Casey Blake (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Cleveland Indians — No. 1 | |
| Third baseman | |
| Born: August 23, 1973 Des Moines, Iowa |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| August 14, 1999 for the Toronto Blue Jays | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2007) |
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| Batting average | .261 |
| Home runs | 109 |
| Runs batted in | 390 |
| Teams | |
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William Casey Blake (born on August 23, 1973 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American professional baseball player. Currently, Blake is a third baseman and plays for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball's American League Central Division.
Prior to joining the Indians in 2003, Blake played with the Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles. He alternated between playing at third base and first base before becoming a full-time third baseman with the Indians. In 2005, Blake moved to right field to accommodate the Indians' signing of third baseman Aaron Boone, but has since moved back to third.
Blake was drafted twice prior to signing with the Blue Jays: in 1992, he was taken during the 11th round by the Philadelphia Phillies; in 1995, he was taken by the New York Yankees during the 45th round.
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[edit] High school and college
Casey was a four-sport stand-out at Indianola High School in Indianola, Iowa where he played baseball, American football, basketball and participated in track. He was named a top-ten high school athlete in the history of Iowa. His high school team, just like his major league team today, was named the Indians. Blake attended Wichita State University where he was a three-time All-American, two-time Academic All-American and participated in the College World Series. Casey batted .320 with 22 home runs and 101 RBI during his senior year.
[edit] 1996–2002
From 1996–2002, Blake spent most of his time in the Minor Leagues. He played in the Minors for the Toronto Blue Jays, and the Minnesota Twins.
[edit] 2003
In 2003, Blake became the Cleveland Indians every day third baseman, in his first full season in the Major Leagues. He had a solid offensive season, leading the team in games with 152, hits (143) and doubles (35) while compiling career-highs in every offensive category. Blake started in every spot in the batting order except the lead-off spot, the most common slot being the #2 hole in the line-up. He had a fielding percentage of .952. He was named AL Player of the Week from 6/30–7/6. He ended the season with 17 Home runs, 67 RBI, and a .257 batting average in 152 games played.
[edit] 2004
In 2004, Blake had his finest offensive season to date in his second straight full season in the Major Leagues as the Indians 3rd baseman. In June, he hit .330 (37-112) with 7 Home runs and 21 RBI in 28 games. From June 1 through the end the season, he hit .283, with 22 HR and 68 RBI in 112 games. He had an AL-low fielding percentage of .939 at third base, and led the major leagues with 26 errors at third base. Blake signed 2-year contract on January 21, 2004. He finished the season with a .271 batting average, with 28 home runs, 88 RBI, in 152 games played.
[edit] 2005
In 2005, Blake converted to the outfield playing right field and could fill in at third base and first base. He had 56 extra base hits over the season. He got off to a slow start, hitting just .187. Overall on the year, he made 132 starts in right field, 6 starts at third base and 4 starts at first base. In the outfield, he made 8 errors, in 298 total chances. In 2005, Blake ended the season with a .241 batting average, with 23 home runs, and 58 RBI, with 116 K's while batting .084 with runners in scoring position in 146 games played.
[edit] 2006
In 2006, Blake once again was the Indian's starting right fielder, though he made seven starts at first base. While starting out the season strong offensively, he ultimately ended up missing much of the season due to injury. He played in only 109 games this season. Blake ended the season with a career high .282 batting average, 19 home runs, and 68 RBI.
[edit] 2007
While the plan at the beginning of the season was to have Blake split his time starting at both right field and first base, Andy Marte's demotion to Triple A resulted in Blake taking over once again as the Indian's starting third baseman. Blake had a 26-game hit streak from May 20 through June 18 during which he hit .317 with 7 home runs and 18 RBI.
[edit] Timely homers
- On July 3, 2007, Blake hit a solo home run in the top of the 11th in a crucial game against the Detroit Tigers, which would end up being the game's winning run, and which then gave Cleveland a 3 game lead over Detroit.
- As the Indians were driving for a playoff spot, Blake hit a game-ending walk-off home run against the Kansas City Royals on September 14, 2007.
- Three days later (September 17, 2007), again in a crucial game against the Tigers, Blake hit another game-ending walk-off home run, reducing the Tribe's magic number to 7 and all but ending the Tigers' Central Division title hopes.
[edit] Career Statistics
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| Season | Team | League | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | OBP | SLG | AVG | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | Toronto | MLB | 14 | 39 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .293 | .385 | .256 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Minnesota | MLB | 7 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .313 | .188 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Baltimore | MLB | 6 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .188 | .333 | .133 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Minnesota | MLB | 13 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 0 | .400 | .364 | .318 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | 19 | 37 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 3 | 0 | .317 | .351 | .243 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Minnesota | MLB | 9 | 20 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .273 | .250 | .200 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Cleveland | MLB | 152 | 557 | 80 | 143 | 35 | 0 | 17 | 67 | 38 | 109 | 7 | 9 | .312 | .411 | .257 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Cleveland | MLB | 152 | 587 | 93 | 159 | 36 | 3 | 28 | 88 | 68 | 139 | 5 | 8 | .354 | .486 | .271 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Cleveland | MLB | 147 | 523 | 72 | 126 | 32 | 1 | 23 | 58 | 43 | 116 | 4 | 5 | .308 | .438 | .241 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Cleveland | MLB | 109 | 401 | 63 | 113 | 20 | 1 | 19 | 68 | 45 | 93 | 6 | 0 | .356 | .479 | .282 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Cleveland | MLB | 156 | 588 | 81 | 159 | 36 | 4 | 18 | 78 | 54 | 123 | 4 | 5 | .339 | .437 | .270 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major League Totals | 765 | 2768 | 401 | 726 | 165 | 9 | 107 | 366 | 259 | 613 | 29 | 27 | .332 | .444 | .262 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
