Ryan Lavarnway, American baseball player
Ryan Cole Lavarnway ( ריאן לווארנוויי; born August 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional baseball catcher in the Detroit Tigers organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, and Cleveland Indians. In international competition, he has played for Team Israel.
Lavarnway attended Yale University, where in 2007 he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) batting title by hitting .467 and led the NCAA with an .873 slugging percentage. That year, Lavarnway also set the Ivy League record with a 25-game hitting streak. In addition, he set the Ivy League all-time career home run record, with 33.
Lavarnway was drafted by the Red Sox in 2008. In 2009, he led the South Atlantic League with 59 extra-base hits. Next season, he was a Carolina League Mid-Season and Post-Season All Star; additionally, he was named the Red Sox co-Minor League Offensive Player of the Year. In 2011, after Lavarnway hit 30 home runs in 478 minor league at bats, Baseball America named him the best power prospect in the International League. He was also named to their 2011 Minor League All-Star Team, and the Red Sox organization named him co-winner of their Offensive Player of the Year award for the second season in a row.
He was called up to the major leagues by the Red Sox in August 2011, making headlines in September when he hit two home runs in his first start as a catcher. Entering the 2012 season Lavarnway was the No. 9 prospect in the Red Sox system according to Baseball America. That season, he was the International League (IL) All Star starting catcher and a post-season IL All-Star. He played 46 games for Boston in 2012, batting .157. He split 2013 between Pawtucket and Boston, batting .299 in 25 games for the major league club. In 2014 with Pawtucket, Lavarnway led the team to the International League title, and was voted MVP of the IL series. However, he was hitless in 10 at bats for Boston, who designated him for assignment after the year.
Lavarnway began the 2015 season with the Baltimore Orioles but only played 10 games for them before getting designated for assignment on May 26. Signed by the Atlanta Braves, he served as A. J. Pierzynski's backup starting on June 15; though he spent the rest of the season with Atlanta, he only appeared in 27 games for them. Failing to make the Braves' roster in 2016, he spent most of the season in the minor leagues for the Toronto Blue Jays. Lavarnway received international honors in 2017, getting named Pool A MVP after playing for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. In the major leagues that year, he got into six games with the Oakland Athletics. He was a 2018 mid-season Triple-A All Star for the Indianapolis Indians. Called up by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the end of 2018, he had four hits in six at bats. Lavarnway started 2019 in the minor leagues again but was called up by the Reds in July. In his debut for the team on July 19, he became the first Red with six RBIs in his Cincinnati debut since RBIs became a statistic in 1920. However, he only played five games for the Reds before they returned him to the minor leagues. In November 2019, he obtained Israeli citizenship, hoping to play for Team Israel in baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins in December.