 3-run home run, a double, a single, and a stolen base, along with 7 RBIs; a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. In his second game he went 2-5 (including a 3rd home run) with a walk.^[10] In 11 games he batted .353 with a .912 slugging percentage, tieing for 10th in the majors in home runs (5), and 2nd in RBIs (15), despite having missed 7 games.[3] He also committed 4 throwing errors. He was sent to minor league camp on March 20th, with Brewers manager Ned Yost commenting: “He's really done a nice job offensively, but he still needs to polish some of his defense. He knows what he needs to do. He's really, really close.”[4]

On May 24, Braun was called up to the Brewers.^[11] Braun recorded his first major league hit, a double, the next day. He scored his first major league run when J.J. Hardy homered in the next at bat. The next night, he hit his first major league home run off Padres starter Justin Germano.

His rookie hazing took place on his first full road trip after being called up. "I had to carry bags. I had to sing on the bus." With headphones to his iPod plugged into one ear, he sang "On Bended Knee" and "Water Runs Dry" by Boyz II Men. "I was into it, but I don't think my voice was too great. I feel like I'm going to have to dress up soon."[5]

Braun was voted the National League Rookie of the Month for June, after leading all N.L. rookies with 21 RBIs.[6] He hit 6 home runs, tying him for 1st among N.L. rookies, while recording a .716 slugging percentage and a .435 on base percentage.

On July 7th he became the fastest Brewer ever to hit his 10th major league home run, hitting it in his 38th game, shattering the previous record of 61.[7] At the All Star Break he was considered the first-half NL Rookie of the Year by Ken Davidoff of New York Newsday.[8]

Braun was voted the National League Rookie of the Month for July (for the second straight month), as well as the NL Player of the Month (marking the first time a player has won both awards in the same month).[9] He hit a league-leading 11 home runs, with 25 RBIs, while batting .345.

In September, through the 9th of the month, he was leading the NL in home runs (5) and 2nd in RBIs (11).[10]

In mid-August, Yost moved Braun from 3rd in the lineup to cleanup, switching him with Prince Fielder. The move was expected to allow Braun to run more, inasmuch as when he was hitting in front of Fielder it did not make sense for him to steal many bases because the opposing team would then counter by walking Fielder. The switch also allowed Yost to move left-handed Geoff Jenkins up in the batting order, behind the right-handed Braun.[11] At the end of August, however, Yost reversed the switch.[12]

On September 9th, the Brewers became the third team in major league history to open a game with three straight home runs, as Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, and Braun connected off Cincinnati Reds' starting pitcher Phil Dumatrait in consecutive at bats. "That was pretty cool," Braun said. "I was never part of something like that before."[13]

As of September 9th, after 94 games, Braun was leading the NL in slugging percentage (.648), 2nd in OPS (1.020; behind Barry Bonds), 4th in at bats per home run (12.6; behind Bonds, Prince Fielder, and Ryan Howard), tied for 5th in home runs (30), and 6th in batting average (.328), among hitters with at least 400 plate appearances.[14] The all-time slugging percentage leaders for a full season at age 23 are Willie Mays and Albert Pujols, at .667,[15] and the rookie record is .621.[16]

In addition, against lefties he had the best batting average (.444), obp (.513), and slugging percentage (.949) of all major league hitters with at least 100 plate appearances against them.[17] "I like those guys," Braun joked.[18] Braun credits his father. "I see the ball pretty well off lefties," he said. "My dad is left-handed, so growing up, the majority of time, I took batting practice off of him."[19]

He was also leading the Brewers in batting average and slugging percentage, 2nd behind Fielder in home runs, obp (.372), and RBIs (79), and 3rd in runs (74), steals (14), and triples (5) -- despite not having played in the first 48 games of the season.[20]

"My family and friends know my stats more than I do," Braun said. "I'll look at that stuff at the end of the season."[21]

Home Run Pace. Braun hit his 15th home run in the 50th game of his career, and his 20th in his 64th game, making him the fastest to 15 and 20 since Albert Pujols got there in the 49th and 63rd games of his career in 2001.[22][23] He was also the fastest to 20 in Brewers history. He hit his 25th home run in his 82nd game, quicker than any player since Mark McGwire in 1987,[24] becoming just the 21st player ever to hit that many homers as a rookie.[25] He broke the Brewer rookie record of 28 home runs on September 9th.[26] Braun hit his 30th home in his 94th game. The NL rookie record is 38 home runs, shared by Frank Robinson (1956) and Wally Berger (1930).[27]

