(born July 13, 1978 in Satellite Beach, Florida) is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the San Diego Padres. His brother Eric played four seasons in Major League Baseball as a pitcher.
Playing career
High school, college, and minor leagues
Ryan Ludwick belongs to a very tiny group of Major League Baseball players: he bats right-handed and throws with his left. In the entire history of Major League Baseball through the 2008 season, and including the National Association of 1871-75 (not currently counted as a major league by MLB), only 57 players who played at least half their games at a position other than pitcher batted right and threw left. The most famous individual in this exclusive group is Hall-of-Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson.
Ludwick attended Durango High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ludwick played for the UNLV Rebels for three seasons before being drafted in 1999 by the Oakland Athletics in the second round, 60th overall. At UNLV, where he was named to the Baseball America all-Freshman team in 1997 after batting .354 with 16 home runs and 68 RBI, he was All-WAC in 1999, hitting .381 with 13 home runs and 69 RBI. Ludwick had a .363 career batting average at UNLV.
Ludwick was originally a second-round draft choice of the Oakland Athletics. He was traded to the Texas Rangers before the 2002 season, along with Gerald Laird, Jason Hart, and Mario Ramos, for first baseman Carlos Peña and pitcher Mike Venafro.
Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, back to minors
Ludwick made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2002, but his season was cut short when he fractured his hip the same year, an injury which significantly hampered his career. In 2003, Ludwick was traded by the Rangers to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Ricardo Rodríguez and outfielder Shane Spencer. Ludwick spent the 2006 season playing for the Toledo Mud Hens, the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, and was named to the International League team for the 2006 Triple-A All-Star Game. Ludwick enjoyed great success in the Detroit organization, but due to a surplus of outfielders, Detroit made the decision to not offer Ludwick a new contract.
St. Louis Cardinals: All-Star
In 2007, Ludwick was invited to spring training by the Cardinals and started in Triple-A Memphis. On May 6, 2007, Ludwick was promoted to the Cardinals after Preston Wilson went on the DL. In the 29 games preceding Ludwick's promotion, he hit .340 with 8 home runs at Memphis.
His fast start in 2008 earned him an everyday player role. Ludwick was named to his first All-Star game on July 6 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. He won the National League Player of the Week Award for July 27-August 2. On August 14, Ludwick hit his 29th home run of the 2008 season; this broke the record for the most home runs in a season by a player who throws left-handed yet bats right-handed previously held by Rickey Henderson.
Ludwick would go on to win a Silver Slugger Award at the end of the 2008 season for his offensive performance along with fellow outfielders Matt Holliday and Ryan Braun.
After his breakout season of 2008, Ludwick started out 2009 with a solid April, posting similar figures to his 2008 season by hitting .297 with five home runs, and 19 RBIs. He was then slowed by a strained right hamstring which placed him on the DL for 15 games. After returning from his injury, Ludwick struggled with a .200 average during the month of June. He had a productive July, hitting .340, with six home runs and a league-leading 28 RBIs, landing him NL Player of the Month honors. This gave the Cardinals 3 out of the last 4 NL Player of the Month awards, coupled with Albert Pujols's awards in April and June. At the end of the 2009 season Ludwick finished batting .265 with 22 home runs and 97 RBIs. Ludwick is primarily a right fielder, but also gets playing time in left field and occasionally in center field.
During the 2010 offseason Ludwick and the Cardinals were able to avoid arbitration, reaching an agreement on a one-year contract worth $5.45 million for 2010. Ryan described his excitement on reaching a deal with the Cardinals, "I’m pretty fired up. It’s fun playing in front of that crowd. Being a Cardinal is obviously something special in my mind."
With Matt Holliday struggling for most of the early part of the 2010, Ludwick continued to show his immense value to the Cardinals by helping keep the offense afloat. Through mid-June, he was batting .451 with runners in scoring position, second-best among all MLB players.
Additionally, he has batted .476 with 11 RBIs with runners in scoring position and two out. His strong performance with runners in scoring position lead to him being placed in the cleanup role on June 14th against the Seattle Mariners. The move paid off as he hit a 3-run home run in his first at bat, and went 2-for-4 in the game.
San Diego Padres
Ludwick was traded to the San Diego Padres in a three team deal on July 31, 2010.
Personal
Ludwick and his wife, Joanie, reside in Georgetown, Texas, and have one son, Stetson Tyler.
S(source:wikipedia)
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