Bats: On the Ground Floor With Team Israel

The special assistant to the San Diego Padres? general manager fell asleep watching a game on his iPad last weekend. ?Extra innings,? Brad Ausmus, the special assistant, said, but he actually had a better excuse. He was watching the game in Israel.

Ausmus, who played 18 major league seasons as a catcher for four teams, is the manager for Israel?s inaugural entry in the World Baseball Classic. He spent last week touring Israel and scouting prospects and youth leagues, and on Thursday presented a jersey to President Shimon Peres.

?It?s a great life experience for him,? Padres Manager Bud Black said. ?There?s no doubt Brad wants to stay in the game. Some players would rather go into broadcasting; some players would rather go into the front office or amateur scouting. My instinct tells me Brad wants to get in uniform as either a bench coach or manager at some point.?

For Ausmus, 43, managing Team Israel is a start. Raised in Connecticut by a Jewish mother and a Protestant father, Ausmus did not go to church or synagogue as a boy but his family displayed a Christmas tree and a menorah. He said he felt most connected to his heritage through playing in the majors.

?There?s so much Jewish-American generational love of baseball that I saw,? Ausmus said. ?Boys or even grown men would come up and tell me I was their favorite player.?

These days, Milwaukee?s Ryan Braun, Texas? Ian Kinsler and Boston?s Kevin Youkilis are Jewish major league stars. Other Jewish major leaguers include Arizona?s Craig Breslow, the Mets? Ike Davis and Texas? Scott Feldman. Israel?s team will include native Israelis, but Ausmus said he also hoped to attract as many major leaguers as possible.

Israel grants citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent, so all of those players would be eligible to play for Israel in the Classic. Ausmus said he had a comprehensive list of Jewish players in professional baseball and had reached out to them directly or through their agents.

A problem could be timing. Israel will play in a qualifying round with France, South Africa and Spain in Florida, but Ausmus said he did not know if it would take place in September or November. That makes a big difference because only minor leaguers could participate in September. The actual tournament takes place during spring training next year.

Braun and Youkilis played for the United States in the last Classic, in 2009. Davis said he would be more interested in playing for the United States, although he did not dismiss the idea of Israel?s team.

?I?ve played for a lot of U.S.A. teams already, and my goal would be to play for the highest U.S.A. team,? Davis said.

Ausmus knows at least two players who will be on his roster: the recently retired outfielders Shawn Green and Gabe Kapler have agreed to serve as player-coaches, and the former pitcher Scott Schoeneweis has shown interest in playing or coaching. Andrew Lorraine, another former major league pitcher, is the team?s pitching coach.

Baseball is a niche sport in Israel, Ausmus said, but with a good showing in the Classic, he said he hoped it could grow. For now, he said, about 1,000 people play baseball in Israel, where most fields would not be adequate for American high school teams.

?We?re not starting from scratch because they had a professional league here in 2007,? Ausmus said. ?But I think with the W.B.C. coming up, the people involved with Israeli baseball saw an opportunity, if Team Israel does well, to not only promote their country, but to also promote baseball. This is hopefully helping that. You have to start somewhere.?

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