Dan Uggla
From BR Bullpen
Daniel Cooley Uggla
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 200 lbs.
- School University of Memphis
- High School Columbia Central High School (TN)
- Debut April 3, 2006
- Born March 11, 1980 in Louisville, KY USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Dan Uggla had a breakthrough year as a college junior, hitting .379/.498/.790 for the University of Memphis in 2001. He was third in Conference USA in average behind Kevin Youkilis and Andy Cannizaro, tied Youkilis for second in the conference with 18 homers (three behind Jake Gautreau) and hit 28 doubles, second behind Cannizaro. Named to the All-Conference Team and several All-American teams, he was tied for 10th in NCAA Division I in slugging. The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted the second baseman in the 11th round of the 2001 amateur draft and assigned him to the Yakima Bears, where he batted .277/.341/.406 and led Northwest League second basemen with 41 double plays.
Dan struggled in 2002 with the South Bend Silver Hawks (.199/.291/.275) and the Lancaster JetHawks (.228/.311/.337). In 2003, he returned to Lancaster and improved to .290/.355/.504 with 104 runs, 31 doubles, 23 homers, 90 RBI and 24 steals in 33 tries while playing primarily third base. He led California League players at that spot with a .941 fielding percentage and 212 assists. He was three runs behind league leader Jayson Nix but lost the All-Star spot to Dallas McPherson. Uggla hit .336/.419/.600 with Lancaster in 37 games in 2004 and finally moved up to the El Paso Diablos (.258/.301/.353).
In 2005, Uggla produced at a .297/.378/.502 clip for the Tennessee Smokies with 88 runs, 87 RBI, 33 doubles and 21 homers. He was second in Southern League with 250 total bases and 57 extra-base hits, third with 148 hits and 21 home runs, and fourth in runs and doubles. He made the SL All-Star team at second base.
On December 8, 2005, the Florida Marlins picked Dan in the Rule V Draft and made him their starting second baseman for the 2006 season. He was batting over .300 around the halfway point of the year and made the National League team for the 2006 All-Star Game. He finished the season with a .282/.339/.480 batting line.
Uggla slipped a bit, to .245/.326/.479, in 2007. Positives were 113 runs, 49 doubles and 31 home runs while a negative was his 167 strikeouts. His OPS+ was 108, 4 points lower than 2006. He tied David Wright for 5th in the 2007 NL in runs, was second in strikeouts behind Ryan Howard, was second in doubles (one behind Matt Holliday), tied Khalil Greene for second in sacrifice flies (11), tied double-play partner Hanley Ramirez for 4th in extra-base hits (83) and was 6th in outs made (503).
Uggla hit his 84th home run in the majors on July 30, 2008, giving him a new record for a major league second baseman in his first three seasons; Joe Gordon had held the mark for 68 years. He was part of the first infield to have each starter hit 25 or more home runs, as 1B Mike Jacobs, SS Hanley Ramírez and 3B Jorge Cantú all did so in addition to Dan. He made the All-Star team for a second time, but his performance was one to forget, as he committed a record-tying three errors in the late innings as the National League lost a tightly-fought extra-inning context. On September 28, Dan hit the last home run at Shea Stadium during a 4-2 Marlins' win over the New York Mets. He ended the season with excellent offensive numbers: 32 home runs, a batting line of .260/.360/.514, 37 doubles, 97 runs and 92 RBI.
Uggla hit his 100th home run in his 502nd major league game, setting a new record for the fastest second baseman to hit 100 homers, doing so off Manny Parra on June 2, 2009. He hit 31 homers that year, along with 27 doubles and drove in 90 runs, but his batting average fell to .243. He also improved his walk total to 92, giving him an OBP of .354 and slugging percentage of .459 for a 111 OPS+, almost identical with his 2006 and 2007 campaigns. He was 9th in the 2009 NL in walks and 6th in strikeouts (150).
On September 13, 2010, he took David Herndon deep to become the first second baseman in major league history to go deep 30 times in four different seasons. He finished the year with a batting line of .287/.369/.508, with 33 homers and 105 RBI, his first season to break the magic 100 mark. After the season, the Marlins traded him to the Atlanta Braves as they figured that it would be too expensive to re-sign him. The Braves gave him a large multi-year contract, worth $62 million over five years, and then probably had immediate second thoughts when he started the 2011 season stone-cold. On July 4th, he was hitting a mere .173 with a .241 OBP when he embarked on what was one of the most improbable hitting streaks of all time. He got a hit in every remaining game in July, to move his average slightly above .200, then continued through the first 10 days of August. When he went 3 for 5 on August 10th, his streak reached 31 games, the longest in the major leagues that year, and tying him for the longest in Atlanta Braves history - Rico Carty had had a 31-game streak in 1970. In spite of his recent batting heroics, he was still only hitting .224 at that point, with over 100 strikeouts. For one day, he and teammate Freddie Freeman had both had active 20+ game hitting streaks on the go; it was the first time this had happened since Mickey Rivers and Al Oliver of the Texas Rangers in 1980. Uggla's streak ended at 33 games; on August 14th, Chicago Cubs 2B Darwin Barney robbed him of a sure hit with a spectacular diving, back-to-the-plate catch in short right field as he went 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly. Not surprisingly, he was named the National League's Player of the Month for August; during the month, he hit .340, collecting 33 hits. He finished the year with a .233 batting average, but with 36 homers, 88 runs and 82 RBI, good for an OPS+ of 109 when all was said and done.
Primary sources: 2002-2006 Baseball Almanacs
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 2006 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- 2-time NL All-Star (2006 & 2008)
- NL Silver Slugger Award Winner (2010)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 6 (2006-2011)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 5 (2007-2011)
- 100 RBI Seasons: 1 (2010)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 3 (2006, 2007 & 2010)
