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Sioux City, IA - Jay Baum was announced today as the American Association player of the week. Baum becomes the third Explorers player this season to be given the honor of player of the week. 

Baum was a main catalyst in the X’s offense as he helped Sioux City to a home stand sweep this past week. The X’s were able to sweep the Cleburne Railroaders and the Lincoln Saltdogs in route to winning a grand total of eight games during the home stand and propelling themselves to a 51-16 record. 

Baum in those 8 games batted .500 for the Explorers, smacking 3 doubles, collecting a triple, a home run and picking up 12 RBI’s in the process while padding his league lead in the category to a now ridiculous 63 as that’s 11 more than the next best. Baum also went on to score 8 runs during the week, swiped 2 bags, and walked 5 times compared to only striking out on three occasions. 

Baum is now the third Sioux City Explorer to be named as a player of the week during the 2018 season. He joins Daniel Jackson 5/17-5/21 and Nate Samson 6/25-7/1. 

Baum was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 21st round of the 2014 MLB Draft from Clemson University. Baum spent 4 seasons playing in the Mariners organization, making it to Double-A last season. Baum was named an Organizational All-Star in 2016 playing for the Advanced-A Bakersfield Blaze where he accumulated 132 hits, including 28 doubles and 9 homeruns, while also producing 78 RBIs and scoring 71 runs.

Baum finished last season playing for the independent Sussex County Miners of the Can-Am League where he finished with a .291/.354/.442 slash line. The Alpharetta, GA native really impressed this winter playing in the Australian Baseball League where his .439 batting average set a new league record. His 61 hits were also tied for most in the league and his 18 doubles and .791 slugging percentage were also good for tops in the league. Baum’s rights were acquired by the Explorers on February 22nd via a trade with the Sussex County Miners.

Baum played collegiately at Clemson University for three seasons where he hit for a career .253 batting average with a .342 on base percentage in 167 career games before being drafted and signing with the Mariners following his junior season.  Baum was one of the team’s most versatile players defensively, as he saw action at all four infield positions as well as the outfield.