Ben Foster (minors01)

Benjamin Foster

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

• Born May 12, 1978 in Newcastle, New South Wales Australia

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Ben Foster played in the minors and for the Australian national team.

Foster debuted for the Gold Coast Cougars in the 1996-1997 Australian Baseball League, hitting .313/.306/.417 in 16 games. In 1997-1998, he hit .250/.319/.375 as a solid bench player. He hit .183/.248/.230 for the Cook County Cheetahs in 1998. The Cougars won the 1998-1999 ABL and he batted .245/.297/.353 while splitting catching duties. He fell to .179/.200/.214 for the Queensland Rams in the 1999-2000 International Baseball League of Australia.

His batting line was .260/.319/.298 for the Cheetahs in 2000. For Australia in the 2000-2001 IBLA, he split catching with Justin Huber and produced at a .278/.367/.316 clip. He also represented Australia in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, going 0-for-2 with a run; he backed up Ben Risinger and Heath Wilson at catcher and Paul Gonzalez and Shane Hogan in left field. He hit .250/.379/.292 for Queensland in the 2002 Claxton Shield, mostly in left field; he stole 4 bases in 4 tries. He tied Mat Buckley and Adam Burton for the steal lead.

Ben slipped to .192/.382/.269 for the 2004 Rams after a year off, but did lead the tournament with eight walks. He hit .222/.263/.389 in 2005 and .444/.467/.519 with 9 RBI in 7 games to help the Rams win it all in '06. He tied for the RBI lead, was 3rd in average and 3rd in hits (after Brad Dutton and Matthew Kent). He had hit .264 with a .351 slugging in 142 games in his Australian career.

Sources: Flintoff & Dunn Australian Baseball Almanac, Defunct IBAF site