Chris Basak

Infobox MLB player
name = Chris Basak


width = 200
caption =
team = New York Yankees
number = --
position = Infielder
birthdate = birth date and age|1978|12|6
birthplace = city-state|North Platte|Nebraska
bats = Right
throws = Right
debutdate = June 9
debutyear = 2007
debutteam = New York Yankees
statyear = 2007
stat1label = Batting average
stat1value = .000
stat2label = Home runs
stat2value = 0
stat3label = Runs batted in
stat3value = 0
teams =
*New York Yankees (by|2007)

Christopher Joseph Başak (born December 6, 1978, in city-state|North Platte|Nebraska) is an infielder in the New York Yankees organization of Major League Baseball.

He attended Minooka High School in Minooka, Illinois, then went to college at the University of Illinois, where he played shortstop.

He was drafted in the 6th round (185th overall) of the 2000 draft by the New York Mets. Through 2006, in his minor league career he had hit .265 with 161 stolen bases in 814 games, primarily at shortstop.

He signed with the Yankees in the 2006-07 offseason, and in the following spring training he hit .311.

Capable of playing third base, shortstop, second base, and a bit of first, Basak also played both corner outfield positions for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, where he had a team-leading 14 doubles in 52 games, and was second on the club with 9 stolen bases.He spent his entire career in the minor leagues, until being called up to the Yankees on June 6, 2007. He saw his first action on June 9, pinch running for (and subsequently replacing) third baseman Alex Rodriguez. After playing sparingly, he was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 1, 2007 and replaced by Edwar Ramirez.

On July 27, he was called up from Triple-A, as Kei Igawa was optioned down. Basak was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 1. On August 15, he was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Andrew Brackman. On August 16, 2007 he was claimed off waivers by the Twins. He played for the Twins' Triple-A affiliate Rochester Red Wings most of the 2008 season.

On June 19, he rejoined his old team. He was in uniform at game time.

References

* [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/B/Chris-Basak.shtml Baseball Cube]
* [http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=$01193&position=SS Fangraphs]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=8045 ESPN.com Profile]
* [http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/team/player_career.jsp?player_id=431150 Yankees bio]
* [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:Xd8wSz5qingJ:mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp%3Fymd%3D20070605%26content_id%3D2007166%26vkey%3Dnews_mlb%26fext%3D.jsp%26c_id%3Dmlb+chris+basak+%22university+of+illinois%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us mlb.com]