Seems like this question gets asked about guys like Gary Burnham every spring. How can I guy who hits .XXX year after year, never get shot at the bigs? In Gary’s case of course, the numbers are pretty decent:
| 1999 | Reading | East | 24 | Phi | AA | 1b-of | 116 | 354 | 47 | 88 | 20 | 0 | 12 | 49 | 11 | 3 | 41 | 49 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 16 | .249 | .350 | .407 | 757 | – | |||||||||||
| 2000 | Reading | East | 25 | Phi | AA | 1b | 111 | 355 | 53 | 95 | 28 | 0 | 13 | 61 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 47 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | .268 | .363 | .456 | 819 | – | |||||||||||
| 2001 | Reading | East | 26 | Phi | AA | 1b | 109 | 371 | 59 | 118 | 25 | 2 | 15 | 77 | 1 | 2 | 35 | 43 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 14 | .318 | .385 | .518 | 903 | – | |||||||||||
| 2002 | Syracuse | IL | 27 | Tor | AAA | 1b | 134 | 537 | 70 | 151 | 34 | 1 | 17 | 88 | 1 | 2 | 53 | 69 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 19 | .281 | .363 | .443 | 806 | – | |||||||||||
| 2003 | Syracuse | IL | 28 | Tor | AAA | 1b | 91 | 349 | 44 | 94 | 25 | 1 | 9 | 51 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 54 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 20 | .269 | .328 | .424 | 752 | – | |||||||||||
| 2004 | Memphis | PCL | 29 | Stl | AAA | 1b-of | 36 | 89 | 15 | 26 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .292 | .351 | .449 | 800 | – | |||||||||||
| Louisville | IL | 29 | Cin | AAA | 1b | 69 | 222 | 30 | 58 | 15 | 0 | 5 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 33 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | .261 | .327 | .396 | 723 | – | ||||||||||||
| 2005 | Bridgeport | Atl | 30 | Ind | dh-of | 132 | 453 | 75 | 145 | 32 | 3 | 18 | 84 | 3 | 1 | 52 | 52 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 12 | .320 | .407 | .523 | 930 | – | ||||||||||||
| 2006 | Bridgeport | Atl | 31 | Ind | 19 | 72 | 7 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | .319 | .358 | .431 | 789 | – | |||||||||||||
| Reading | East | 31 | Phi | AA | of-1b | 80 | 290 | 51 | 99 | 20 | 0 | 16 | 60 | 2 | 1 | 30 | 31 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 15 | .341 | .412 | .576 | 988 | – | ||||||||||||
| Scr/wb | IL | 31 | Phi | AAA | of | 10 | 46 | 9 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .391 | .429 | .565 | 994 | – | ||||||||||||
| 2007 | Ottawa | IL | 32 | Phi | AAA | 1b-of | 137 | 493 | 59 | 144 | 35 | 0 | 12 | 84 | 0 | 1 | 70 | 73 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 21 | .292 | .391 | .436 | 827 | – | |||||||||||
| Minor League Totals - 11 Season(s) | 1256 | 4433 | 656 | 1305 | 304 | 21 | 135 | 730 | 34 | 22 | 471 | 602 | 126 | 36 | 11 | 41 | 163 | .294 | .375 | .464 | 839 | – | |||||||||||||||||
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Got that? At the AA level or better, his average over 8 seasons was .294. 294. Maybe his defense didn’t warrant a full time spot on a Major League roster, but never even a September call up? No invites to Spring Training? Couldn’t someone have used a left handed DH off the bench in a pinch hit situation? Sadly for Gary, the answer has always been “no”.
In other FLP news, Chris Roberson who was recently traded to the Orioles, didn’t make the 40 man roster. Baseball America expressed everyone’s surprise:
So, hold on–the Orioles lost Jeff Fiorentino as a waiver claim, after booting him off the 40-man roster to make room for Roberson . . . and then they don’t think enough of Roberson to keep him on the 40-man? At least they still have Roberson in the organization, as he has re-signed a minor league deal. Fiorentino is on his third team this offseason now with the Athletics.
One of the frequent “knocks” against Ottawa (in this post 9-11 world) was that it was just one more hassle for players always needing additional documents. Seems like Ottawa - hell, Canada isn’t alone.
