Justin Morneau

From BR Bullpen

Justin Ernest Morneau

Bats Left, Throws Right
Height 6' 4", Weight 205 lb.

Debut June 10, 2003
Born May 15, 1981 in New Westminster, BC CAN

[edit] Biographical Information

Justin Morneau is a first baseman who was the surprise winner of the 2006 American League MVP award. The favorites had been Derek Jeter and David Ortiz, who finished second and third in the voting. Morneau was only the second Canadian-born player to receive the MVP award (Larry Walker was the first).

In the 2001 Baseball World Cup, Morneau played first base and catcher but went 0 for 8 with a walk as one of numerous Canadians who would later play in MLB who struggled at the plate in that tournament.

Morneau spent six years in the minors, often dominating the leagues he played in. In 2000, he spent most of the season in the rookie league, hitting .402 and slugging .665. In the first half of 2001, he was in Single A ball in the Midwest League, hitting .356 with a .597 slugging percentage. He had pieces of three seasons in the AA Eastern League, and when he started hot in 2003, he moved up to AAA ball and also the majors. The next year, he spent half the season back in Triple A, slugging .615, and moved into the big leagues for good.

Morneau was a big part of the reason why the 2006 Minnesota Twins came from far behind to win their division. Having hit only .239 with a .437 slugging percentage in 2005, he started 2006 very slowly, with a .208 average in April. However, in June and July, he slugged over .700, and ended the season with a batting average of .321 that was 50 points higher than he had ever hit before, and a slugging percentage of .559 that drove in 130 runs, good for 2nd in the league in RBI. That year, he became the first Twins player to hit 30 home runs in a season since Gary Gaetti (31), Tom Brunansky (32) and Kent Hrbek (34) all did so in 1987.

Morneau became the highest-paid player in Minnesota Twins history when he signed a 6-year, $80 million deal in January of 2008.

He became the first Canadian to win the Home Run Derby on July 14, 2008, defeating Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers. After having a great year in 2008, in which he hit .300 with 23 homers and 129 RBI and finished second in the voting for the MVP Award, he played for Team Canada during the World Baseball Classic in Toronto, ON. Morneau was awarded the Tip O'Neill Award for the top Canadian in baseball in 2008 on April 16, 2009 before the Blue Jays-Twins game in Minnesota. Tom Valcke, CEO of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame made the presentation prior to the game. This was Morneau's second award, having previously won in 2006.