NL Rookie of the Year Race. Braun also led all NL rookies in batting average, slugging percentage, obp, home runs, at bats per home run, and total bases. He was 2nd in the NL in extra base hits (behind Chris Young), RBIs (behind Troy Tulowitzki), and triples (behind Hunter Pence), 3rd in runs and hits, and 4th in stolen bases (behind Young, Michael Bourn, and Rajai Davis).[28] In mid-August, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Daily News opined that Braun was the leading candidate for the NL Rookie of the Year award[29][30] as did USA Today[31] and a writer for Sports Illustrated in September, writing that Braun "will certainly win NL Rookie of the Year honors, as [he] is the best rookie in either league.[32]

NL Batting Title Race. While Braun had the 6th-highest batting average in the National League as of September 9th, 10 points behind the league leader, it will be a close call as to whether he will have enough plate appearances by the end of the season to qualify for the NL batting title. Braun as of that point had 411 plate appearances in 94 games, or 4.36 PA per game. The Brewers had 20 games left in the season. If Braun maintains the same pace, he will have 87 more PAs by season-end, bringing him to 498, 4 short of the number needed to qualify for the batting title. Even if Braun falls short, however, an exception to the qualification rule could kick in if his batting average is high enough -- If a player falls short of 502 plate appearances, but would still have the highest batting average if enough hitless at-bats were added to his total to enable him to reach the 502 mark, the player still wins the batting championship.

NL MVP Race. Braun has been mentioned as a top NL MVP candidate by writers at Sports Illustrated[33] and The Philadelphia Inquirer.[34]

Braun has the ability to hit for average and significant power. His swing is compact and short, and he is a pull hitter with tremendous bat speed and strong wrists. He stays back on offspeed pitches, and uses the entire field. He drives the ball no matter where it is in the strike zone.^[12] "There is something about the way the ball jumps off his bat," assistant general manager Gord Ash said. "You can hear it."^[13] Brewers hitting coach Jim Skaalen observed: "He's got tremendously quick hands and really hits through the ball. He stays on the ball as well as anyone we've got."[35]

In addition, his speed garnered him comparisons to New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Braun has been timed at 4.2 seconds to first base from the right side of the plate.^[14] During Scout Day at the University of Miami in 2004, Braun ran the 60-yard dash in 6.2 seconds. In spring training in 2007, he was second only to Corey Hart in the Brewers' 60-yard dash.[36]

Braun is noted for his athleticism, and particularly for his powerful throwing arm,^[12] which was rated the best infield arm in the Brewers' minor league system by Baseball America in early 2007.[37] A shortstop in college, Braun has been inconsistent on defense since switching to third base in 2006, however.[38] Braun was charged with 34 errors in 2006, the majority on throws. "It's a matter of proper footwork," according to Ash. "Most of his problems come because he relies on his arm, which is very strong."^[13]

• Braun is Jewish. "It's something that draws a lot of interest and something I take pride in," Braun said.[39] His father, Joe, is Israeli-born,[40] and immigrated to the United States at the age of 7.[41] Braun is one of the highest-drafted Jewish ballplayers in the history of professional baseball. The New York Yankees made Ron Blomberg the number one pick in the 1967 draft. Braun was considered the best Jewish minor league baseball prospect in 2006.^[15]

• "Braun" was the family name of Sandy Koufax, until his mother remarried and he took his step-father's name. "There's no (family) connection that I know of," Ryan Braun said, "but it's kind of cool."[42]

• Braun's nickname is "The Hebrew Hammer,"[43][44][45] and he said he's cool with that.[46] It references his Jewish heritage, former Brewer Hank Aaron (whose nickname was "Hammerin' Hank"), and the movie The Hebrew Hammer, starring Adam Goldberg. It was in the past also a nickname of Al Rosen[47] and Hank Greenberg.[48]

• Braun lived for a time with his maternal grandfather in a house that previously belonged to Jewish Hall of Fame outfielder Hank Greenberg.[49] Braun's grandfather has lived in the house for over 40 years.[50]

• Braun through September 9, 2007, had already hit more home runs (30) than all but 6 of the top 10 career Jewish home run hitters had hit in their best years. Only Hank Greenberg (58), Shawn Green (49), Al Rosen (43), and Mike Lieberthal (31) had hit more in a single season. Sid Gordon and Mike "SuperJew" Epstein had also hit 30 home runs, in their best seasons.

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Fangraphs minor league stats
• Nashville Sounds bio
• BR Bullpen profile
• "Baseball America Freshman of the Year, 2003, Ryan Braun" 6/16/03
• "Ryan Braun: Greatest First-Year Slugger Ever?," 8/20/07
• "Ryan Braun Goes For Rookie Slugging Record," 8/23/07