Jewogle - Ryan Braun

Biography:

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

He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, during which he led the National League in slugging percentage. He also won the Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year, the Baseball America Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball NL Rookie of the Year, and the Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie Awards. Over the prior decade, the only other NL hitter to win all 5 awards was Albert Pujols, in 2001.

Heritage and early life:

Jewish heritage:

Braun's father, Joe, is Israeli-born, and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven.

Braun is Jewish. "It's something that draws a lot of interest and something I take pride in," Braun said. His nickname is "The Hebrew Hammer," and Braun said he's cool with that. It references his Jewish heritage, former Brewer Hank Aaron (whose nickname was "Hammerin' Hank"), and the movie The Hebrew Hammer, starring Adam Goldberg. It is also the nickname of teammate Gabe Kapler, and in the past was a nickname of Al Rosen and Hank Greenberg.

He 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, and became major league baseball's first Jewish Rookie of the Year the following season. In 2007, Braun hit more home runs (34) than all but 3 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, coincidentally, the family name of Sandy Koufax, until his mother remarried and he took his stepfather's name. "There's no (family) connection that I know of," Braun said, "but it's kind of cool." In another coincidence, Braun lived for a time with his maternal grandfather in a house that previously belonged to Jewish Hall of Fame outfielder Hank Greenberg. Braun's grandfather has lived in the house for over 40 years.

High school:

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. During his junior year he hit .421, with a .668 OBP. Braun capped off his high school career by batting .451 as a senior, with an OBP of .675, and breaking the school record for career home runs (with 25).

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

College:

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." There, Braun 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. He clinched the awards by batting .364 with 76 RBIs and 17 home runs. As a sophomore shortstop/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.

Minor leagues (2005-07):

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 $2.45 million. 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. In July he was voted the Brewers' Organizational Player of the Month, and at the end of the season he was voted the 6th-best prospect in 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.

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

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.

Major leagues:

Milwaukee Brewers (2007-present):

2007:

Spring training:

The Brewers brought Braun to spring training in 2007. Their regular third baseman Corey Koskie, suffering from post-concussion syndrome, missed all of spring training -- he later ended up missing the entire season. While the Brewers intended to platoon veterans 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. In 11 games he batted .353 with a .912 slugging percentage, tying for 10th in the majors in home runs (5), and 2nd in RBIs (15), despite having missed 7 games. 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.”

Regular season:

On May 24th, Braun was called up to the Brewers. He hit his first major league home run two nights later, 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." That did in fact happen later; in September he was inducted into the annual rite of Brewers' rookies being required to put on silly costumes, and wore a hot dog costume for a team flight to Atlanta.

Braun was voted the National League Rookie of the Month for June, after leading all N.L. rookies with 21 RBIs. 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. In July he was voted the National League Rookie of the Month for the second straight month, as well as the NL Player of the Month (marking the first time a player won both awards in the same month). He hit a league-leading 11 home runs, with 25 RBIs, while batting .345.).

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 hit 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. At the end of August, however, Yost reversed the switch.

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."

In September, as the Brewers sought in vain to capture the pennant, he was 3rd in the NL in runs (27) and RBIs (29), and tied for 5th in home runs (9), while batting .308 with a .644 slugging percentage.

2008:

The Bill James Handbook projections for Braun for 2008 are: .326 batting average, 46 homers, 122 RBIs, 121 runs, 20 steals, and a 1.042 OPS. Braun may hit either second, or cleanup, behind Fielder, giving him more opportunities to steal.

In late February Braun's agent, Nez Balelo, sat down with Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash regarding Braun's 2008 contract. The talks could lead to discussions on a multi-year extension. Ash laid out the Brewers' system of compensating players with zero to three years of Major League service, which is based on the past year's performance, awards, and the annual Elias rankings. There is a strong chance Braun will not be eligible for arbitration until the 2010-11 offseason.

Tools:

Hitting:

"There is something about the way the ball jumps off his bat. You can hear it."
--Assistant General Manager Gord Ash

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. 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."

Speed:

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. 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.

Defense:

Third base:

A shortstop most of his life and in college, Braun was inconsistent on defense after switching to third base in 2006. However, he was at the same time been noted for his athleticism on defense, his occasional web gems, and particularly for his powerful throwing arm,. which was rated the best infield arm in the Brewers' minor league system by Baseball America in early 2007. Braun was charged with 34 errors in 2006, the majority on throws. "It's a matter of proper footwork," according to Ash at the beginning of 2007. "Most of his problems come because he relies on his arm, which is very strong."

"I think Braunie's biggest problem is reading the ball off the bat. He's gotten a lot better on the routine plays, has gotten a lot better with his throws. He's a very good athlete. He's working very hard at it. He's going to get better, no doubt about it. He hasn't played a lot of third base. We tend to forget that."
— Brewers coach Dale Sveum, a former big league third baseman.

While Yost removed Braun from a number of games in September 2007 for defense, he praised Braun for his improvements. "The great thing about it is it doesn't involve throwing at all now," said Yost, referring to Braun's biggest issue in the spring. "It involves first-step quickness to the ball, which will increase his range. [He needs to] soften his hands a little bit. [His] hand-eye coordination to the ball needs to be a little better. That comes with repetition, repetition, repetition." Braun finished 2007 last of all eligible third basemen in fielding percentage (.895, with 26 errors in 248 total chances; only the fourth third baseman since 1916 to play 100 games or more in a season and have a fielding percentage under .900), range factor (2.11), and zone rating (.697). His target at first base was Prince Fielder, who finished 2007 last of all eligible major league first basemen in range factor (8.49), and first in errors (14). Similarly, his target at second base, Rickie Weeks, had the lowest fielding percentage of all NL second basemen (.976), and the lowest zone rating among all major league second basemen, .737.

Furthermore, it was suggested that it is possible that Braun would learn to play the position adequately, given that David Wright (who tied for the major league lead in errors by a third baseman in 2005 (his second in the league) in 2007 became a "passable defender" (and won the NL Gold Glove at third base).

Braun, for his part, noted after the 2007 season: "It's only my second full (professional) year of playing third base. I don't expect to be perfect, but I certainly expect to be better than I have been. I have to continue to work hard, and hopefully I'll improve."

Left field:

In January 2008, however, the Brewers acquired three-time Gold Glove winning center fielder Mike Cameron, prompting the team to move center fielder Bill Hall to third base and Braun to left field. Before the news broke, Braun was taking ground balls at Pepperdine University near Los Angeles when General Manager Doug Melvin left him a voicemail. After returning the call and learning of the team's plans, Braun grabbed his outfield glove, and started taking fly balls. Braun said that he supported the switch, and is ready to make the transition. "[The outfield glove] is not broken in yet, but it will get there. I feel like I'm a good enough athlete and have a good enough work ethic to make the transition pretty easily." Braun appears to have the speed, arm, and athleticism to make the transition to the outfield.