Ryan Schimpf

Ryan Michael Schimpf

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 180 lb.
• School Louisiana State University
• High School St. Paul's School (Covington)
• Debut June 14, 2016
• Final Game May 2, 2018
• Born April 11, 1988 in Covington, LA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Ryan Schimpf was a member of the Louisiana State University squad that won the 2009 College World Series, and he was selected to the All-Tournament Team. He was then selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth round of the 2009 amateur draft and made his pro debut that summer with the GCL Blue Jays. After going 2-for-4 in two Gulf Coast League games, he was promoted to the Auburn Doubledays, for whom he hit .287 in 34 games. He began 2013 with the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Schimpf became a free agent after the 2015 season and signed with the San Diego Padres for the 2016 season. He began the year in AAA with the El Paso Chihuahuas before receiving his first call-up to the major leagues on June 14th. He was inserted in the starting line-up against the Miami Marlins that day, playing third base, and collected his first big league hit with a 2nd-inning double off Tom Koehler. He then went on a tremendous hot streak in July as in three weeks, he set a new Padres mark for most home runs by a rookie in a month when he connected for his 9th long ball of the month off Shawn Kelley of the Washington Nationals on July 24th. The record had been set by Jedd Gyorko in August of 2013, and Ryan's performance came as the Padres set a team record by homering in 25 straight contests. He was named the National League Rookie of the Month for July, thanks to 9 homers, a slugging percentage of .705, 17 runs scored and as many RBIs. On August 19th, he tied a team record with 12 total bases in a game, the result of hitting 2 doubles and 2 homers in a 7-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. He ended the season batting only .217 in 89 games, but his 17 doubles, 5 triples and 20 homers won him a spot on the 2016 Topps All-Star Rookie Team and his OPS+ was an excellent 130 in spite of the low batting average. In a weird statistical twist, he hit 20 homers - but only 18 singles; that made him only the third player in major league history to hit more homers than singles in a season with a minimum of 20 homers, after Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire.

He had a very streaky beginning to his 2017 season. He started off with 2 hits and a homer on opening day, April 3rd, and hit three homers in his first 13 games, but he then had a 1-for-28 slump in mid-April, dropping his batting average to .102. But he got out of the skein by homering in his next three games, starting on April 26th. He ended up playing 53 games and hitting just .158 with 14 homers (but just two other extra-base hits, both doubles) and 25 RBIs. He again had more homers than singles (10). He also played 69 games for El Paso, where he put up similar numbers: a .202 average, 19 homers, 44 RBIs, but just 7 doubles.

Schimpf was traded three times between the end of the 2017 season and the first week of the 2018 season. On December 12th, he was traded by the Padres to the Tampa Bay Rays for Deion Tansel. The Rays turned around on March 5, 2018 and flipped him to the Atlanta Braves for future considerations. Less than a month later, on March 31st the Braves sent Schimpf to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for catcher Carlos Perez. He had not played a single game for the Braves.

Notable Achievements

• 2016 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
• 20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2016)

Related Sites

• Ryan Schimpf on mlb.com
• BR Minors page
• Louisiana State University bio