Topic: Paul Janish

Paul Ryan Janish (YAHN-ish) (born October 12, 1982 in Houston, Texas) is a Major League Baseball shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds.

Janish attended Cypress Creek High School where he played shortstop and pitched for the Cougars. He was named to the 2001 Texas 5A All-State team. Janish played for Rice University. In 2002, he played in 61 games at shortstop, had a batting average of .299, and was named to the Western Athletic Conference All-Star team. In 2003, the Rice Owls baseball team won the College World Series as Janish played in 68 games for the team. Janish had his best batting average in 2004 with the Owls, hitting .345, and hitting 9 home runs and 16 doubles as he was named to the WAC All-Star team. During the 2004 MLB Draft, the Cincinnati Reds wanted to get position players where they needed them early due to an apparent lack of depth, and as a result chose Janish with the 138th pick in the 5th round of the draft.

In his first professional season, Janish batted .263 with 2 home runs and 22 RBI in 66 games for the rookie league Billings Mustangs. He had his best game of the season in a 7-3 win on August 15 of that year at Missoula as he went 4-for-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. Following the season, he was the first recipient of the Dernell Stenson Award as MVP of the Florida Instructional League.