Jason Michael Kipnis (born April 3, 1987; nicknamed "Kip") is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

second baseman who is a free agent. He has played in

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 (A ...

(MLB) for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

. He attended

Glenbrook North High School Glenbrook North High School (also known as GBN) is a public high school in Northbrook, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, United States. It was established in 1953 and is part of the Northfield Township High School District 225. In 2022, it ...

in the suburbs of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

where he earned three

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alpha ...

playing baseball for the Glenbrook North Spartans. He attended the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

, but transferred to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

after two years. In college, Kipnis was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n and the 2009 Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year for the Sun Devils. The Indians selected Kipnis in the second round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. In 2010, he was named the Indians' Minor League Player of the Year, and a ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' Minor League All Star. Prior to the 2011 season, ''

Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...

'' ranked him as the top Indians prospect and the 28th-highest prospect in baseball. At mid-season, ''Baseball America'' rated him as baseball's 31st-best prospect. He was called up from the minor leagues on July 22,

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

. In 2012, he became the starting second baseman for the Indians.

Early life

Jason Michael Kipnis was born on April 3, 1987, in

Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorporated in 1901, the village was known as Shermerv ...

, a suburb of Chicago. He was the fourth child born to Kay and Mark Kipnis. He has two older brothers, Blair and Todd. His older sister Amanda played

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

. When he was a child, his father played an important role in his baseball life. He played

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationAmerican Legion Baseball. Though Kipnis played baseball, football, and soccer while growing up, he said there was never any question that his goal was to become a professional baseball player. He grew up a

fan, and was neighbors with

Steve Bartman The Steve Bartman incident was a controversial play that occurred during a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins on October 14, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, during Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 postse ...

High school

Kipnis attended

in Northbrook, graduating in 2005. He earned three

in baseball for the Glenbrook North Spartans and was selected as team captain twice. He played shortstop, center field and pitcher. As an all-conference junior, Kipnis batted .455 with a school-record 11

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s. As a senior, Kipnis batted .521 with a .690

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and 32

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe o ...

s in 32 attempts; he was named first-team all-state and the Central Suburban League

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a partic ...

. He was named all-conference in both his junior and senior seasons. As a freshman at Glenbrook North, Kipnis played soccer, setting the school's single-season goal scoring record with 41. He also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

there in 2003 and 2004. An All-Conference wide receiver, Kipnis set single-season school records for receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He also established school records for career receptions and receiving yards. As a senior in 2004, Kipnis had 49 pass receptions for 956 yards and 10

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s. His 2004 totals remain Glenbrook North single-season records for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Kipnis still holds the school's career record with 1,247 receiving yards. In December 2004, the ''

Pioneer Press The Pioneer Press publishes 32 local newspapers in the Chicago area. It is a division of Tribune Publishing, and is based in Chicago. The community newspapers are the main source of local news in Illinois communities such as Winnetka, Highland ...

'' sports staff selected Kipnis as a member of its "2004 North Stars", the all-star football team for the Central Suburban League's North Division. In announcing its selection, the ''Pioneer Press'' noted: "Quite simply one of the top receivers in the state, a player who piled up impressive numbers despite the fact the Spartans averaged barely 15 passing attempts per game."

College

After graduating from high school in 2005, Kipnis attended the

and then

. At the

, Kipnis

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

during the 2006 baseball season. In the spring of 2007, Kipnis batted .337 for the Wildcats with a .450 on-base percentage as an outfielder while stealing 11 bases in 12 attempts in 34 games. In February of that year, Kipnis was awarded

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

Freshman of the Week honors. In the summer before his sophomore year, Kipnis played for the

Covington Lumberjacks The Covington Lumberjacks are a collegiate summer baseball team in Covington, Virginia. They play in the Valley Baseball League. The team was founded in 2001 and the Lumberjacks play their home games at Casey Field in downtown Covington. Since ...

of the Valley Baseball League, a

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league in the

Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridg ...

region of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. He batted .318 with a .505 on-base percentage and 24 stolen bases. After two years at the University of Kentucky, Kipnis transferred to Arizona State University. He played baseball for the Sun Devils and double-majored in psychology and sociology. In an interview, Kipnis stated that the University of Kentucky wasn't the right fit for him and that ASU's college baseball reputation would make it a better fit. In 2008, Kipnis batted .371 with 14 home runs and 73

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

. He finished second in the league with 24 stolen bases in 28 attempts. Kipnis primarily played center field, but played all outfield positions and second base; he batted leadoff part of the time. In 2008, Kipnis became the second Arizona State player to win the

American Baseball Coaches Association The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the world's largest Amateur baseball in the United States, amateur baseball Manager (baseball), coaching organization. It was founded in 1945 as the American Association of College Baseball Coach ...

