Brendan Harris
From BR Bullpen
Brendan Michael Harris
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 200 lb.
- School College of William and Mary
- Debut July 6, 2004
- Born August 26, 1980 in Albany, NY USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Brendan Harris is a middle infielder who has played in the majors in 2004-2006 with four different major league teams. He has moved around a lot in the major and the minor leagues and might be considered a modern version of Suitcase Bob Seeds, who got his nickname because he was often moving from team to team.
Born in New York, he went to Queensbury High School and then the College of William and Mary in Virginia.
While in high school, Harris was a star pitcher and led Queensbury to a N.Y. state title game, which the Spartans lost.
He is one of only 11 players from the College of William and Mary to make the big leagues; in 2006 he was joined by fellow graduates Chris Ray and Bill Bray. Harris was a 3rd team All-American shortstop in 2001.
Brendan was picked by the Chicago Cubs in the 5th round of the 2001 draft, and was in their minor league organization from 2001 to part of 2004. He appeared in 32 games in the Midwest League in 2001, hitting .274. Then in 2002, with the Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League, he posted numbers of .329/.395/.532 and made the league all-star team as a third baseman. Moved up briefly to the Double A Southern League, he slugged .547 in 13 games in 2002.
He spent 2003 in the same place, with the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx, hitting .280 with 34 doubles. The 2004 season saw him with the Iowa Cubs in Triple A, hitting .311/.353/.531 in 69 games. He made his major league debut in July 2004, appearing in 3 games. At the end of July he was involved in a complex four-team trade that brought Nomar Garciaparra to the Chicago Cubs while Harris went to the Montreal Expos. He spent a month at their Triple A team, the Edmonton Trappers, hitting .285 with 6 home runs, and came up to the Expos for 20 games.
In 2005, he came to the Washington Nationals organization, playing most of the season for their Triple A club, the New Orleans Zephyrs, where he hit .270 with 13 home runs. He came up to the parent club for four major league games, hitting .333 with a homer and a double.
In 2006, he was in the minors with the Zephyrs again for two months, hitting .283 with 5 home runs, and was in the majors with the Nationals for 17 games, hitting .250. He was traded by the Nationals in the middle of July 2006 to the Cincinnati Reds, where he played in 8 games at the major league level, hitting .200. However, he spent most of his time with the Reds' Triple A team, the Louisville Bats, hitting .324/.384/.534 in 43 games.
[edit] Journeyman to All-Star?
St. Petersburg Times sports writer Marc Topkin, in a column published June 24, 2007, opined that Brendan Harris, now a shortstop for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, could be a dark horse candidate for the 2007 All-Star game.
"Harris has emerged as one of the top performers at one of the league’s showcase positions," Topkin wrote before going on to list Harris' stats: "He ranks third among AL shortstops with eight home runs (through Friday), fourth with a .310 average and an .843 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages) and eighth with 32 RBIs. Only Detroit’s Carlos Guillen and Baltimore’s injured Miguel Tejada also rank among the top eight in all four categories."
Topkin also quoted Tampa manager Joe Maddon expressing support for Harris' unlikely All-Star bid: “You look at (Harris’) overall play and there’s a case to be made there,” Maddon said. “Of course the name isn’t glamorous, but he’s been pretty darn good.”
