Jewogle - Brad Ausmus

Biography:

Bradley David "Brad" Ausmus (born April 14, 1969) is an American three-time Gold Glove Award winning catcher in Major League Baseball with the Houston Astros. With more than 100 games caught in 11 consecutive seasons, he ranks third among active catchers in games played. He is fifth all-time of all Jewish Major Leaguers in hits, and eighth in home runs and RBIs, trailing only Hank Greenberg and Shawn Green in all three categories. He also won the 2007 Darryl Kile Award "for integrity and courage".

Early life:

High school:

Ausmus was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a standout athlete at Cheshire High School ('87), in basketball, as a guard. 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 high school's baseball Connecticut state championship team in 1984. As a sophomore he played shortstop and batted .327, as a junior he hit .436, and as a senior he hit .411 and was named the Chesire (CT) Area High School Player of the Year. Was named to the All-State team both his junior and senior years.

Draft and college:

Ausmus chose an unusual route to the Major Leagues. He initially refused to sign with the Yankees after the 1987 draft, instead choosing to pursue another childhood dream, that of attending Dartmouth College. The Yankees allowed him to attend classes at the Ivy League school while playing in the minor leagues during his off terms. (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 1916.

Ausmus was not drafted until the Yankees picked him in the 48th round, but of the 1,150 players drafted ahead of him in 1987 only five (Ken Griffey, Jr., Mike Timlin, Reggie Sanders, Mike Mussina, and Jeff Cirillo) are still in the game.

Minor league career:

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.

Major league career:

San Diego Padres (1993-96):

He made his Major League debut two days later, when he started for the Padres against the Chicago Cubs, and went 1-for-3 with a single. 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, Andujar Cedeno, and minor leaguer Russ Spear to the Detroit Tigers for John Flaherty and Chris Gomez.

Detroit Tigers (1996):

Despite bouncing back somewhat in Detroit, hitting .248, Ausmus was again traded in December 1996. He was traded with Jose 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.

Houston Astros (1997-98):

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

Detroit Tigers (1999-2000):

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 Detroit Tigers with Doug Brocail and Nelson Cruz to the Houston Astros for Roger Cedeno, Chris Holt, and Mitch Meluskey.

Houston Astros (2001-present):

In November 2003, he signed as a free agent with the Houston 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). In 2005, he had more walks (51) than strikeouts (48). He batted .304 with 2 out and runners in scoring position. In 2006, Ausmus hit .230 and set a career high with nine sacrifice hits.

In 2007, Ausmus was batted .235, but was tied for second of all NL 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.

Ausmus is considered managerial material when his playing career is over.

"Yeah, but if he keeps playing me more, he may end up losing his job anyway".
--Ausmus, in a quick-witted response

"I have to keep him playing, because if he starts managing, he'll be better than me."
--Astros' manager Phil Garner, joking

Ironically Garner was fired on August 27th.

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. The plan is for Ausmus to play on a part-time basis and mentor J. R. Towles, with Towles catching the majority of the games. Should Towles struggle, however, the Astros can turn to Ausmus.

Defense:

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 at 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 Marlins' Charles Johnson, and led the league with 14 double plays and 63 assists at catcher. 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 AL 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 1 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 Houston Astros. He led the league again with a .997 fielding percentage and an 8.40 range factor, while being charged with only 2 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 1 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, 2007, Ausmus passed Gary Carter to move into sole possession of second place in Major League career putouts by a catcher (11,792). Ausmus in addition passed Ted Simmons that day to take sole possession of 12th place all-time on the games caught list, with 1,772. He also had the 3rd best lifetime fielding average (.991) of any catcher with a minimum of 1,000 games played. In 2007 he had the 2nd-best fielding percentage (.995) and range factor (8.04) of all catchers in the NL, while being charged with only 2 passed balls. His 12,040 career putouts through 2007 rank second on the all-time list, trailing only Ivan Rodriguez (12,504).

Post-season career:

Ausmus has played in the post-season 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 9th to tie the game at 6-6 and send it to extra innings; the Astros eventually won in the 18th inning of the longest postseason game in Major League history.

National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame:

Ausmus was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.