Ben Risinger

Last updated

Benjamin Risinger, (born 25 November 1977 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian professional baseball player.

Contents

Early Career

Risinger played for the Australian entry that won Bronze at the 1995 World Junior Baseball Championship. He made his professional debut in the 1995–1996 Australian Baseball League, hitting .265/.321/.286 as a backup infielder for the Perth Heat. The next year he went 0 for 15 with 4 walks for Perth.

In the 1997–1998 season, the right-handed batter batted .244/.351/.358 for the Melbourne Monarchs. Risinger was 9 for 25 with 6 walks, 2 doubles and a home run in the 2000–2001 International Baseball League of Australia season.

Minor league career

Signing with the Springfield Capitals, Risinger helped them to the 1998 Frontier League title as the regular shortstop. He hit .242 and slugged .366. He saw scant action for Melbourne in the winter, going 4 for 15 with 2 doubles and a walk. Moving on to Organized Baseball, the 21-year-old played for the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation in 1999, hitting .249/~.309/.334 for the Hickory Crawdads as their primary third baseman and also seeing time at shortstop, first base and second base.

Pittsburgh traded Risinger to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later (who became Luis Andújar). [1] In 2000, Ben split time between the Fort Wayne Wizards (.176/.268/.201 in 50 games) and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (.260/.345/.460 in 15 games). He played catcher, second base, third base, the outfield and pitched that year, only missing out on shortstop.

In 2001, he played for the Lake Elsinore Storm, producing at a .251/.333/.305 clip in 105 games, playing at least 15 games at shortstop, second base, third base and catcher. Lake Elsinore was co-champion of the California League when the final series was cancelled due to the attack on the World Trade Center on 11 September.

In 2002, Risinger had his best minor league season. Playing for the AA Mobile BayBears, he batted .288/.357/.363 with 26 doubles. He played every position except pitcher, primarily being used at third base (97 games). He just missed the Southern League's top 10 in batting average, falling 4 points shy. He was named to the SL All-Star team as a utility man.

Risinger was primarily a 3B/C in 2003 when he made his AAA debut with the Portland Beavers. He hit .252/.321/.371 in 86 games of action. In 2004, he batted .242/.310/.344 in 79 contests for the Beavers, playing every position except the outfield. The next season, his average fell further as he only eked out a batting line of .211/.369/.336 in 41 games; all he had going for him was the fact that he managed to get hit by pitch 13 times. He cut back on the number of positions played, appearing at catcher, [2] first base and third base. He was not close to the Pacific Coast League lead in times plunked as Carlos Quentin was hit 29 times.

Released by Portland, Risinger signed with the Gary SouthShore RailCats and hit .310. In the postseason, he batted .432 with a team-high 3 home runs and 12 RBI as Gary won the Northern League title.

San Diego re-signed Risinger [3] but he only played one game for Portland in 2006 (going 0 for 3). He was then brought up to San Diego, not as a player, but as the bullpen catcher when Mark Merila was battling a brain tumor.

National Team career

In the 2006 Intercontinental Cup, Risinger put on a fine show hitting .550-.625–1.000 with 6 runs, 3 doubles, 2 home runs and 6 RBI in 7 games at DH. He led the Cup in average but was not included in the All-Star team as Maximiliano De Biase was chosen as the DH. Risinger tied Omar Linares for the third-highest average in an Intercontinental Cup from 1991–2007, trailing only Jeffrey Cranston (.591, 1995) and fellow Australian team member Paul Gonzalez (.571, 1994). Risinger was a RF-DH for Australia in the 2007 Baseball World Cup and hit .346-.485-.423, getting hit by four pitches in 8 games. He only scored one run despite getting on base frequently, but did drive in seven. He had a couple key hits. Against South Korea, he came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, two outs and Justin Huber aboard.

After falling behind 0–2 in the count, he smacked a 93-mph fastball from Doo-sung Hwang into deep center field to drive in Huber with the winning run. Against Canada, he came to bat with a 5–4 lead in the 9th and Brad Harman and Huber aboard. He delivered a 2-run single off of ex-major leaguer Mike Johnson for a 7–4 lead. The hit became significant when Canada scored twice in the bottom of the 9th. Had Risinger hit into a double play instead of singling, Australia would have lost the game.

