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Kevin Youkilis
File:KevinYouklis.JPG
Boston Red Sox – No. 20
First Baseman
Bats: RightThrows: Right
debut
May 15, 2004, for the Boston Red Sox
Career statistics (through June 2, 2007)
Hits	300
HR	29
RBI	146
Stats at Baseball Reference

Kevin Edmund Youkilis (born March 15, 1979, in Cincinnati, Ohio), nicknamed "Youk", is an American first baseman and right-handed batter who plays for the Boston Red Sox.

Prior to 2006, when he took over as the team's first baseman, he primarily played third base. He has also played second base and left field.

Early baseball career

Youkilis was a member of the 1994 Sycamore High School team that won the AAU National Championship. Later in college, he was a All-American for two of his four seasons at University of Cincinnati. While there, he set the school records for home runs (53), walks (206), slugging percentage (.627), and on base percentage (.499). In 2001, the Boston Red Sox drafted Youkilis in the 8th round (243rd overall).

Minor league career

In 2001, Youkilis made his professional debut as a catcher with the Lowell Spinners, a Short-Season A Class franchise in the New York - Penn League. He went on to hit for a .317 batting average and scored 58 runs in 59 games. After leaving Lowell, he played five games with the Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic League, a Low-A Class league.

In 2002, Youkilis rose rapidly through Boston's farm system. He appeared in 15 games for Augusta, in 76 games for the Sarasota Sox|, and in 44 games for the Trenton Thunder. In his 44 games with Trenton, Youkilis hit for a .344 batting average and a .500 slugging percentage. In recognition of his performance on the field, the Boston Red Sox named Youkilis their 2002 Minor League Player of the Year.

In 2003, Youkilis started the season with the Portland Sea Dogs. In 94 games, he had a .487 on base percentage. Later, he earned a spot on the Eastern League All-Star team. After Portland, Youkilis moved up to play for the Pawtucket Red Sox, the Boston Red Sox Class-AAA franchise. During his time with Pawtucket, Youkilis managed to complete a streak he started while in Portland; he reached base in 71 consecutive games. This streak tied the minor league record for consecutive games in which a player reached base. The other person to accomplish the record is former Red Sox Kevin Millar.

In 2004, Youkilis appeared in 32 games for Pawtucket, hit for a .258 batting average, hit three home runs, and hit for a .347 on base percentage. He then played in 72 games for the Boston Red Sox. The following year, Youkilis split his time between Pawtucket and Boston, where he played in 43 games and 44 games respectively.

Major League career

Youkilis played his first major league game on May 15, 2004. In that game, Youkilis got 2 hits in four at-bats. In his second at-bat, he hit a home run off of 1996 Cy Young Award winner Pat Hentgen. In 2005, Youkilis hit for a .278 batting average with a .400 on base percentage in 79 at-bats while with the Boston Red Sox.

In 2006, Youkilis played most of his games at first base. Until that time, Youkilis had played more games at third base than he had played at any other position. However, he did appear at first base in 56 games throughout his minor league career. That season, he also played 18 games in left field. It was the first time in his professional career that he had in the outfield Despite his inexperience in the outfield, Youkilis did not commit a defensive error while in the field. However, he did commit a total of eight errors while at first base and at third base.

In 2006, Youkilis tied for the major league lead in sacrifice flies (11) and saw 4.42 pitches per plate appearance, a figure very close to Bobby Abreu's major league leading 4.45 pitches per plate appearance. Also that year, Youkilis ranked in the American League's top ten in base on balls (91), doubles (42), and walk percentage (13.8%), and 10th in times on base (259). Meanwhile, he scored 100 runs, hit for a .325 batting average with runners in scoring position, and a .375 batting average with runners in scoring position with two out.

In 2007, Youkilis displayed versatility by appearing in a number of spots in the batting order.

On May 28th, 2007, Youkilis became the first Red Sox since Trot Nixon to hit an inside the park home run. He did so in the seventh inning of the Red Sox game against the Cleveland Indians.

As of June 7th, he ranked 4th in AL in batting average (.341) and OBP (.428), and 6th in runs (43).

While he has been called "Euclis, the Greek God of Walks" (see reference below) Youkilis is actually Jewish. The Red Sox were the only team to have 4 Jewish players on their team at once when Gabe Kapler, Youkilis, Adam Stern, and Craig Breslow were on the team. On Yom Kippur in 2004, he asked his parents what he should do, and didn't play, but did suit up in the dugout to support his team. In August 2006, Rescue Me stars Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke discovered that Youkilis was Jewish on live television, and proceeded to make fun of Mel Gibson's recent anti-semitic comments.

Moneyball

In the 2003, author Michael Lewis (author) wrote the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The book focused on Oakland Athletics' General Manager Billy Beane and his use of Sabermetrics as an integral part of evaluation process for a prospects' potential. In the book, Lewis mentions Youkilis and referred to him as "Euclis, the Greek God of Walks". Lewis also revealed that Beane repeatedly tried to trade for Youkilis before Youkilis reached the major-league level.

In reference to his title of "Greek God of Walks", Red Sox manager Terry Francona stated "I've seen Youkilis in the shower, and I wouldn't call him the Greek god of anything."

Awards

• 1999 All-American Collegiate Player
• 2000 Conference USA All-Star IF
• 2001 2nd team College All-American 3B
• 2001 Conference USA All-Star IF
• 2001 Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year
• 2002 Trenton Player of the Year
• 2002 Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year
• 2003 Futures Game All-Star
• 2003 Eastern League All-Star Utility
• 2003 International League Post-Season All-Star
• 2004 American League Rookie of the Month - May

Career statistics

• Career statistics from Error: Template:Baseballstats must contain at least one valid parameter name.

References & notes

1. The Sarasota Red Sox are no longer an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox organization. In 2005, the franchise signed on as an affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds
2. In 2002, Trenton was a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox organization. In 2003, Trenton singed with the New York Yankees. As a result, the Red Sox affiliated themselves with the Portland Sea Dogs, another Eastern League franchise.
3. "Youkilis Streak". enquirer.com. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
4. "Youkilis Debut". espn.go.com. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
5. "Minor League Stats". thebaseballcube.com. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
6. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2006
7. http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/players/player/splits/2006/390828
8. http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=MLB&id=3588&line=197924&spln=1
9. "Youkilis' Inside the Park". mlb.com. Retrieved 2007-06-04.
10. Jewish Sport article
11. http://badideabluejeans.blogspot.com/2006/08/rescue-me-from-mel-gibson.html
12. http://thetrack.bostonherald.com/moreTrack/view.bg?articleid=153220
13. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2004/08/08/cards_appear_to_be_stacked?pg=full
14. "Kevin Youkilis". ESPN.com. 2007-06-02. Retrieved 2007-06-10.

External links

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference
• Interview, 5/2/05
• Red Sox page
• Official Blog
• Baseball Cube stats

• 1979 births
• Living people
• All-Star Futures Game players
• Boston Red Sox players
• Jewish American sportspeople
• Jewish baseball players
• Lowell Spinners alumni
• Major league first basemen
• Major league third basemen
• Major league players from Ohio
• People from Cincinnati