This 15th edition of Former Nats Greats heads to 2005 for a player who had a 10 year career, but you have probably never heard of him. 456 career games, over 10 years, and even die hard Nats fans will struggle to remember his "impact" on the ballclub. Who could it possibly be?
Catcher, Keith Osik!!!
I was inspired to write about his fantastic career after watching a random Nationals Classic game on MASN, and I was like who??? That doesn't happen very often, and sure enough he was on my master list for Former Nats Greats. It was fate.
A brief overview of his career before the Curly-W... Drafted way back in 1990 (!) by the Pirates, he debuted in 1996 and played in the Steeltown until 2003 when he went from the Pirates to the Brewers to the Orioles to the Fish to the Rays until finally arriving in Washington.
One of the things that draws me to these Moonlight Graham-type players for the Nationals is that sometimes its just 1 or 2 games total. In Osik's case, its just 6; 0 of them starts.
Lets check out the blow-by-blow:
September 7 vs. the Fish - 0 for 1, K.
September 15 vs. the Mets - 0 for 1, FC.
September 23 vs. the Mets - Defensive Replacement - 0 Plate Appearances
September 25 vs. the Mets - 0 for 1, K.
September 30 vs. the Phils - 0 for 1, ground-out to 3B.
October 1 vs. the Phils - Defensive Replacement - 0 Plate Appearances
At the plate - 4 games. 0 for 4. 16 pitches. 2 K. 0 Balls out of the infield. 0 Balls in the air. Womp Womp.
In the field - 8 innings. 3 stolen bases against. 0 caught stealing.
My favorite stat - in just 6 games, 8 innings, and 4 plate appearances he has a -0.1 WAR. Beautiful.
Congratulations to you on this accomplishment, and for making over $3.75 million dollars in your 10+ Year career considering no one has really ever heard of you. Enjoy your eternal enshrinement in this enigmatic club!
You finally managed to come up with a guy whom I indeed had not heard of before and whose Nats tenure I indeed did not recall.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! :)