Brian Ostrosser

Brian Leonard Ostrosser (born June 17, 1949) is a Canadian former Major League Baseball shortstop who appeared in four games for the New York Mets in 1973 when injuries to several players left the team short of infielders.

He had a 1.000 fielding percentage fielding 5 chances without an error. Although the Mets won the National League pennant in 1973 he was not on the postseason roster. He is one of the few Canadians to have played for the Mets.

In 1974 he was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dwain Anderson, but never played a Major League game for the Indians.

Ostrosser started his professional career in 1970, playing with both the Rookie League Marion Mets and the Class A Pompano Beach Mets that year. He spent the 1971 season with Pompano Beach, and was promoted to the Class AA Memphis Blues of the Texas League in 1972. As Memphis' starting shortstop Ostrosser had a .262 batting average in 470 at bats. He only had 21 extra base hits for a .323 slugging percentage but his 71 walks produced a solid .370 on-base percentage. He led Texas League shortstops in fielding in 1972, and developed a reputation as an outstanding defensive shortstop.

He played for Class AAA Tidewater Tides briefly in 1972 and most of 1973. Although he started the 1973 season with Tidewater, he was not able to play until May due to an emergency operation to remove his appendix during spring training. With Tidewater in 1973 Ostrosser had a batting average of .230 in 283 at-bats. His slugging percentage was just .297 but again a large number of walks (47 in this case) produced a solid on-base percentage of .354. He made his major league debut against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 5, 1973, going 0 for 2, striking out twice. As of the beginning of 1973, he was one of just four Canadians in the National League, and the only Canadian non-pitcher.

In 1974 Ostrosser played again for Tidewater but had a batting average of just .192 in 172 at-bats with no home runs. Even another impressive walk total of 32 relative to his at bats brought his on-base percentage only up to .332. He batted .261 for the 89ers in 1974 with a slugging percentage of .279 and an on-base percentage of .332. In 1980, Ostrosser was on Canada's World's men's softball championship team.