(ABCA)

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

Newcomer of the Year. (Teammate

Ike Davis Isaac Benjamin Davis (born March 22, 1987) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. From 2010 through 2016, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, and New Y ...

earned the award two years earlier.) Kipnis was named second-team All-America by the ABCA and named third-team All-American outfielder by ''

''. In May 2008, he won the Pacific-10 Player of the Week award. In June, the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

drafted Kipnis during the fourth round of the

2008 Major League Baseball draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first ro ...

. However, Kipnis opted to remain in college at Arizona State, becoming the seventh-highest player in the draft who chose not to sign. He decided not to sign with the Padres because he felt he hadn't fully matured and accomplished everything in college. Regarding Kipnis' success, Arizona State coach Pat Murphy observed: "I love that kid. He's tough as nails, and really hard on himself." Moreover, Paul DePodesta, San Diego Padres front office assistant and former

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

general manager, described him as "a pesky player who is a very tough out, hitting the ball to all fields and running the bases aggressively ... hoplays very hard and is surprisingly strong." In the summer of 2008, Kipnis played for the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

in the

Cape Cod League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousa ...

, a collegiate summer baseball league located on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. In 2009, Kipnis was the team's leadoff hitter and batted .384 with a .500 on-base percentage and a .709 slugging percentage. He finished with 16 home runs, 71 RBIs, 27 steals in 33 attempts, 51 walks and 32 strikeouts. The

National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) is an association of baseball writers, broadcasters, and publicists in the United States. It was founded in 1962. The NCBWA compiles a preseason ranking of the top 35 teams in the nat ...

(NCBWA), ''Baseball America'', and '' Collegiate Baseball'' named Kipnis the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year, a Pac-10 Conference All-Star outfielder, and a First Team College All-American outfielder. Rivals.com rated Kipnis the number one outfielder in the nation. Over two seasons, Kipnis batted .378 with 30 home runs, 144 RBIs, 142 runs, 37 doubles, 10 triples, and 51 stolen bases in 474 at bats for the Sun Devils.

Professional career

Minor leagues

The

drafted Kipnis in the second round (63rd overall) of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, and he received a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $575,000. In 2009, the first-year minor leaguer batted .306 for the

Mahoning Valley Scrappers The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Niles, Ohio, a city in the valley of the Mahoning River, and play their home games at Eastwood Field. From 1999 to 2020, they were ...

of the Short-Season A classification

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

, playing left and center field. While Kipnis appeared to be a good prospect as an outfielder, the Indians saw his potential as a second baseman. Kipnis felt he would have more success in the majors at second base, particularly because of Cleveland's difficulties at that position in recent years. ''Baseball America'' ranked him the fifth-best player in the league. During this time, ''

'' rated him the Indians' eighth-best prospect, describing Kipnis as "fitting great baseball intelligence, a lot of intensity, and surprising tools into a small package. He works the count extremely well and makes consistently hard contact, and he has some surprising pop for his size." In 2010, Kipnis batted .300 for the Kinston Indians of the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 un ...

. Kipnis was promoted from Kinston to the

Akron Aeros The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park, located in downtown Akron, which seats 7,630 ...

of the AA

Eastern League Eastern League may refer to: Baseball in the United States ''Most recent leagues listed first'' * Eastern League (1938–present), a minor league established in 1923 and renamed Eastern League in 1938, at the Double-A level * Eastern League (1916� ...

on June 10, 2010. He hit .311 for the Aeros and won the Aeros Player of the Week Award twice. ''Baseball America'' ranked Kipnis the ninth-best prospect in the Eastern League. At the same time, Kipnis made a successful conversion to second base. He joined the AAA

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy merchant sailing vessels known as cli ...

for their playoffs. Kipnis batted .455 in five games, and

hit for the cycle In baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League B ...

on September 17 in the Clippers’ victory that clinched the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

title. His big game was voted second in the 2010 Fans Choice "Best Game" Minor League Baseball Yearly Awards. Veteran catcher Luke Carlin said:

They bring up Kipnis from Akron, and we look at this little guy and say, 'Where did he come from, and what is he doing here?' We were teasing him, and all he does is go out and hit about a million. I mean, here's this little infielder and they put him in the fifth spot ... What's that about? He goes out and hits for the cycle.

