Kenny Lofton
From BR Bullpen
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Kenny Lofton is a high-average hitter with stolen base talent who has been valuable at the top of the line-up for many years. Currently, as of the early part of the 2008 season, he is a free agent who has attracted some major league interest but who hasn't signed with anyone.
At age 39 in 2006, he hit .301, higher than his lifetime major league average of .299. He also stole 32 bases, getting caught just 5 times, and ranks (as of the end of the 2007 season) # 15 on the all-time stolen-base list. In 2007 he hit .296, close to his lifetime average, and again stole successfully, with 23 steals in 30 attempts.
In 2007 he scored his 1,500th run, and was part of the 2007 Cleveland Indians team that won its division for the first time in seven years. Except for a few players from the turn of the 19th/20th Century, every player who has scored more runs than Lofton is in the Hall of Fame. As of the end of 2007, Lofton is # 54 on the all-time list for runs scored, just behind Frankie Frisch.
Lofton has played for 11 teams in his major league career (through the middle of 2007), only one away from the record of 12 teams set by Mike Morgan.
Lofton, who played for the University of Arizona, where he was also on the basketball team which reached the Final Four in 1988, was drafted in the 17th round by the Houston Astros at age 21 and broke in with them for 21 games at the age of 24 in 1991. The next year, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Eddie Taubensee.
After a decent rookie year where he stole 66 bases, he became a star in the 1993 expansion year when he hit .325, fourth in the league, scored 116 runs, and won a Gold Glove. The next year, he was again fourth in the league with a .349 average, leading the league in hits, winning another Gold Glove, and finishing 2nd in the league in runs scored.
He continued to play quite well in 1995 and 1996 for Cleveland, and then in 1997 he was traded to the Atlanta Braves. He hit well there, with a .333 average, and Atlanta won 101 games, but he wasn't happy and returned to Cleveland the following season.
His hitting and stolen bases started to slip as he aged. In 2002, at the age of 35, he became a journeyman, playing for the Chicago White Sox, the San Francisco Giants, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Chicago Cubs in partial seasons in 2002 and 2003, for the New York Yankees in 2004, for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2005, and for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2006. On occasion he hit quite well, such as in 2005 when he hit .335 in 110 games.
He has four Gold Gloves. He has never won an MVP award, but was 4th in 1994. He has led the league in stolen bases six times, in hits once, and in triples once.
Through age 40, the most similar player to Lofton (based on the similarity scores method), is Tim Raines. There are two Hall of Famers on the similarity list through age 40: Fred Clarke and Enos Slaughter.
Even at the age of 40, he continues to steal bases well, to hit lots of triples, and to hit for a decent batting average.
Kenny Lofton and David Wells share the record for the most different teams in the postseason. Each has appeared for six teams through 2006.
Lofton became a free agent after the 2007-2008 season.[2]
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 1992 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
- 6-time All-Star (1994-1999)
- 4-time AL Gold Glove Winner (1993-1996)
- AL At Bats Leader (1996)
- AL Hits Leader (1994)
- 2-time AL Singles Leader (1993 & 1994)
- AL Triples Leader (1995)
- 5-time AL Stolen Bases Leader (1992-1996)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 6 (1993, 1994, 1996 & 1998-2000)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1996)
- 50 Stolen Bases Seasons: 6 (1992-1996 & 1998)
[edit] Notes
- ↑ http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/4789
- ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/news?playerId=2631
