Ryan Braun (braunry02)

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2005 Bowman Sterling #BS-RB Ryan Braun

Ryan Joseph Braun

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[edit] Biographical Information

Ryan Braun made his major league debut in 2007 and is one of the reasons for the 2007 Milwaukee Brewers resurgence as a baseball power. Braun was Rookie of the Year in 2007 as well as leading the league in slugging percentage.

[edit] Religion

Braun's father is Jewish but is not halachically Jewish and told his college coach he was raised with "no faith" and his mother says "He's totally not Jewish." [1]. His father, Joe, is Israeli-born,[2] and immigrated to the United States at the age of 7.[3] 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.[4] Braun's nickname is The Hebrew Hammer,[5][6][7] and he said he's cool with that according to an unsourced newspaper article.[8] Research by Jewish sportswriter Nate Bloom was unable to come up with any source for such a claim and his family denies the nickname. [9] 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[10] and Hank Greenberg.[11]

"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."[1]

Braun lived for a time with his maternal non-Jewish grandfather in a house that previously belonged to Jewish Hall of Fame outfielder Hank Greenberg.[3] Braun's grandfather has lived in the house for over 40 years.[12]

Braun has said he is "half-Jewish" and never celebrated any Jewish holidays. [13]

[edit] Amateur Career

Undrafted out of high school, Ryan Braun went to the University of Miami for college. In 2003, he won the Baseball America Freshman of the Year award. As a sophomore SS/DH on the # 4 team in the country (according to Baseball America, Braun hit .335 and slugged .606, stealing 21 bases. In his junior year, he made the Atlantic Coast Conference All-Conference team at third base, splitting honors with Wes Hodges. Braun hit .388 (sixth in the ACC), homered 18 times (second-best), slugged .726, stole 23 and drove in a conference-high 76. He was 9th in NCAA Division I in slugging and 10th in RBI.

He was named to Baseball America's 2005 College All-American Team as the DH.

[edit] Draft

Drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the fifth overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft, Braun signed for $2,450,000. 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.

[edit] Minors

Assigned to the Helena Brewers, Braun batted .341/.383/.585 in 10 games, driving in 10 runs, then found himself up with the West Virginia Power, where he showed lots of power, hitting .355/.396/.645 with 26 extra-base hits and 35 RBI in 37 contests. Braun was rated the 5th-best prospect in the South Atlantic League following that season.

Beginning the 2006 season with the Brevard County Manatees, Ryan was hitting .274/.346/.438 with 14 steals in 18 tries when he was promoted to the Huntsville Stars, where he hit .303 with 15 homers in 59 games.

Braun was considered the best Jewish minor league baseball prospect in 2006.[2]. Minor league columnist Jonathan Mayo wrote that Braun is "[b]y far the top Jewish prospect in baseball."

Braun was selected to play in the 2006 Futures Game and went 0 for 1 as the backup third baseman to Alex Gordon. Baseball America rated Braun the best batting prospect in the Florida State League.

Braun began the 2007 season with the Nashville Sounds. After hitting .342 with 10 homers in 34 games, he was promoted to the Brewers.

[edit] Major Leagues

In 2007, Braun hit more home runs (34) than all but 4 of the top 10 career Jewish home run hitters had hit in their best seasons. Only Hank Greenberg (58), Shawn Green (49), and Al Rosen (43) hit more in a single year.

Braun was voted the National League Rookie of the Month for June and July, as well as the NL Player of the Month for July 2007.

On July 7, he became the fastest Brewer ever to hit his 10th major league home run. 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. He easily eclipsed Bill Schroeder's pace as the fastest Brewer to 20 career home runs; it had taken Schroeder 94 games and Braun 64.

As of August 12, after 70 games, Braun led the Major Leagues in slugging percentage (.666), and led the National League in batting average (.348) among hitters with at least 300 plate appearances. In addition, he had the best batting average (.468), OBP (.553), and slugging percentage (1.026) against left-handed MLB hitters with at least 75 plate appearances against them. He was also leading the Brewers in batting average, slugging percentage, and OBP (.392), was 2nd in home runs (22) and tied for 2nd in triples (4), and was 3rd on the team in RBIs (59) and steals (10) -- despite not having played in 48 games in the first half of the season.