For 2010, Kipnis led the Indians minor league system in hits (159) and runs (96). He finished tied for third in triples (8), fourth in doubles (32), and tied for fifth in both home runs (16) and RBIs (74). He batted a combined .313. He was named the Indians' 2010 Minor League Player of the Year (the "

Lou Boudreau Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a ...

Award"), and was named a 2010 ''Baseball America'' Minor League All-Star. After the 2010 season, Kipnis played for the Peoria Javelinas in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fille ...

. He batted .296 and tied for fifth in the league in RBIs (19). He was named to the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Game, and he wrote a blog for MLB.com during his time in the league. ''Baseball Prospectus'' ranked him as Cleveland's top prospect. ''Baseball Prospectus 2011'' reported that Kipnis was "a compact athlete who works the count, and consistently barrels up balls with enough power for 15–20 home runs annually in the big leagues." Indians Manager Manny Acta described him as: "a blue collar, dirt bag, run-through-a-wall, relentless type of guy." Writer

John Sickels John Sickels (born January 5, 1968) is an American baseball writer who specializes in minor league baseball and amateur baseball. Biography Sickels is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State University (1990, BA in history and philosophy) and t ...

said Kipnis is "quite strong and has plenty of bat speed. His feel for the strike zone is impressive, and he has no problem generating power. He seems to handle both fastballs and breaking stuff well, makes adjustments, and can handle left-handed pitching just fine." ''Baseball Prospectus'' ranked him as the 28th-highest prospect in baseball (".300 hitter, with 12–18 home runs") and the best in the organization. Jim Bowden ranked him the 39th-best prospect in baseball, saying, "He made great progress defensively this past year, and there is no doubt he should be a .300, 15 HR, 70 RBI type offensive 2B in the future". ''Baseball America'' initially ranked him as the 54th-best prospect in baseball, the second-best second base prospect and the second-best prospect in the Indians organization. By midseason, the publication ranked him 31st-best in the minors. In 2011, Kipnis was named the Indians Minor League Player of the Week for June 26 – July 2, after batting .500 with two home runs and a .581 on-base percentage. At that point in the season, Kipnis was 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts and was leading the International League in runs scored (60) and triples (9). At that time he was also second in OPS (.914), fourth in slugging percentage (.525), fifth in on-base percentage (.389), tied for sixth in RBIs (50), tied for seventh in hits (90), twelfth in average (.305), tied for fifteenth in stolen bases (11), and tied for nineteenth in home runs (11). On July 4, Kipnis was named the International League Player of the Week. Kipnis represented the Cleveland Indians in the 2011

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National Leag ...

on July 10, hitting a 95-mph fastball for a home run when he led off the bottom of the first inning for the United States. Kipnis also was named to the International League All-Star team, and he doubled and walked in the game on July 13. On July 22, 2011, Kipnis was called up from the Clippers to the Cleveland Indians. At the time, he was leading the International league in triples (9), was second in runs scored (64), seventh in total bases (164), tied for tenth in walks (44), twelfth in RBIs (55), and seventeenth in stolen bases (12 in 13 attempts).

