Adam Stern

Infobox MLB player

---

name=Adam Stern
position=Outfielder
team=Free Agent
number=--
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1980|2|12
debutdate=July 7
debutyear=2005
debutteam=Boston Red Sox
statyear=2007
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.143
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=1
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=6
teams=
*Boston Red Sox (by|2005-by|2006)
*Baltimore Orioles (by|2007)

Adam James Stern (born February 12, 1980 in London, Ontario) is a Canadian outfielder in Major League Baseball who is currently a free agent.

He bats left-handed, and throws right-handed. Stern is the second Jewish player from Canada in Major League history. The first was Goody Rosen.

Stern is primarily a line drive hitter to all parts of the field, with occasional power. He has good speed, and is a smart base runner. Defensively, he has a strong and accurate arm, and can play all 3 outfield positions.

College career

Stern played 3 years on a baseball scholarship at the University of Nebraska, from which he graduated with a Sociology degree. He hit .356 as a sophomore in 2000 to earn 2nd-Team All-Big 12 honors. In by|2001, he appeared in the College World Series, and was named First-Team Academic All-Big 12, as well as an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, after hitting .292 with 68 runs and 27 stolen bases in 64 games.

He was drafted twice: first, by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 22nd round of the by|1998 draft (651st overall), and then by the Atlanta Braves in the 3rd round of the 2001 draft (105th overall), before moving to the Boston Red Sox in by|2004 as a Rule 5 Draft pick.

Minor league career

In by|2002, he stole 40 bases in 48 attempts for Myrtle Beach in the Carolina League.

In 2004, Stern started in left field for the Southern League's "Eastern Division All-Star" team, and was named an outfielder on the league's year-end "All-Star" club. He hit .322 with 64 runs, 26 doubles, and 27 stolen bases in 102 games. He ranked 3rd in the league in hitting, 8th with a .378 on base percentage, and 9th with a .480 slugging percentage. His 27 steals were 3rd-most in the Braves system, and he had 41 multi-hit games in 99 starts. He was named Atlanta's Double-A Player of the Year. Stern missed 26 games to play for Team Canada at the Olympic Games in Athens, where he hit .250 (8-for-32) with 4 RBI and 9 runs in 9 games.

The Boston Red Sox made Stern a Rule 5 draft selection from the Braves in 2004.

In by|2005, Stern batted .321 (26-for-81) with 8 doubles, 14 RBI, and 3 steals during a pair of rehab stints with Pawtucket, including a 21-game hitting streak.

Major league career

Boston Red Sox (2005-06)

He made his major league debut with the Red Sox on July 7, 2005. His debut was delayed first by a fractured right thumb he sustained while sliding in spring training, then by a hamstring injury.

He played all three outfield positions in 2005, but was used primarily in right field.

Due to injuries in 2005, Stern fell short of the time Rule 5 picks are required to be on a 25-man major league roster. After spending 18 days on the roster to start the by|2006 season (during which he made a game-saving catch against the Devil Rays), as required to fulfill his Rule 5 obligations, Stern was optioned to Pawtucket on April 20. [ [http://braves.scout.com/a.z?s=248&p=2&c=708780 Scout.com: Rule 5 Primer ] ]

With the Red Sox, he again played all three outfield positions in 2006, but was used primarily in center field.

Over the first two years of his major league career, he played error-less defense with better than average range at each position. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sternad01.shtml Adam Stern Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]

Baltimore Orioles (2007-2008)

On October 3, 2006, Stern passed through waivers and was traded by the Red Sox to the Baltimore Orioles to complete a deal for catcher Javy López and cash.

In January by|2007, Stern reached a one-year deal with the Orioles. [ [http://www.baysox.com/news/?id=11810 Bowie Baysox ] ] Limited to 14 games in spring training, because of a strained right oblique muscle and a bout with food poisoning, Stern was 5-18 with 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts. [ [http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable_player_stats.jsp?teamPosCode=MLA&statType=1&timeFrame=1&Submit=Submit&c_id=mlb&subScope=teamCode&sitSplit=&venueID=&baseballScope=AL&timeSubFrame=23&&sortByStat=AB Major League Baseball Stats — Sortable Statistics | MLB.com: Stats ] ] On March 28, the Orioles optioned Stern to Triple-A Norfolk. Jim Duquette, club vice president, noted that "With Stern, we didn't feel like we had the opportunity to see an awful lot of him, and we feel like he needs more time down in the minor leagues. He was one of the guys we were talking about all spring." [ [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-os0328,0,6056832.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball Topic Galleries - baltimoresun.com ] ]

On April 17, he was called up for the first time to the Baltimore Orioles, and made two appearances in the outfield without any at bats and was sent back down. It was his only major league action of the season. He was released by the Orioles on June 10, by|2008.

Trivia

*Stern was named to play for Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic. On March 8, 2006, he had a superb game against the United States, just a double short of hitting for the cycle, including an inside-the-park home run, and driving in 4 runs. He also made a couple of excellent catches in center field. Canada won the game 8-6, pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament.

*In March 2008 Stern played on Team Canada in Taiwan as they competed in an 8-team tournament for a berth in the Beijing Olympics. They won one of the three tickets to the Summer Games, joining Taiwan and South Korea. [ [http://torontosun.com/Sports/Baseball/2008/03/14/5001256-sun.html TorontoSun.com - Baseball - Hitting all the right notes ] ]

*Dubbed the "Canadian Babe Ruth" by Cleveland Indians outfielder Trot Nixon.

*His sport interests in his youth were track and field, volleyball, and baseball. [http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:pEdm-AK1It8J:www.bnaibrith.ca/tribune/jt-040916-20.html+%22adam+stern%22+jewish+nebraska&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6&lr=lang_en]

*In January 2007, he was awarded the first Stubby Clapp Award at the fifth annual Baseball Canada fund raiser. The award goes to a player who shows desire, competitiveness, and a never-say-die attitude. [ [http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/OtherSports/2007/01/14/3361972-sun.html London Free Press - Other Sports - Stern named Clapp winner ] ]

*On August 8, 2005, while playing for the Red Sox, Stern took the field in the 9th inning along with Kevin Youkilis and Gabe Kapler, setting a "record" for the most Jewish players on the field at one time in American League history and the most in Major League Baseball history since four Jews took the field for the New York Giants in a game in by|1941. [ [http://www.jewishtribune.ca/tribune/jt-050929-21.html jt-050929-21 ] ]

References

External links

* [http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=7478 ESPN] - profile and daily updates
* [http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/stats/player.php?id=434886 Baseball America 2007 stats]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sternad01.shtml Baseball Reference stats]
* [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/S/Adam-Stern.shtml Baseball Cube stats]
* [http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3568&position=OF Fangraphs stats]
* [http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=434886 Baltimore Orioles bio]
* [http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/gen/articles/printer_friendly/milb/y2006/m05/d10/c69468.jsp "Minor League's Top Jewish Prospects," 5/10/06]
* [http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-osqa0220,0,850743.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines "Q&A with Adam Stern," 2/21/07]