Morgan Burkhart

Whoa. Lots of questions today. And none that I can answer as I haven't seen any mention of Burkhart in Nikkan Sports over this holiday. And I'd never heard of him before this post.

I'll revisit this question after I've read something about him - like if, when, and where he's heading. Sound fair?

I posted the news of Burkhart's acquisition on Oct. 11, 2001 in the Open Talk section under "Daiei's Newest Import." Let's hope that he'll have a productive career here in Japan.

Ah, so you did. That's mud on my face for not remembering (and only reviewing a week's worth of newspapers).

So, with the aid of this discussion, here are some answers (the value of which may be questionable).

- Can you tell me his career stats and what team he is headed to in Japan.

I don't do MLB, so I don't have any stats. But rumor has it that he's headed to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.

- Was that team any good last year?

Yes. They finished second in the Pacific League after winning two league titles in a row the previous two years.

- Will his addition to that team improve the team?

This one is a tough one. From what I read in the above discussion, he's being compared to Traxler (due to his size). Traxler was also a Hawk, with a winning personality if not numbers. Going for him is that first base (which I assume he plays based on the above thread) wasn't really a well defined spot for Daiei last season as 9 players stood in on the bag with Matsunaka leading the lot with 95 appearances. The remainder of the 130 games Matsunaka appeared in were as the designated hitter. I should note, though, that Matsunaka led the team with a .334 batting average, so Burkhart will have to compete with that if he is competing head to head with Matsunaka for playing time.

If, as one poster suggested, Burkhart has a problem with the curve ball, then I don't think he'll pan out. But, hey. I don't know first hand if he can or can't, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I found Burkhart's career stats in the Majors. They are at baseball-reference.com. Once there, type Burkhart into Player Search and click on Player Search. Then click on Morgan Burkhart. Thank you for answering my question.