Suprising Fact About Travis Hafner

<TABLE class=ysptblclbg3 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Travis Hafner #48 | Designated Hitter/First Base | Cleveland Indians</TD><TD class=yspgens align=right><SCRIPT language=javascript>function go() { selected_index = document.select_player.player.selectedIndex; window.location.href = document.select_player.player.options[selected_index].value;}</SCRIPT><FORM name=select_player>Roster: </FORM></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR vAlign=center><TD>Height: 6-3 Weight: 240
Bats: L Throws: R
Born: Jun 3, 1977 - Jamestown, ND
College: Cowley County (KS) JC
Draft: 1996 - 31st round by the Texas Rangers


WTF? 31st round?
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Crazy shit...lots of great players go in the later rounds. Of all the sports, the baseball draft is the least perfected science in terms of scouting and hitting/missing on prospects.

Mike Piazza is the most brought up example, of course.

Lot of this is the early draft out of High School .. knowing they won't sign until 3 years later

Also another intesting tidbit is that his nick name is Trunk. They have only mentioned that on TV about 1514 times.

gold64 said:

Lot of this is the early draft out of High School .. knowing they won't sign until 3 years later

Click to expand...

I think in Hafner's case, he was drafted out of a JUCO and signed right away. I think this was just a situation where he slipped through the cracks and someone just took a flyer on him because of his size and power.

Wow.. didn't know JUCO ...

When you think about the Baseball draft, you see what a crapshoot it is...

ironman_8 said:

Also another intesting tidbit is that his nick name is Trunk. They have only mentioned that on TV about 1514 times.

Click to expand...

Trunk?...lmao.

It's Pronk. Project donkey = Pronk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/sports/baseball/yankees-near-deal-to-sign-travis-hafner-as-dh.html

January 31, 2013
Yankees Near a Deal to Sign Hafner as D.H.
By DAVID WALDSTEIN
The Yankees apparently found their latest designated hitter Thursday, closing in on a one-year deal with the former Cleveland Indians slugger Travis Hafner. He has agreed to an incentive-laden deal with the Yankees with a base salary close to $2 million.


Hafner will replace Raul Ibanez as the left-handed D.H. Ibanez left to join the Seattle Mariners as a free agent. Hafner will have a hard time matching Ibanez’s late-season heroics for the Yankees, but he does have a memorable postseason hit that figures prominently in Yankees lore.


On Oct. 5, 2007, Hafner lined a two-out, 11th-inning single off Luis Vizcaino to win Game 2 of the American League division series between the Yankees and the Indians. That game was interrupted by a swarm of midges that changed the course of that series and indirectly contributed to the Boston Red Sox’ winning their second World Series this century.


Thanks in part to the midges, the Indians tied the score off the previously impenetrable Joba Chamberlain in the eighth inning. Hafner’s single three innings later propelled the Indians to a 2-1 victory and a 2-0 lead in a series they would win. But they lost to the Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, and Boston swept the Rockies in the World Series.


Hafner, 35, never returned to the postseason, but he had a productive 11-year career, with the Texas Rangers (for one season) and the Indians, hitting 201 home runs in 1,101 games, with an .888 on-base plus slugging percentage. Injuries have limited him the past five seasons; last year, he played in only 66 games because of back and knee problems. He hit .228 with just 20 extra-base hits.


But over his career, he has hit .287 against right-handers with a .381 on-base percentage. His O.P.S. against right-handers is .925.


The Yankees tried to get Hafner last year in a potential deal that would have sent A. J. Burnett to the Indians. Instead, Burnett was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Hafner remained in Cleveland. The Indians bought out his contract for $2.75 million after last season, making Hafner a free agent.


The Yankees also announced their spring training invitees, including Matt Diaz, Juan Rivera, Dan Johnson, Thomas Neal and Bobby Wilson, all of whom signed minor league deals. They have also invited the minor league outfielders Slade Heathcott and Tyler Austin and catcher Gary Sanchez.