Ryan Lavarnway

Ryan Cole Lavarnway (born August 7, 1987) is a catcher drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2008. The Red Sox drafted Lavarnway in the sixth round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft. Currently Lavarnway is a member of the Greenville Drive, the low-A minor league baseball affiliate of the Red Sox.
Early Life
Born in Woodland Hills, California, Lavarnway began playing baseball at an early age. In Kindergarten his teacher suggested team sports as a way to encourage sharing and baseball seemed a natural outlet since, as Lavarnway notes, his first word was "ball" and he learned how to throw a ball before he could walk.
Lavarnway attended El Camino Real High School; his parents moved the family into El Camino Real's district to allow Lavarnway to play for the school's baseball team. While attending El Camino, Lavarnway helped bring the team to a city championship in 2005 and his team was named California High School Team of the year in 2005.
Career
College
After high school, Lavarnway attended Yale University where he majored in Philosophy. As a member of the Yale Bulldogs baseball team, Lavarnway earned several honors and awards, all listed in his player's biography on the Yale University website. In 2006, Lavarnway led the team with six home runs and earned Ivy Player and Rookie of the Week honors for the week of March 21, 2006. In 2007, Baseball America named Lavarnway Third Team All-America. Lavarnway also earned Second Team All-New England and Second Team All-Northeast honors; he earned Unanimous First Team All-Ivy honors; he was one of ten semi-finalists for the Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year Award. That year he also led the NCAA in both batting average (with .467) and slugging percentage (with .873), among other honors. During his final season at Yale in 2008, Lavarnway experienced further success. He led the Ivy League in several categories: home runs (13), RBIs (42), walks (29), slugging percentage (.824), and on-base percentage (.541). His most notable success of 2008 came during the sixth round of the Major League Baseball Draft when Lavarnway was chosen 202nd overall by the Boston Red Sox.
Minor League
Currently a member of the Greenville Drive, the Boston Red Sox Class A affiliate in the low-A South Atlantic league. Lavarnway played in 22 games for the Short Season class A Lowell Spinners in the 2008 season and ended the season with a .211 batting average, 2 home runs, and 9 RBIs.

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