In the Beijing 2008 Baseball Qualification Tournament, Risinger hit .267-.290-.400 as the main Australian left fielder. He was 4 for 5 with 3 runs and 4 RBI against Spain but otherwise hit .192 with no RBI in the event. Australia did not make the top three and failed to earn a trip to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

2009 World Baseball Classic

He participated with Australia in 2009 World Baseball Classic, [4] he played as first base in all team games. Against Mexico, he hit .400 and was 2 for 5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI included a HR. [5]

Related Research Articles

Luis Salazar Venezuelan baseball player

Luis Ernesto Salazar Garcia is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1992 as a third baseman and outfielder for the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox (1985–86), Detroit Tigers (1988), and the Chicago Cubs (1989–92). Salazar is currently the manager for the A advanced Florida Fire Frogs.

Khalil Greene American baseball player

Khalil Thabit Greene is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals.

Shawn Wooten American baseball coach and former player

William Shawn Wooten is the assistant major league hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels. He is a former professional baseball player. He played all or part of five seasons in Major League Baseball with the Anaheim Angels (2000–03), Philadelphia Phillies (2004), and Boston Red Sox (2005). He bats and throws right-handed.

Mike Heath American baseball player

Michael Thomas Heath is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played fourteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees (1978), Oakland Athletics (1979–1985), St. Louis Cardinals (1986), Detroit Tigers (1986–1990), and Atlanta Braves (1991).

The 2000 Minnesota Twins was the last Twins team in a consecutive-string record of eight losing seasons. The team finished with a 69–93 record, with weak hitting but slightly better pitching. One would not have suspected that this team, led by Manager Tom Kelly, would contain the nucleus of Ron Gardenhire's team that will reach the postseason only two years later.

David Murphy (baseball) American baseball player

David Matthew Murphy is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Brendan Kingman is an Australian baseball player and coach for the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League.

William Hayden "Stubby" Greer was a player, coach and manager in Minor League Baseball.

The 1984 Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series, defeating the San Diego Padres, 4 games to 1. The season was their 84th since they entered the American League in 1901.

The 1909 Detroit Tigers won the American League pennant with a record of 98–54, but lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1909 World Series, 4 games to 3. The season was their 9th since they were charter members of the American League in 1901. It was the third consecutive season in which they won the pennant but lost the World Series. Center fielder Ty Cobb won the Triple Crown and pitcher George Mullin led the league in wins (29) and winning percentage (.784).

The 1971 Detroit Tigers finished in second place in the American League East with a 91–71 record, 12 games behind the Orioles. They outscored their opponents 701 to 645. They drew 1,591,073 fans to Tiger Stadium, the second highest attendance in the American League.

Percy Isenia Dutch baseball player

Percy Isenia is a Dutch former baseball player who played for SV ADO and the Dutch national team.

Tjerk Smeets is a Dutch baseball player who currently plays for Kinheim and the Dutch national team. He is the son of Dutch radio and television personality, writer, and columnist Mart Smeets.

Michael Collins (baseball)

Michael John Donald Collins is an Australian baseball manager, coach and former player. He is currently the catching coach for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Son Si-hyun South Korean baseball player

Son Si-hyun is a South Korean shortstop for the NC Dinos in the KBO League. He bats and throws right-handed.

Greg Legg American baseball player

Gregory Lynn Legg, is an American professional baseball second baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, in two seasons (1986–1987). During his playing days, Legg stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m), weighing 185 pounds (84 kg).

Austin Nola American baseball player

Austin Kyle Nola is an American professional baseball catcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners.

Javier Alexis Guerra[gayr'rah] is a Panamanian professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Guerra began his career as an infielder, reaching MLB as such in 2018, but converted to pitching in 2019.

The 1910 Portland Beavers season was the eighth season in the history of the Portland Beavers baseball team. The team compiled a 114–87 record and won the Pacific Coast League (PCL) pennant by one-and-a-half games over the Oakland Oaks. The Beavers won five PCL pennants between 1906 and 1914.

The 1921 Detroit Stars baseball team competed in the Negro National League (NNL) during the 1921 baseball season. The Stars compiled a 38–46–1 record (.453) and finished fifth in the NNL.

References

  1. ↑ Unofficial Pirates email list reference to Risinger trade in 2000
  2. ↑ North County Times article mentioning Risinger's work as bullpen catcher
  3. ↑ "Article on the Padres re-signing Risinger in December 2005". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  4. ↑ 2009 Australia WBC Roster
  5. ↑ "World Baseball Classic".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.