Chris Başak
Christopher Joseph Başak, is an American former professional baseball infielder. During his career, he played in the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees organizations. Basak made five appearances in the major leagues in 2007 with the Yankees, going 0–for–1.
He attended Minooka High School in Minooka, Illinois, then went to college at the University of Illinois, where he played shortstop.
He was drafted in the 6th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Mets. 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 off season, 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, 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 for third baseman Alex Rodriguez. After playing sparingly, he was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on July 1, 2007 and replaced by Edwar Ramirez.
On July 27, he was called up from Triple-A, as Kei Igawa was optioned down. Başak was optioned back to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on August 1. On August 15, he was designated for assignment to make room on the 40 man roster for Andrew Brackman. On August 16, 2007 he was claimed off waivers by the Twins. He played for the Twins' Triple-A affiliate Rochester Red Wings and Yankees' Triple-A affiliate Scranton/Wilkes-Barre during the 2008 season. He got claimed off waivers by New York during the season. He has not played professionally since the end of the 2008 season.
