Mike Napoli

From BR Bullpen

Michael Anthony Napoli

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 0", Weight 205 lbs.
High School Charles Flanagan High School
Debut May 4, 2006
Born October 31, 1981 in Hollywood, FL USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Mike Napoli was selected by the Anaheim Angels in the 17th round of the 2000 amateur draft after being scouted by Todd Claus. He began his professional career that year with a .231/.308/.400 line in 10 games for the Butte Copper Kings. The next year, he served as a backup backstop for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, putting up a .232/.341/.406 line and he went 4 for 20 with a homer for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

In 2002, Mike began playing regularly for Cedar Rapids as a DH while still backing up at catcher and produced at a .251/.362/.392 clip with 104 strikeouts. The next season, Napoli baced up Jeff Mathis with the Quakes and hit .267/.364/.412. With Mathis moving up, Napoli dazzled as a Rancho Cucamonga catcher-1B in 2004, hitting .282/.394/.539 with 88 walks, 166 strikeouts, 94 runs, 29 homers and 118 RBI in a fine Three True Outcomes-type season. He made the California League All-Star team as a utility man and led the league in homers, RBI, intentional walks (5) and walks (88, tied with Paul McAnulty) while finishing five strikeouts behind the leader. He had gone from part-timer to prospect in one year.

Napoli hit .237/.372/.508 for the 2005 Arkansas Travelers with 96 runs, 99 RBI, 88 walks, 31 homers and 140 strikeouts. Baseball America rated him as the top power prospect in the Texas League. He led his league in home runs again, led in RBI and walks and made the All-Star team at catcher. Defensively, he led in errors (14) and passed balls (13) but also in percentage of runners thrown out (47%).

In 2006, Mike hit .244/.344/.436 for the Salt Lake Bees and got called up to the Angels, where he is batting .229/.367/.459 through August 26.

The longest ever postseason losing streak by one team against another was eleven games, by the Angels against the Boston Red Sox, between 1986 and 2008. The streak ended when the Angels won game 3 of the 2008 ALDS 5-4: Napoli contributed the game's only two home runs, as he had 3 RBI and scored 3 runs in the win. He was only the sixth catcher ever to have more than one home run in the same postseason game, and was the first of the six not to win the World Series that year. While his burst of power may have seemed unexpected, he had in fact hit 20 home runs in only 227 at bats during the 2008 regular season, giving him one of the best home run ratio in MLB that year.

Sources: 2001-2006 Baseball Almanacs