ZOBRIST, BEN  
 
Image of    Nickname:   N/A Position:   2B-SS-OF
Home: Nashville, Tennessee Team:   RAYS
Height: 6' 3" Bats:   S
Weight: 200 Throws:   R
DOB: 5/26/1981 Agent: Alan Nero
Birth City: Eureka, Illinois Draft: Astros #6 - 2004 - Out of Dallas Baptist Univ. (Dallas, Tx.)
Uniform #: 18  
 
YR LEA TEAM SAL(K) G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO OBP SLG AVG
2004 NYP TRI-CITY   68 257 50 87 14 3 4 45 15   43 31     .339
2005 SAL LEXINGTON   68 247 45 75 17 2 2 32 16   47 35     .304
2005 CAR SALEM   42 141 25 47 12 1 3 13 2   37 17     .333
2006 TL CORPUS CHRISTI   83 315 57 204 25 6 3 30 9 5 55 46 .434 .473 .327
2006 IL DURHAM   18 69 12 21 3 1 0 6 4 1 10 9 .400 .377 .304
2006 AL DEVIL RAYS $327.00 52 183 10 41 6 2 2 18 2 3 10 26 .260 .311 .224
2007 AL DEVIL RAYS $380.00 31 97 8 15 2 0 1 9 2 0 3 21 .184 .206 .155
2007 IL DURHAM BULLS   61 222 42 62 14 2 7 22 8 3 43 38   .455 .279
2008 FSL VERO BEACH   4 14 1 4 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 2   .357 .286
2008 IL DURHAM   20 71 15 26 3 0 4 13 4 1 15 16   .577 .366
2008 AL RAYS $395.00 62 198 32 50 10 2 12 30 3 0 25 37 .339 .505 .253
2009 AL RAYS $416.00 152 501 91 149 28 7 27 91 17 6 91 104 .405 .543 .297
2010 AL RAYS $438.00 124 442 65 110 19 2 7 59 23 3 76 88 .355 .348 .249
PERSONAL:

  • Zobrist was 19 years old when he graduated from high shool. He then spent four years in college, between Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois, where he was a pitcher, and Dallas Baptist University in Texas.

  • Ben is the son of a minister.

  • Asked what some of the Zobrist family Christmas traditions are, Ben said, "Generally, we go the day after Thanksgiving and cut down our Christmas tree together. I didn't get a chance to do it this year with my family, but we've always done that in the past. Then on Christmas morning, we get up and read "The Christmas Story" from Luke 2 in the Bible, then my Dad prays for us and everything before we start opening presents."
  • In 2004, Ben signed with the Astros, and scout Rusty Pendergrass, for a bonus of $55,000 after they drafted him. Assistant director of scouting Pat Murphy is cautiously optimistic about Zobrist's future.

    "There's nothing that really jumps out at you, but Ben has no weaknesses either," Murphy said. "He has Major League average tools across the board. Not any one tool is 'wow' but they're all Major League average. He's a good looking athlete, but he's going to have to come quick," Murphy said. "He runs well. He throws well. He's not a speed merchant, but he's speedy (15 stolen bases in 19 attempts at Tri-City). He's a physical kid with a great makeup, and a faith-based background."

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  • The bottom line: Zobrist works hard and has four tools, lacking only power. He is a gritty, hard working player. You can tell he loves to play the game. He plays hard and gets his uniform dirty.

    "He's a baseball player, and I mean that obviously as a big compliment," Rays' executive vice president Andrew Friedman said during 2007 spring training. "He plays the game the right way. He's not extremely flashy, but we think he's an above average shortstop defensively. And we expect him to be able to make the adjustments offensively to have a very good career."

  • In the fall of 2005, Zobrist hit .333-1-5 and scored eight runs in nine games for Team USA at the World Cup in the Netherlands.

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  • Before both 2005 and 2006 spring camps opened, Baseball America had Zobrist as 16th-best prospect in the Astros' organization.

  • Ben and his wife, Juliana, live in Eureka, Illinois in the offseason. They got married in December 2005.

    Juliana is an accomplished singer. She displays her talent as a Christian rock singer.

  • Ben and Juliana were still getting used to having "big league money" at the start of the 2007 season.

    He might be the only starting Major League player, for example, who rented a 16-foot Budget moving truck, packed his furniture into it, hitched his 2004 Malibu to the back, and drove 13 hours straight from Nashville to St. Petersburg with his wife. They unloaded it all themselves into a new apartment.

    With a raise to nearly $400,000 this season (about $19,000 take-home pay every two weeks), Zobrist, who grew up modestly, the son of a minister in Eureka, Illinois, is slowly getting used to having money. For the first time, he didn't have to work during the offseason, though the kids he gave baseball lessons to and supervised birthday parties for at the Showtime Sports Academy for $25 an hour might have missed him.

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    But he said he will never get used to spending it, at least not on himself. Julianna may force him to buy a second suit to go with the one he got off a sale rack at JCPenney, but she laughs aloud at the suggestion of him styling with trendy clothes or accessorizing in heavy bling.

    "He's never going to have Louis Vuitton luggage or anything like that," she said. "He's just never going to feel good about spending a lot of money." (Marc Topkin-St. Petersburg Times-2/25/07)

  • Joe Maddon  noticed a different Zobrist, and was even referring to him as "Zo-rilla" for his power stroke.

  • Zobrist is constantly thinking angles and planes, whether it's to determine the best way to execute a bunt or estimate routes to run down a fly ball.