At that point, he also led all NL rookies in batting average, slugging percentage, OBP, home runs, and total bases, was tied for 2nd in triples (behind Hunter Pence), 2nd in RBIs (behind Troy Tulowitzki), 3rd in runs (54; behind Tulowitzki and Chris Young) and 4th in stolen bases (behind Young, Michael Bourn, and Rajai Davis).

On September 9, he followed Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy in homering off of Phil Dumatrait to open the game against the Reds. This made the trio the first in MLB history to start a contest with three straight homers. (Two other teams have hit three homers to start the bottom of the first inning.)

Braun struggled defensively as a rookie, posting a fielding percentage of .895; it was the first fielding percentage under .900 by a MLB regular since Butch Hobson in 1978.

Offensively, Braun finished with a .324/.370/.634 batting line with 34 homers, 91 runs, 97 RBI and 15 steals in 20 tries in 113 games for the 2007 Brewers. He led the 2007 NL in slugging percentage and was among the top 10 in OPS (5th) and homers (tied for fifth with Miguel Cabrera and Lance Berkman).

Braun hit his 56th MLB home run in his 200th game. Only Mark McGwire (59) and Rudy York (59) had hit more in their first 200 games. Braun helped the Brewers set a franchise record with homers in 20 straight games when he delivered a 2-run, 9th-inning game-winner off of Ryan Franklin on July 24.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year

Braun was voted the 2007 NL Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award, in a vote by 488 major league players and 30 managers.[14][15]

[edit] Baseball America Rookie of the Year

Braun was awarded the 2007 Baseball America Rookie of the Year.[16]

[edit] Brewers Top Newcomer

In October, he was voted the Brewers Top Newcomer by members of the Milwaukee chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.[17]

[edit] BBWAA Rookie of the Year

Braun became the first player with any Jewish heritage to win the BBWAA Rookie of the Year Award, beating out Troy Tulowitzki in a close race for the 2007 National League Rookie of the Year Award.

  1. ↑ "Give Jewish media an error on Braun," Texas Jewish Post, 10/25/07, accessed 10/28/07
  2. ↑ "Moving to the Big Leagues, Braun becomes next Jewish baseball hope," The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, accessed 9/13/07
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Rookie could make history — but will he cut Yom Kippur?,", Jewish Standard (New Jersey), August 31, 2007. Accessed September 13, 2007.
  4. ↑ Minor League's top Jewish prospects, May 10, 2006.
  5. ↑ "Graduation Day: June 26 through July 7," Prospect Prospect, 7/7/07, accessed 9/13/07
  6. ↑ "Five Up, Five Down," Sports Illustrated, 8/24/07, accessed 9/13/07
  7. ↑ "Ten great baseball flicks that relate to this year's pennant races," ESPN, 8/16/07, accessed 9/13/07
  8. ↑ "Greenberg To Green To...Braun?", The Jewish Press, August 8, 2007. Accessed September 13, 2007.
  9. ↑ "Give Jewish media an error on Braun," Texas Jewish Post, 10/25/07, accessed 10/28/07
  10. ↑ "Al Rosen," SABR, accessed 9/13/07
  11. ↑ "Off Base ...with Ryan Gorcey," The Daily Californian, 9/13/06, accessed 9/13/07
  12. ↑ "Get to know Brewers 3B Ryan Braun, The Sporting News, 8/8/07, accessed September 10, 2007.
  13. ↑ MLB.com, 9/14/07 entry regarding Braun and Yom Kippur, accessed October 28, 2007
  14. ↑ "Sporting News honors A-Rod; Third baseman earns magazine's Player of the Year award," MLB.com, 10/15/07, accessed 10/17/07
  15. ↑ "SN awards: A-Rod is player of the year," The Sporting News, 10/15/07, accessed 10/17/07
  16. ↑ "Record-Setting Bat Propels Braun," Baseball America, 10/17/07, accessed 10/18/07
  17. ↑ "Brewers Players Receive Awards," Associated Press, 10/18/07, accessed 10/18/07

[edit] Notable Achievements


NL Rookie of the Year
2006 2007 2008
Hanley Ramirez Ryan Braun Geovany Soto

[edit] Related Sites

Sources: 2005-2007 Baseball Almanacs, minorleaguebaseball.com, Jonathan Mayo column in the 5/4/06 Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh

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