Brad Ausmus: Difference between revisions

Brad Ausmus
Free Agent – No. --
Catcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
July 28, 1993, for the San Diego Padres
Career statistics (through 2008 season)
Games played	1,914
Hits	1,537
Home runs	79
Runs batted in	596
Stolen bases	101
Batting average	.251
Teams
San Diego Padres (1993-1996) Detroit Tigers (1996) Houston Astros (1997-1998) Detroit Tigers (1999-2000) Houston Astros (2001-2008)

Bradley David "Brad" Ausmus (born April 14, 1969 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American catcher in Major League Baseball, who is currently a free agent.

Entering the 2009 season, he ranked 9th in major league history in career games as a catcher (1,887), second in putouts (12,473) and total chances (13,489), and third in fielding percentage (.994). He is a three-time Gold Glove Award winner (2001-02, 2006). Through 2008, he also ranked fifth all-time among all Jewish major leaguers in career hits (1,537), and eighth in home runs (79; just ahead of Gabe Kapler and Ryan Braun) and runs batted in (596), trailing only Hank Greenberg and Shawn Green in all three categories.^[1] He also won the January 2007 Darryl Kile Award "for integrity and courage",^[2] presented annually by local chapters of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to players on the Astros and St. Louis Cardinals.^[3]

Ausmus's father, Harry, is a retired professor of European history at Southern Connecticut State University, and the author of "A Schopenhauerian Critique of Nietzsche's Thought," which Ausmus, calls his "favorite book."[1]

Ausmus was a standout athlete at Cheshire High School ('87) as a basketball guard.^[4] He was also a star in baseball; as a freshman he was a teammate of National Hockey League defenseman Brian Leetch, who was then a pitcher on the school's Connecticut state championship team in 1984. As a sophomore Ausmus played shortstop and batted .327, as a junior he hit .436, and as a senior he hit .411 and was named the Cheshire Area High School Player of the Year. Was named to the All-State team both his junior and senior years. He played a postgraduate year for Avon Old Farms and was their player of the year. ^[5]

Ausmus chose an unusual route to the major leagues. He initially refused to sign with the New York Yankees after the 1987 draft, instead choosing to pursue another childhood dream, that of attending Dartmouth College.^[6] The Yankees allowed him to attend classes at the Ivy League school while playing in the minor leagues during his off terms.^[7] (Dartmouth has an unusual academic calendar, giving students more flexibility to do such things.) Given NCAA rules barring paid professional athletes from playing college sports, the MLB-drafted minor leaguer Ausmus could not play for Dartmouth's team, the Big Green, and instead served as a volunteer coach and bullpen catcher. He graduated in 1991 with a B.A. in Government, and was a member of Chi Gamma Epsilon ("Chi Gam") fraternity. In 2005, Ausmus became the first Ivy League catcher to play in the World Series since Dartmouth's Chief Meyers in 1916.^[8]

Ausmus was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 48th round.

Ausmus spent five years in the Yankees' minor league system, then was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the 54th pick of the 1992 expansion draft. He spent less than a year in the Colorado organization. He was traded to the San Diego Padres with Andy Ashby and Doug Bochtler for Bruce Hurst and Greg Harris in July 1993.

He made his major league debut two days later, when he started for the Padres against the Chicago Cubs, and had a single in three at bats.^[9] In 1995 he batted .293, a career best, and stole 16 bases (the most by any catcher since Craig Biggio stole 19 in 1991). Within three years, Ausmus was on the move again. In June 1996, after 149 at bats in which he batted just .181, the Padres traded him, Andújar Cedeño and minor leaguer Russ Spear to the Detroit Tigers for John Flaherty and Chris Gomez.

Despite bouncing back somewhat in Detroit, hitting .248, Ausmus was again traded in December 1996, along with José Lima, Trever Miller, C. J. Nitkowski and Daryle Ward, to the Houston Astros for Doug Brocail, Brian Hunter, Todd Jones, Orlando Miller, and cash. This marked the first of three times Ausmus would be exchanged between the two teams.

In January 1999 he was traded by the Astros with C. J. Nitkowski to the Tigers for Paul Bako, Dean Crow, Brian Powell, and minor leaguers Carlos Villalobos and Mark Persails.

Generally considered light-hitting but sure-handed, Ausmus had his best offensive season in 1999 at the age of 30, when he batted .275 and set career highs in on base percentage (.365) and slugging percentage (.415), and made the All-Star team. He was hit by pitches 14 times, sixth in the league and a career high. Ausmus batted leadoff for the Tigers seven times, the first catcher since Bruce Kimm in 1976 to do so.

In December 2000, he was traded by the Tigers with Doug Brocail and Nelson Cruz to the Astros for Roger Cedeño, Chris Holt and Mitch Meluskey.

In November 2003, he signed as a free agent with the Astros, and he did the same in December 2005. In 2004 he batted .308 against left-handers, and .364 in situations that were "late and close" (in the seventh inning or later, with the score tied or the tying run on base, at the plate, or on deck).^[10] In 2005, he had more walks (51) than strikeouts (48). He batted .304 with two out and runners in scoring position. In 2006, Ausmus hit .230 and set a career high with nine sacrifice hits.

In 2007, Ausmus batted .235, but was tied for second among all National League catchers with six stolen bases. He recorded his 100th career stolen base on July 27, becoming the 21st catcher all time to reach the 100-steal plateau.^[11][2]

Ausmus, lauded for his baseball smarts and highly regarded by teammates, is widely considered managerial material when his playing career is over [3].

