Ben Van Iderstine

Ben Charles Van Iderstine

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 6' 2", Weight 200 lb.

• School Iowa State University, Des Moines Area Community College
• High School L.P. Miller Comprehensive School

• Born January 20, 1978 in New Westminster, BC CAN

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Ben Van Iderstine played in the minor leagues and for Team Canada.

Van Iderstine hit .406 as a sophomore in junior college. Transferring to Iowa State, he remained solid at .306/.333/.489 in 1999 and .311/.346/.428 in 2000. He began his professional career with the London Werewolves in 2001, and he hit .338/.383/.450 with 5 homers and nine steals in nine tries that season. He was 5th in the Frontier League in average, between Matt McCay and Mike Robertson. He then collected 14 steals with a .300/.357/.389 batting line in 2002 for the Canton Coyotes. He batted .295/.350/.400 for the Schaumburg Flyers in 2003, and he had an incredible .402/.435/.577 batting line for the Saskatoon Legends. He lost the Canadian Baseball League batting title by .001 to Galinda Gomez. Van Iderstine extended his solid batting in 2004, and he hit .400/.443/.593 in 37 games for the Flyers. That finally earned him a shot with a MLB organization. He then signed with the Milwaukee Brewers, and he recorded a .372/.399/.492 batting line for the High Desert Mavericks while having a 15-for-52 record with the Huntsville Stars.

The New Westminster native hit .262/.311/.345 for the Stars in 2005, but he struggled with the Brevard County Manatees and he only went 8-for-50. He represented Canada in the 2005 Baseball World Cup and produced at a .400/.400/.571 rate with 8 runs in 8 games, with six putouts, two assists and no errors in left. He went deep off South Africa's Liall Mauritz. He led Canada with 14 hits, 3 ahead of #2 Matt Rogelstad and four ahead of the great Joey Votto. Van Iderstine returned to the Flyers in 2006, and he hit .301/.337/.392 in 81 games. He missed the Northern League top-ten in average by .002. He was 0 for 7 in the 2006 Americas Olympic Qualifier, backing up Michael Saunders in left and Ryan Radmanovich in right. He crushed 7 homers with a .315/.345/.448 batting line for the Sioux Falls Canaries in 2007, then he batted .315/.346/.400 in 2008. However, Van Iderstine slumped to .236/.276/.292 in 2009, and his career ended.

Overall, Van Iderstine hit .316/.355/.424 with 822 hits and 38 homers in 9 seasons as a professional player. He later worked as a hitting instructor.