Ludwick
Ryan Andrew Ludwick (born July 13, 1978 in Satellite Beach, Florida) is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. His brother Eric played four seasons in Major League Baseball as a pitcher.
High school[]
Ludwick attended Durango High School (Nevada) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UNLV Rebels[]
Ludwick played for the UNLV Rebels for three seasons before being drafted in 1999 by the Oakland Athletics in the second round, 60th overall. At UNLV, where he was named to the Baseball America all-Freshman team in 1997 after batting .354 with 16 home runs and 68 RBI, he was All-WAC in 1999, hitting .381 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI. Ludwick had a .363 career batting average at UNLV.[1]
Early career[]
Ludwick was originally a second round draft choice of the Oakland Athletics. Ludwick was traded to the Texas Rangers before the 2002 season, along with Gerald Laird, Jason Hart, and Mario Ramos, for first baseman Carlos Peña and pitcher Mike Venafro.
Ludwick made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2002, but his season was cut short when he fractured his hip in 2002, an injury which significantly hampered his career. In 2003, Ludwick was traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Ricardo Rodríguez and outfielder Shane Spencer. Ludwick spent the 2006 season playing for the Toledo Mud Hens, the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, and was named to the International League team for the 2006 Triple-A All-Star Game. Ludwick enjoyed great success in the Detroit organization, but the Tigers just had too many young outfielders, therefore they let him go.
St. Louis Cardinals[]
In 2007, Ludwick was invited to spring training by the Cardinals and started in Triple-A Memphis. On May 6, 2007, Ludwick was promoted to the Cardinals after Preston Wilson went on the DL. Ludwick had been hitting well for Memphis.
His fast start in 2008 earned him an everyday player role. Ryan was named to his first All-Star game on July 6, and played it at Yankee Stadium. Ludwick won the National League Player of the week the week of July 27-August 2. On August 14, Ludwick hit his 29th home run[2] of the 2008 season; this broke the record for the most home runs in a season by a player who throws left-handed yet bats right-handed previously held by Ricky Henderson.[3]
Ludwick won a Silver Slugger Award for his offensive performance in 2008 along with fellow outfielders Matt Holliday and Ryan Braun.[4]
Ludwick is mainly a right fielder, but also gets playing time in left field and occasionally in center field.
Career statistics[]
| Year | Age | Team | Lg | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS+ | TB | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP | VORP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 23 | Texas | AL | 23 | 81 | 10 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 24 | .235 | .295 | .346 | 66 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -2.2 | |
| 2003 | 24 | TEX/CLE | AL | 47 | 162 | 17 | 40 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 48 | .247 | .299 | .438 | 93 | 71 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.7 | |
| 2004 | 25 | Cleveland | AL | 15 | 50 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | .220 | .278 | .380 | 74 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | -1.5 | |
| 2005 | 26 | Cleveland | AL | 19 | 41 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 13 | .220 | .333 | .512 | 125 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.4 | |
| 2007 | 28 | St. Louis | NL | 120 | 303 | 42 | 81 | 22 | 0 | 14 | 52 | 4 | 4 | 26 | 72 | .267 | .339 | .479 | 110 | 145 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 10.9 | |
| 2008 | 29 | St. Louis | NL | 152 | 538 | 104 | 161 | 40 | 3 | 37 | 113 | 4 | 4 | 62 | 146 | .299 | .375 | .591 | 150 | 318 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 53.6 | |
| Totals: | 359 | 1120 | 176 | 303 | 73 | 4 | 61 | 197 | 12 | 8 | 109 | 298 | .271 | .342 | .506 | 120 | 567 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 14 | 55.8 | ||||
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References[]
- ↑ http://www.ryanludwick.com/information.htm
- ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?playerId=5036 Game log 2008
- ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/743 most home runs by a player throwing LH batting RH Ricky Henderson.
- ↑ Derrick Gould (2008-11-13). Ryan Ludwick, Albert Pujols win Silver Slugger bats. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved on 2008-11-13.
External links[]
| Search Wikimedia Commons | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ryan Ludwick |
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Ludwick player profile page at stlcardinals.scout.com
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