By Scott Barancik/Jewish Baseball News

Mondays can be tough on the soul. So have some smiles on us:

• Washington Nationals prospect Danny Rosenbaum is off to another good start this season. A starting pitcher with the Harrisburg Senators (AA), the 24-year-old lefty is 2-0 with a 1.25 ERA. Not bad, even for a player whose worst season ERA so far was 2.52, in 2011. And check this out: through three starts in 2012, Rosenbaum has struck out 16 but walked none.
• Our friends at Kaplan’s Korner recently posted this list of Jewish baseball records that may soon fall. A neat example: with a lifetime batting average of .312, Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun is just one percentage point behind career leader Hank Greenberg.
• By his senior year in college, Garrett Wittels had experienced the polar opposites of media fame and infamy. A 56-game hitting streak during his junior year at Florida International University brought him international attention, but so too did a subsequent rape arrest. Although the charge eventually was dropped and his accusers exposed as profiteers, the story did a number on the infielder’s reputation, baseball prospects (he went undrafted), and confidence. Now a 21-year-old St. Louis Cardinals prospect, Wittels is struggling to prop his 2012 batting average above .200. But ESPN The Magazine’s detailed account of his inner and outer trials reveals a deeply spiritual young man who deserves a second chance.
• Nothing goes together better than Jews and rugby, which is why the Boston Maccabi Rugby Football Club is so intriguing. I mean, how many rugby teams out there profess “an abiding commitment to the timeless Jewish values of tikkun olam and tzedakah “?

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