Cleveland Indians

Kipnis made his major league debut on July 22, 2011, starting at second base against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. His first career hit came in his next game three days later on July 25, 2011 – a game-winning walk-off single with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning against the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

. On August 3, 2011, Kipnis became the first Indians second baseman to hit a home run in four consecutive games, and the only Indian other than former Indians MVP Al Rosen to do so in his rookie year. It was the first time in major league history that a player had homered in four consecutive games within two weeks of his major league debut. On August 10, Kipnis had a five-hit, four-run game, the first time a rookie had done so since

Jim Fridley James Riley Fridley (September 6, 1924 – February 28, 2003) was an American professional baseball player. During his Major League Baseball career, he was a backup outfielder, playing mostly at left field for three different teams between 1952 an ...

in 1952. In 2011, he played 36 games in the major leagues and batted .272 with seven home runs and 19 RBIs. Jason Kipnis got the Opening Day starting job at second base for 2012. On May 3, 2012, in a game against the Chicago White Sox, Kipnis had a triple, home run, and a career-high four RBIs in a 7–5 Indians victory. On June 1, Kipnis hit his first major league grand slam off

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 ...

' starting pitcher

Carl Pavano Carl Anthony Pavano (born January 8, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, Pavano played in Major League Baseball from 1998 to 2012 for the Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins, New York Yankees, Clevel ...

. Kipnis played 152 games in 2012, batting .257 with 14 home runs and 76 RBIs, and finished tied for 6th in the American League in steals (with 31). In the 2013 season Kipnis continued to improve over his 2012 performance, winning the Player of the Week honor twice in the month of June. Kipnis batted .419 in June, with an OPS of 1.216, in addition to stealing 9 bases in 10 attempts. He was also named the American League Player of the Month for June. Kipnis was later named a member of the 2013 American League All Star team. In 2013, he finished among AL leaders in sacrifice flies (tied for 2nd, with 10), walks (tied for 7th, with 76), and steals (tied for 9th, with 30). Kipnis signed a 6-year, $52.5 million contract with the Indians on April 4, 2014. In May 2015 Kipnis broke the Indians team record for the most hits in a single month with 51 total hits. He also ended the month with 30 runs which made him one of three people ever in the MLB to have 50+ hits and 30+ runs in the month of May. He was only behind Ty Cobb and Al Simmons. Jason Kipnis (48149162626)

On June 1, Kipnis was voted the AL Player of the Month for May. On July 9, Kipnis was placed on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. He would be activated on August 6 but would continue to feel discomfort in the hamstring. On August 23, 2017, Kipnis was placed back on the 10-day disabled list due to a hamstring injury. On September 19, 2018, Kipnis hit a walk-off grand slam for his 1,000th career hit against the

. With that hit, Kipnis became the only Cleveland Indians player to have 1,000 hits, 100 homeruns, and 100 stolen bases for his career. On September 17, 2019, the Indians announced that Kipnis suffered a broken right hamate bone which required surgery to remove. The injury ended his season after hitting .245/.304/.410/.715 with 17 home runs and 65 RBI. On October 31, 2019, the Indians announced they had declined their club option on Kipnis's contract for the 2020 season, making Kipnis a free agent.

Chicago Cubs

On February 18, 2020, Kipnis signed a minor league contract with the

. The deal included an invitation to the Cubs' 2020 major league spring training camp. On July 17, 2020, Kipnis was selected to the 40-man roster. During the shortened 2020 season, Kipnis hit .237/.341/.404 in 44 games.

Atlanta Braves

On February 15, 2021, Kipnis signed a minor league contract with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in ...

organization that included an invitation to Spring Training. On March 27, 2021, Kipnis was released by the Braves. On March 29, Kipnis re-signed with the Braves on a new minor league contract. Kipnis played in 59 games for the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, hitting .290/.390/.518 with 10 home runs and 32 RBI's. On November 11, 2021, Kipnis was released by the Braves.

Personal life

Kipnis is a practicing

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, though he self-identifies as

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

due to his father's Jewish ancestry. Kipnis has been nicknamed "Dirtbag", since he is prone to getting his uniform dirty during the course of a game. Former Indians manager Manny Acta affectionately used the term when speaking about Kipnis in public.

References

External links

University of Kentucky bio
*
Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kipnis, Jason 1987 births Akron Aeros players American League All-Stars Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Baseball players from Illinois Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Columbus Clippers players Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players Kentucky Wildcats baseball players Kinston Eagles players Living people Glenbrook North High School alumni Mahoning Valley Scrappers players Major League Baseball second basemen People from Northbrook, Illinois Peoria Javelinas players All-American college baseball players Catholics from Illinois Cotuit Kettleers players 21st-century American Jews