 |
| photo courtesy of @Indians on twitter |
in Michael's first at bat in the top of the 1st inning with 1 out and no score, he faced left-handed pitcher Blaine Hardy. after an 0-2 count, he hit a line drive single to center field. Francisco Lindor had been at 1st base to begin with after drawing a leadoff walk, but
was picked off during Michael's AB. the pitch sequence went: called strike, pickoff attempt, called strike, pickoff of Lindor at 1st, single. while Michael was batting, Tom Hamilton told WTAM 1100 radio listeners that Brant was the 30th Indians player to appear in 1,000 games with the club! he was left stranded, however.
Niko Goodrum led off the bottom of the 2nd inning for Detroit with his team behind, 1-0. he sent Tribe starter Mike Clevinger's first pitch to left field, which Michael caught with ease for out #1.
Michael's next AB occurred in the top of the 3rd inning with 1 out and the Indians up, 1-0. after a 1-0 count from Hardy, Michael hit a high fly ball to center field for the second out in the inning.
with the Tribe down, 2-1, Michael led off the top of the 6th inning in his third at bat. facing right-handed reliever Drew VerHagen, who'd just replaced Hardy on the mound, Michael hit a line drive single to right field on a 1-2 count. the sequence went: called strike, ball, foul to the left, single. once again, nobody could bring him home.
his last at bat came with 1 out in the top of the 8th inning against righty Joe Jimenez. the Indians were still trailing, 2-1, and after getting three straight balls, Michael lined out to center field for the second out of the inning.
the Tribe went on to lose the game by the same score, and Michael finished with 2 singles, 1 flyout, 1 lineout, 2 total bases, and 1 putout in 8 innings in left field.
now for those who don't know or maybe don't remember all the details, here is some background on Michael's baseball history. Michael was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2005 in the 7th round of the draft and signed with them on June 7. he began with Milwaukee's Arizona League and also played for the Helena Brewers (both rookie leagues) in 2005. Michael played for the Single A West Virginia Power in 2006. in 2007, he spent time with both the Power and the Double A Huntsville Stars. he remained in Double A for his entire 2008 season prior to a trade that would forever change his life.
on July 7, 2008, the Brewers and Indians agreed to a deal that sent Tribe starter CC Sabathia to Milwaukee in exchange for Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson, and a player to be named later. the PTBNL turned out to be Michael, who was officially traded to the Indians on October 3. Michael began his career in the Indians' organization with the Columbus Clippers in Triple A. it's the only minor league team Michael ever played in with the Tribe ahead of his promotion to the big leagues.
Michael made his Major League debut all the way back on September 1, 2009, also against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica, so this couldn't have been more perfect. he went 2-for-4 on that night as well.
now if you do a quick bit of math...🖩 this is Michael's 10th season in the bigs and there are 162 games in a regular season. so it would seem as though Michael should have hit this benchmark a while ago. you can partially place the blame on his inconsistencies early on in 2010, which resulted in being optioned to the Clippers once for two and a half months. after being recalled on July 4, he was sent down in late July for 10 days when the Tribe needed to add a pitcher (his still current teammate Josh Tomlin) before becoming a major leaguer for good on August 6, 2010. couple that with some significant injuries/surgeries during his career, including a torn right labrum and chronic right biceps tendinitis in 2016, right ankle synovitis and deltoid ligament sprain in 2017, and heck i could even throw his broken right hamate bone issue from 2011 in here, too... and well, then it makes sense why he's just reaching this milestone now. and the fact that he was able to recover from the surgeries and come back from all those injuries is remarkable. never doubt Dr. Smooth because you just can't keep Michael down!💪
here are the number of games Michael has played in each of his MLB seasons to date:
2009: 28 games
2010: 72 games (optioned to Columbus two separate times)
2011: 114 games (season shortened due to broken right hamate bone)
2012: 149 games
2013: 151 games
2014: 156 games (career high)
2015: 137 games (missed some time in the beginning with a lower back strain and right shoulder inflammation at the end of the year)
2016: 11 games (season shortened due to chronic right biceps tendinitis)
2017: 90 games (season shortened due to right ankle synovitis/deltoid ligament sprain)
2018: 92 games so far
Michael's career has been highlighted by so many amazing achievements. here are some of my favs:
--his career high 22-game hitting streak in 2012
--his franchise record 247 consecutive errorless games in the outfield in 2014
--his outstanding 20-20, 200-hit, MVP3 season in 2014
--winning the Silver Slugger Award in 2014
--his three All Star nods in 2014, 2017, and 2018
--his 1,000th career hit in 2017
--his five career walk-offs
i am very proud to be a fan of his, who's watched him accomplish all these incredible things from the very beginning!🥇
in 1,000 career games, Michael has 4,257 plate appearances and 3,857 at bats (8,236.0 innings, 953 OF games). in total, he has 1,132 hits, 338 extra base hits, 794 singles, 238 doubles, 18 triples, 82 home runs (2 grand slams), 509 RBI, 38 sac flies, 512 runs, 329 walks, 31 intentional walks, 21 hit by pitches, 112 stolen bases, 30 caught stealing, 12 sac bunts, 88 GIDP, 452 strikeouts, 1,652 total bases, 1,816 putouts, 54 assists, 12 errors, 11 double plays, and .994 fielding percentage.
MLB career batting average: .293 (1,132-for-3,857)
OBP: .349
SLG: .428
OPS: .777
 |
| screenshot cropped from baseball-reference.com |
so congratulations, Michael, on 1,000 career MLB games! here's to 1,000 more!🥂 lol😉💗
what are your favorite Michael moments so far in his MLB career? leave a comment below!
keep following me on twitter @clevelandgirl23 for live tweets of everything Michael does during games, along with other interesting facts and breaking news. i've also been #CelebratingMichaelBrantley this year as well! every Monday (and occasional "bonus" dates), i spotlight something special from Michael's long career with the Tribe. search through the hashtag to browse through the series, and feel free to add your own memories of Michael's time in Cleveland to the thread, too!🎉
and if you'd like to receive notifications when i publish new blogs, you can join my subscription list. just enter your preferred email address into the box underneath the Blog Archive sidebar over on the upper right side of this page and you'll never miss a post of mine again!📧
No comments:
Post a Comment