Christopher Joseph Başak, (born December 6, 1978) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

. He played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

in 2007. During his career, he played in the Yankees,

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

and organizations. Basak made five appearances for the Yankees, receiving one

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

Career

Başak grew up in

Joliet, Illinois Joliet ( ) is a city in Will County, Illinois, Will and Kendall County, Illinois, Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the cit ...

, and attended Minooka High School in

Minooka, Illinois Minooka is a village in Grundy, Kendall, and Will counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 10,924 at the 2010 census, up from 3,971 at the 2000 census. The village is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The Chicago, Rock Island ...

. He then attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

for the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

. The

selected Başak in the sixth round, with the 185th overall selection, of the

2000 Major League Baseball draft First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins made Adrián González of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California the first overall selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. González, who was rated as ...

. He hit .265 in his minor league career up until 2006, and had 161 stolen bases in 814 games. He mostly played shortstop. He signed with the Yankees in the 2006-07 offseason, and in the following spring training he hit .311. Capable of playing any infield position, Başak played left and right field for the

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the ...

, the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate, where he led the team in doubles and was second in stolen bases. He was called up to the Yankees on June 6, 2007. He saw his first action on June 9,

pinch running In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

for, and subsequently replacing, third baseman

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

. On June 24, he got his first

, hitting a

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

that was caught by

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

. After playing sparingly, he was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 1, and replaced by Edwar Ramirez. On July 27, the Yankees called up Başak from Triple-A, as

Kei Igawa is a former Japanese left-handed pitcher. He played for the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He led all pitchers in the Central League for strikeouts in ...

was optioned down. Başak was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 1. On August 15, he was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the pla ...

to make room on the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

for

Andrew Brackman Andrew Warren Brackman (born December 4, 1985) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the New York Yankees in 2011. High school career Brackman attended Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. College career 1 ...

. On August 16, 2007, he was claimed off waivers by the Twins. He played for the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...

, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre during the 2008 season. He got claimed off waivers by New York during the season. He retired after the 2008 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basak, Chris Illinois Fighting Illini baseball players People from North Platte, Nebraska Baseball players from Nebraska Major League Baseball shortstops New York Yankees players St. Lucie Mets players Pittsfield Mets players Binghamton Mets players Norfolk Tides players Rochester Red Wings players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players 1978 births Living people American people of Turkish descent St. Cloud River Bats players