Deacon White (1847)
Andre Rodgers (1934)
Pedro Borbon (1946)
Wayne Simpson (1948)
Julio Cruz (1954)
Chip Hale (1964)
Darryl Kile (1968)
Mark Kotsay (1975)
Peter Moylan (1978)
Andre Rodgers (1934)
Pedro Borbon (1946)
Wayne Simpson (1948)
Julio Cruz (1954)
Chip Hale (1964)
Darryl Kile (1968)
Mark Kotsay (1975)
Peter Moylan (1978)
Nearly all of infielder
Walter William "Chip" Hale's major league career came with the
Twins. He was born in San Jose, attended the University of Arizona, and was
drafted by the Twins in the 17th round in 1987. A left-handed batter, he posted
solid batting averages in the minors and showed the ability to draw walks. He
was with the Twins for about a month in 1989 and played one game in 1990, but
did not really reach the majors until 1993. Hale came to the Twins in June of
that year, and with the exception of a couple of weeks in 1995 he stayed with
the big club through 1996. Hale was used as a bench player throughout that
time: he played a little second, a little third, a little DH, and was used as a
pinch-hitter from time to time. He was actually pretty good in that role. He
had neither power nor speed, and was not considered particularly good
defensively, but he provided a decent batting average and a decent OBP off the
bench. As a Twin, Chip Hale hit .281/.349/.369 in 563 at-bats, with 7 homers
and 78 RBIs. Hale became a free agent after the 1996 season and signed with the
Dodgers. He started the season in Los Angeles, but was used exclusively as a
pinch-hitter, going 1-for-12 with two walks in that role over the first month
of the season. Hale was demoted to AAA Albuquerque after that, and never played
in the majors again. He was released by the Dodgers after the 1997 campaign and
signed with the Angels, but was traded to St. Louis at the end of spring
training. He was with AAA Memphis for the entire season, and then his playing
career came to an end. Hale then went into managing and coaching. He was a
coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2007-2009, then became the third base
coach for the New York Mets in 2010. He was in the running for the manager’s
job for 2011, but when it went to Terry Collins, Hale was retained as
third-base coach. After the season, however, Hale left the Mets to take a
job as bench coach for the Oakland Athletics for 2013-2014. Chip Hale was
been the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2015-16. He was let go
after the season and will be the third base coach for Oakland in 2017.
Right-hander Peter Michael Moylan never played for the Twins,
but he was originally signed by them. A native of Attadale, Australia, Moylan
signed with the Twins as a free agent in 1996. He was in rookie ball for two
years, posting ERAs right around four, and then was released in April of 1998.
He returned to Australia and worked as a pharmaceutical salesman while playing
ball for Blackburn. He was a member of the Australian WBC team in 2006 and
pitched well. Back problems had resulted in conversion to a sidearm delivery,
and with this motion, his fastball became ten miles per hour faster. Impressed
by his WBC work, Atlanta signed Moylan in March of 2006. He did not pitch well
at AAA Richmond, nor did he pitch well in 15 games in the majors, but Atlanta
obviously saw something in him. The Braves were rewarded, as Moylan was a solid
member of their bullpen three of the next six seasons (he was injured much of
2008 with Tommy John surgery and 2011 with a torn rotator cuff). He was
still injured much of the 2012 season, but did very well in eight major league
appearances. In 295 appearances for Atlanta, Moylan posted an ERA of 2.59 and a
WHIP of 1.29. A free agent, after the season, he signed with the Dodgers
for 2013. He spent most of the season in AAA Albuquerque and did very well
there. His spent about two months in the majors and his numbers don't
look good, but eight of the eleven runs he allowed came in two appearances.
If you throw those out, his ERA is 2.25. Including them, it goes to
6.46. A free agent after the season, he signed with Houston for 2014 but
tore a ligament and was released during spring training. He missed all of
that season, but signed back with the Braves in 2015. He was in AAA most
of the season but came up in mid-August and pitched very well. He was
apparently used as a ROOGY, making 22 appearances but pitching only 10.1
innings and in twelve of his appearances he faced only one batter. He
signed with Kansas City for 2016, came up to the majors in mid-May, and had a
fine season, appearing in fifty games and going 2-0, 3.43, 1.30 WHIP. He
turns 38 today and is currently a free agent. He has had some major
surgeries, but as his twitter caption says, "When healthy I'm not bad
at my job." One would think someone will want him in a major league
bullpen in 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment