"Little" Brandon Fahey 2006-08
This guy was one of my favorite players of recent years, not really due to any of his accomplishments on the field but rather due to his body type. Now, I'm not saying that I have a habit of noticing these kinds of things on other guys but it's pretty obvious when said player is listed at 6'2" and 160 pounds, which probably means that he's more in the 145-150 pound range. The dude looked like a string bean in a baseball uniform and he played well enough to make it to the Major Leagues. It's always encouraging to see players that aren't pure muscle make it to the Bigs, in the vein of Fahey and a guy like Kevin Millar towards the other end of that spectrum. "Little Brandon" was my own nickname for him and I think it was quite appropriate.
He filled a super-utility role over parts of the three seasons he spent in Baltimore, and played mostly shortstop but also spent time in left field, right field, second base, and third base. I had the pleasure of seeing one of his two Big League homers with my family at the game on Sunday June 4, 2006, and it was even sweeter as it was against the Yankees in a rare Orioles victory against the Evil Empire.
Brandon played in 189 games for the O's over his three seasons with the team, including a season high 91 in 2006. He hit .224 with 18 doubles, 54 runs and 36 RBI over those years. He also struck out almost three times as much as he walked but had 9 sacrifice hits in 2006, which was good for 4th in the AL and I sincerely doubt any Oriole has surpassed that total since. The current guys aren't very good at bunting and situational hitting. Maybe they will be this coming year, who knows?
A couple of other things that I found interesting about him are that he was a member of the 2002 Texas Longhorns baseball team who won the National Championship and that his dad, Bill, was a Major League catcher for 11 seasons in the '70s & '80s.
The O's granted Little Brandon his free agency following the '08 season and he signed a Minor League contract with the Blue Jays in January of '09 but doesn't appear to have played in the Majors or Minors at all for them last year. Wherever he might be, I wish him good luck! You are an inspiration to all skinny baseball playing kids everywhere!
He filled a super-utility role over parts of the three seasons he spent in Baltimore, and played mostly shortstop but also spent time in left field, right field, second base, and third base. I had the pleasure of seeing one of his two Big League homers with my family at the game on Sunday June 4, 2006, and it was even sweeter as it was against the Yankees in a rare Orioles victory against the Evil Empire.
Brandon played in 189 games for the O's over his three seasons with the team, including a season high 91 in 2006. He hit .224 with 18 doubles, 54 runs and 36 RBI over those years. He also struck out almost three times as much as he walked but had 9 sacrifice hits in 2006, which was good for 4th in the AL and I sincerely doubt any Oriole has surpassed that total since. The current guys aren't very good at bunting and situational hitting. Maybe they will be this coming year, who knows?
A couple of other things that I found interesting about him are that he was a member of the 2002 Texas Longhorns baseball team who won the National Championship and that his dad, Bill, was a Major League catcher for 11 seasons in the '70s & '80s.
The O's granted Little Brandon his free agency following the '08 season and he signed a Minor League contract with the Blue Jays in January of '09 but doesn't appear to have played in the Majors or Minors at all for them last year. Wherever he might be, I wish him good luck! You are an inspiration to all skinny baseball playing kids everywhere!
No comments:
Post a Comment