Ironically, Garner was fired on August 27.

After completing a two-year, $7.5 million deal, Ausmus accepted a 1-year, $2 million (plus incentives based on playing time) contract on October 30, 2007.^[13] The plan was for Ausmus to play on a part-time basis and mentor J. R. Towles, with Towles catching the majority of the games. Were Towles to struggle, however, the Astros were prepared to turn to Ausmus.^[11]

In May 2008, Ausmus (along with Johnny Damon, Andruw Jones and Derek Lowe) was one of only four active major league players who had played at least 10 years in the majors without ever going on the disabled list [4].

On May 13, 2008, Ausmus got his 1,500th career hit. He is one of only eight catchers in major league history to get 1,500 hits and steal at least 100 bases.

In early June, with Towles batting only .145, the Astros optioned him to the minors and re-inserted Ausmus as a starter [5].

In July, Ausmus played at Nationals Park, appearing in his 44th major league stadium. Among active players, only Chris Gomez (47), Gary Sheffield (47) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (45) had competed in more stadiums [6].

In August, he scored his 700th career run, becoming the 25th catcher to reach that mark.[7]

Later in the month he said: "This will be my last year in Houston. It’s just time to be closer to home."[8] He has a home in San Diego, which narrows it down to the Padres (which have expressed interest in him),[9] Dodgers, and Angels. The Red Sox are also tempting, since Ausmus has a home near Boston, in Cape Cod.[10]

On Sunday, Aug. 24th, the Astros played the NY Mets during the Mets International Heritage Week, an annual promotion. It happened to be Jewish Heritage Day, but though Ausmus is Jewish, he did not get to start the game. Ausmus had his only at bat during extra-innings, with the score at 4-4. Ausmus led off the 10th inning with his second homer of the season, and the Astros rallied for a 6-4 win.[11]

Before his final game as an Astro on September 28th, the team paid tribute to Ausmus with a humorous video. Ausmus went on to hit a 2-run home run in the 3rd inning of the game.

On January 21, 2009, Ausmus reportedly agreed to a 1-year, $1 million deal to be a back-up catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, pending a physical.^[14][15] He can make an additional $350,000 in incentives based on plate appearances.[12] The deal is pending the completion of a physical examination. Ausmus has stated he will wear number 12.^[16]

Known as "one of the best defensive catchers in the game" [13], Ausmus has exhibited better range at catcher than the league average each season in his career. He is known for his strong arm, quick release, nimble footwork, framing pitches deftly, and smart handling of pitchers. While the vast majority of his games have been as a catcher, Ausmus has also played a handful of games at first base, second base, third base and shortstop, all of them without making an error.

He nabbed 39% of opposing baserunners in 1995, second in the NL only to the Florida Marlins' Charles Johnson, and led the league's catchers with 14 double plays and 63 assists. On August 2, 1997, he was the first catcher to wear the FOX mini-camera, in a Houston-New York Mets game. In 1997, he had 16 double plays, a career best, and led the league in caught-stealing percentage, as he threw out 46 of 93 runners. In 1998, he finished second to Charles Johnson in the NL Gold Glove voting.

In 1999, he led the American League with a .998 fielding percentage. In 2000, he appeared in 150 games, starting 140, which was the most ever by a Detroit catcher. He led the league with 68 assists, and he threw out 30 of 74 baserunners attempting to steal (43.2%), leading the AL in that category. In 2001, he led the NL with a .997 fielding percentage and only one passed ball, had the second best caught-stealing percentage (40%) in the majors, and won the first of two consecutive National League Gold Gloves with the Astros. He led the league again with a .997 fielding percentage and an 8.40 range factor, while being charged with only two passed balls in 2002. In 2003, Ausmus had a .997 fielding percentage, for the third season in a row. He led the league with a .999 fielding percentage in 2005.

Ausmus led the league again with a .998 fielding percentage (the fifth-best of any catcher ever at the time) and a 7.94 range factor, with only one passed ball, and won his third Gold Glove in 2006. He made his franchise-record eighth Opening Day start at catcher for the Astros in 2007, breaking a tie with Alan Ashby. On July 22 of that year, Ausmus passed Gary Carter to move into sole possession of second place in major league career putouts by a catcher (11,792). In addition, he passed Ted Simmons that day to take sole possession of 12th place all-time on the games caught list, with 1,772.^[17] In 2007, he had the second-best fielding percentage (.995) and range factor (8.04) of all catchers in the NL, while being charged with only two passed balls. His 12,045 career putouts through 2007 rank second on the all-time list, trailing only Iván Rodríguez (12,510).

In 2008, Ausmus was also considered an "emergency infielder" for the Astros [14]. In April, he played second base in the ninth inning of a game, and later in the season he played first base and third base. In 2005, he even played an inning at shortstop [15].

Through 2008, Ausmus ranked 9th all-time in games caught (1,887).[16]

Ausmus has played in the postseason five times, all with the Astros, including the 2005 World Series. In Game 4 of the 2005 National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Ausmus homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game at 6-6 and send it to extra innings; the Astros went on to win the longest post-season game in history in the 18th inning.

Ausmus was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.^[18]

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Behind the Dugout: Brad Ausmus
• Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers -- Top 100 Fielding Seasons
• BaseballLibrary - biography and career highlights
• Baseball Almanac stats
• The Baseball Page
• Jews in Sports bio
• Jewish Sports
• "The Boys of Summer and Seder: Baseball, Passover share openers," 3/12/07
• Jewish major league career leaders
• Brad Ausmus Game Used Equipment

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