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A Look At The National League Batting Champion
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The 2006 Major League Baseball season is now over, and one of the worst teams in the National League (well the second worst record) has the 2006 National League batting champion. That team is the Pittsburgh Pirates, and that National League batting title winner is none other than Freddy Sanchez.
Before this record season, nobody outside of Pittsburgh really knew who Freddy Sanchez was. After all, he did in fact start the 2006 season as a utility fielder / backup player. But the question is, how did a relatively unknown player at the beginning of the season turn into an National League All Star half way through the season, and end the season by winning the National League batting title?
Born on December 21st, 1977 in Hollywood, California, Freddy played baseball for his Burbank, California high school. During his senior year in high school Freddy Sanchez was declared most valuable player on his high school team. Although he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 30th round after high school, Sanchez did not sign. Instead, following high school Sanchez enrolled in Glendale Community College where he played for two years before later transferring to Dallas Baptist University, and later Oklahoma City University. Throughout his college years, Freddy continued to win assorted awards for his baseball talents.
In 2000, Freddy Sanchez was finally signed to play professional baseball by a Boston Red Sox scout. As a result, Freddy would spend the next two years quickly advancing through the Boston Red Sox's minor league system. Sanchez's skills were being refined, and his batting average was skyrocketing.
Freddy Sanchez was finally called up to play for the Major League Boston Red Sox team on August 2nd, 2002. In the game, Freddy went one for two with a solid single. Sanchez spent the majority of the next season bouncing back and forth between Boston's minor league Pawtucket organization, before he was ultimately traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 31st, 2003 in a deadline deal.
Sanchez was only able to play in one game on a Pittsburgh Pirate minor league team, the Nashville Sounds, before he suffered an ankle injury which caused him to be placed on the disabled list for the rest of the season. After showing a lot of potential early on, it seemed as if Freddy Sanchez's best days were gone. In the 2004 season, Freddy was side lined most of the season due to the ankle injury he had suffered the previous season.
All hope was not lost, as Freddy started to bounce back for the 2005 Major League Baseball season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2005, Freddy was able to play in a hundred and thirty two games, which is quite odd considering Freddy Sanchez was a backup player. In those one hundred and thirty two games, Sanchez managed to get a batting average of .291 with five home runs and thirty five runs batted in. Although his stats for the year were by no means remarkable, it showed that Freddy back on his way to reaching his full baseball potential.
The following season (2006) was Freddy Sanchez's break out season. Just like the previous season, Sanchez began the season as backup / utility fielder, and did not get much play during the first several games. An injury however soon took third baseman Joe Randa out, and Freddy Sanchez in. Joe Randa's injury is perhaps the best thing to occur to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in the 2006 season. Manager Jim Tracy of the Pittsburgh Pirates continually stated several times during the month of April that Freddy Sanchez's role in the Pittsburgh Pirates was a utility fielder / backup player. With Joe Randa out of the picture, Freddy Sanchez was able to show the baseball world what he was capable of.
Sanchez quickly earned the nickname "Steady Freddy" as he was capable of always getting hits. If there was a player you could count on to get a hit, it was Freddy. Although the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball, Freddy Sanchez was still gaining rapid attention through out the baseball world.
Although his name appeared no where on the voting ballot for the 2006 Major League Baseball All Star game, Freddy Sanchez still managed to obtain over eight hundred thousand write in votes; the most of any Major League Baseball player. This ultimately led the National League team Manager, Phil Garner to utilize Sanchez in the game starting in the 5th inning.
The 2006 Major League Baseball All Star game was soon over, however Freddy Sanchez continued to amaze the public. His popularity increased as he delivered hit after hit, and incredible plays became the norm. Throughout the rest of the 2006 season, Freddy Sanchez found himself not only leading his team in batting average, but also the entire National League as well.
As the small market Pittsburgh Pirates team continued find themselves in last place, fans continued to come to every home game to support their All Star, Freddy Sanchez. While Jason Bay was the Pittsburgh Pirates' superstar for the past two years, it was evident that Freddy Sanchez had stepped up to take his place.
While Sanchez may not be able to smash home runs (he only hit six home runs in the 2006 season) Sanchez still has enough power to get the ball out in to the field. Freddy Sanchez managed to get an even two hundred hits in the 2006 season, as well as an impressive eighty five runs batted in. Sanchez also broke the Pittsburgh Pirates single season double record, when he smashed a very impressive fifty three doubles.
What will the future hold for Freddy Sanchez? Will he stay in Pittsburgh, or go to a better team. Personally, Sanchez is my favorite player (I'm a Pittsburgh Pirate fan) and I would hate to see him leave. He brought a lot of people to the last games of the season (Everybody wanted to experience Freddy Sanchez at bat) and a lot of attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was the 2006 National League batting champion, hopefully he will stick around and help the Pittsburgh Pirates become World Series champions in the near future.
6:45 AM
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