Brendan Ryan (baseball)

For other people named Brendan Ryan, see Brendan Ryan (disambiguation).

Brendan Ryan
St. Louis Cardinals – No. 13
Shortstop
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
June 2, 2007, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Batting Average	.279
Home Runs	7
Runs Batted In	59
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (2007-present)

Brendan Wood Ryan (born March 26, 1982, in Los Angeles, California) is a shortstop in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals. He made his major league debut for the Cardinals on June 2, 2007 against the Houston Astros. He bats right-handed and throws right-handed. He is 6' 2" and weighs 195 pounds. Although he has typically fielded at shortstop in his professional career, Brendan has been known to play at second and third base and has dabbled with pitching.

He is the son of Katie Ryan and Jim Ryan, who lettered for Loyola Marymount University as shortstop/third baseman. Jim holds the single season record for most hits with a wood bat by an LMU Lion. His uncle, Willie Ryan, was a National Champion First Team All American first baseman for USC while his other uncle, Dr. Patrick Ryan was a college sprinter at UCLA and Michigan State. Coming from a strong baseball pedigree, Brendan, the youngest of four, is well known for his overall athletic ability and undying competitive spirit.

Ryan was a four-year letterman on the Notre Dame High School baseball team. As the Knights second baseman he was elected to the All CIF team his senior year (2000). That same year he received CIF All-State honors, was a Los Angeles Times "Gold Glove" selection, and guided Notre Dame to the CIF Southern Section Championship Game at Dodger Stadium. Ryan also played for several Area Code and American Legion teams during his high school career.

His father dubbed him "The Boog" after Boog Powell when he was a baby and the nickname has stuck with family and friends since.

College

In the Fall of 2000, Brendan joined the NAIA powerhouse Lewis-Clark State College and continued his baseball success. In his first season he batted .375 with 5 triples, the third most ever by a Warrior. As a sophomore shortstop, Ryan hit .359 with 34 RBIs and hit .378 with runners on. During the 2002 season, he hit safely in 18 straight games.

Beyond his impressive offensive numbers, Ryan began to gain a reputation as a remarkable defensive infielder. In 2003, Brendan entered the MLB amateur draft and was drafted in the seventh round (215th overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Minor leagues

Ryan hit .311 for the St. Louis Cardinals rookie league affiliate New Jersey Cardinals in 2003. In 2004, he was promoted to the Cardinals Class A affiliate, the Peoria Chiefs. With a .322 batting average and 30 steals in the 2004 season, another promotion came for Ryan, this time to the High A Class team, the Palm Beach Cardinals, where Ryan was selected as a Florida State League All-Star. He was promoted again during the middle of 2005 season to Class AA Springfield Cardinals.

In 2006, Ryan suffered a wrist injury in spring training limiting him to 28 games spread among four stops in the minors. That same year, Ryan appeared in 28 games for the Peoria Saguaros in the Arizona Fall League and batted .310 (39-for-126) with two home runs, 19 runs and 20 RBI. His 39 hits were tied for tops for the 2006 AFL season. He collected two four-hit games and hit safely in his first eight AFL games (.425 BA) and 10 of his first 11 (.396).

Major leagues

File:Boog.jpg

Ryan hitting his first big league home run.

In his rookie year he hit for a .289 batting average with 4 home runs and 11 runs batted in. Ryan also scored 29 runs and recorded 7 stolen bases without being caught stealing. He batted significantly better against left-handed pitching in his first season with a batting average of .354, as opposed to his .232 average against right-handers. Ryan was originally called up on June 2, 2007, and was later sent down on July 27, 2007. Ryan was called up again for the rest of the season on August 12, 2007.

His first major league home run came in a dramatic form; a game-winner in the top of the 11th inning of Scott Schoeneweis of the New York Mets on June 26, 2007. His second home run also came rather dramatically, as he contributed to a four run comeback on July 4, 2007 when the Cardinals were at one point behind 4-1. The Cardinals won the game 5-4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He was rehabbing a rib cage injury in the minor leagues in the first month of the 2008 season until called up on April 23.

Ryan entered the 2009 season back with the St Louis Cardinals as a primary utility infielder and moved up to be their primary shortstop in June, batting over .300 and playing spectacular defense.

On August 20, 2009 in the second inning of the Cardinals and Padres Game, Ryan hit his first career grand slam off of San Diego pitcher Tim Stauffer.

On September 19, 2009, Ryan hit a walk off single off Chicago Cubs closer Carlos Marmol. Ryan also had a home run in the 2-1 win. His game winning single was the first walk off hit of his career.

By the end of the 2009 regular season, Ryan's defense at shortstop had been recognized as a major factor in the Cardinals' divisional title.

Ryan has a well known mustache in the baseball world, which is nominated for the American Mustache Institute's mustache of 2009. He is also very well known for his eccentric personality and helps keep thing loose in the Cardinals' clubhouse with his near perfect imitation of actor, Robert DeNiro.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
• stlcardinals.scout.com - Ryan player profile page at Scout.com