    		• In August 2008, Zobrist shared his math experiences in front of approximately 120 students at Osceola Middle School in Seminole, Florida, as part of the national program Raytheon, created by the group Math Moves U.

    "You never know how [math is] going to impact you [or] what you are going to use it for," Zobrist said. "The skills you are using in math you just use, without realizing it, on a regular basis. I gave a few examples [for the students]. But what we do in baseball, you are constantly making calculations in your head of the thing you need to do in the next moment. So hopefully, they see that and they start to put a little more effort forth to those things now."

  • In January, 2009, Ben's wife, Julianna released her debut CD of Christian/alternative music, ''The Tree," a portion of which can be heard on her MySpace page.

    TRANSACTION REPORT

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  • June 2004: The Astros chose Ben in the sixth round, out of Dallas Baptist University.

  • July 11, 2006: The D'Rays sent 3B Aubrey Huff to the Astros, acquiring Zobrist and P Mitch Talbot.

  • April 23, 2010: Ben and the Rays agreed on a 3-year contract extension worth up to $30 million. The first three years of the extension are guaranteed; the team holds options for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

    Zobrist received a $561,900 signing bonus (to go with his $438,100 salary for 2010), and salaries of $4.5 million in both 2011 and 2012 and $5.5 million in 2013. Tampa Bay has a $7 million club option for 2014 with a $2.5 million buyout. If that is exercised, the Rays can exercise a $7.5 million club option for 2015 with a $500,000 buyout. The 2015 option can escalate depending on finish in MVP voting from 2010-14.

    Ben gets a $750,000 assignment bonus if traded before the end of the 2011 season and a $500,000 assignment bonus if traded after the 2011 season but before the end of the 2013 season. For the remainder of the contract, the assignment bonus would be $250,000.
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    BATTING:

    • Zobrist swings the bat well from both sides of the plate. And he exhibits solid plate discipline with a good knowledge of the strike zone.

      His swing is a little longer from the right side.

    • Ben has gap power for a lot of doubles and an increasing number of home runs. His power surge in 2008 had Rays manager Joe Maddon referring to him sometimes as "Zo-Rilla."

      "I have the body to be able to drive the ball, but I was just slapping the ball up there," said Zobrist, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound Eureka, Ill., native. "Because I grew up, I was a lot smaller, and I grew up doing that, and it was always successful for me. But (in 2008), I've tried to get a hold of some balls and be more aggressive at the plate."

  • Ben credits Nashville private hitting instructor Jaime Cevallos, inventor of the Mkanx training bat, and his brother-in-law, Dallas Baptist coach Dan Heefner, for overhauling his swing and changing his approach at the plate, starting the winter before 2008 spring training. They worked again in the winter before the 2009 season.

    "I had been pulling too many balls and started trying the ball the other way a little more, and once I started doing that, I started having much better at-bats, and it wasn't overwhelming for me." Zobrist said.

    Cevallos really increased Zobrist's power, teaching Ben to use legs and hips in unison. The results, as of the 2009 season, were very impressive.

    FIRSTS

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  • On August 1, 2006, Zobrist makes his Major League debut in the D-Rays 10-4 loss to the Tigers.

  • On August 4, 2006, Zobrist got his first Major League hit, a single, in the D-Rays 3-2 loss to the Red Sox.

  • On August 6, 2006, Zobrist got his first Major League home run in the D-Rays 7-6 win over the Red Sox.

    BREAKDOWN vs. LEFTIES and RIGHTIES

  • In 2008, Ben hit .269 with 3 home runs in 78 at-bats vs. lefthanded pitchers, and .242 with 9 home runs in 120 at-bats against righthanders.

    In 2009, Zobrist hammered lefty pitchers for a .319 average with 9 home runs in 163 at-bats, while hitting .287 with 18 homers in 338 at-bats off righthanders.

  • As of the start of the 2010 season, Zobrist had a career big league batting average of .260 with 42 homers and 148 RBI in 979 at-bats.
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    FIELDING:

    • Ben has a solid glove at shorstop. He can also play third base or second base. His range is average; so is his arm strength.

      And in 2008 spring training, the Rays worked Zobrist at first base and in the outfield. He worked tirelessly at all assignments, learning the responsibilities of each position and getting comfortable with the techniques, such as tracking balls in the outfield and the footwork at first base. "Awkward," he said of the experience at first. "I had no idea where I was supposed to be half the time." 

      • "It's fun, and it's challenging," Zobrist said. "Whatever I have to do to be able to be out on the field, I'm willing to do it."

    • Zobrist exhibits good instincts. He has a knack for being at the right place at the right time—showing a real nose for the ball. This enables him to make all the plays that someone with more range is able to make.
  • Ben has the ability to play multiple positions, so he can be a super utility guy, kind of like Chone Figgins with the Angels.

  • Zobrist says he could be used as an emergency catcher, with emphasis on the word "emergency."
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    RUNNING:

    • Zobrist has enough speed to steal some bases.
     
    CAREER INJURY REPORT:

    • November 2005: Zobrist underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.

    • August 18, 2007: Zobrist placed on 15-day D.L. with a right oblique strain.

    • March 10-May 12, 2008: Ben suffered a hairline fracture of the tip of his left thumb when sliding into second base the day before, and was on the shelf for a month.

    • June 2008: Zobrist was on the D.L. for a short stint with a sore shoulder, while with the Durham Bulls.
     
     
    Last Updated 9/4/2010. All contents © 2000 by Player Profiles. All rights reserved.