Hall of Scrubs

It happens every Spring.  Some crusty old manager goes nuts for a marginal prospect who is grinding hard to make a good impression during Spring Training.  It happens to the best of managers.  Recently, we have heard how much Jim Leyland likes Will Rhymes.  Hopefully, better judgement will prevail and Rhymes will start the year at Toledo.  These types of infatuations usually do not end well.  The prospect fizzles out by May and is shipped off to the minors.

 This is what happened to Chris Pittaro in 1985.  Sparky Anderson went nuts for this second baseman who hit an unimpressive .284 with 11 homers in AA.  Even though his team was coming off World Championship year, Sparky decided he needed to make room for Pittaro.  Unfortunately, there was no room at second.  He had the all-star duo of Trammell and Whitaker up the middle.  No worries, he thought.  Let’s just move Lou to third and make Pittaro the new second baseman.  He actually made an announcement that he was doing that.  Luckily, he partially came to his senses and moved Pittaro to third instead.  I think Lou basically refused to move.

The pressure of jumping from AA to the majors and of learning a new position at the same time proved to be too much for Chris Pittaro.  What a surprise!  He struggled both offensively and defensively and he was returned to the minors after 28 games.

Pittaro was so shaken that he hit only .194 in AAA.  The Tigers traded him that off-season to Minnesota in a deal for a backup catcher, Dave Engle.  The primary goal of the trade, I believe, was to keep Pittaro away from Sparky in the spring.  Who knows what would have happened if Pittaro hit .300 again in Spring Training.   He would have been like Purnal Goldy, who fooled the Tigers with great Spring Training stats in both 1962 and 1963 but failed each time they brought him North.  He was just an excellent Spring Training player. 

Chris tried to make it as a utility infielder for Minnesota, but he only got into 25 games in the next two years.  He retired after 1987 and became a scout.  Currently, he is a scouting director in the Oakland organization.

You can view Chris’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Chris’s Stats

As we watch Jack Cust lead the Athletics in home runs after spending so many years as a Triple-A slugger, we can’t help but think of another great Triple-A slugger who was never given a chance to prove himself in the majors - Bernardo Brito.  For anyone who followed the minor leagues in the late eighties and early nineties, this name is very familiar.  He consistently led the minors in homers with his prodigious power as he accumulated 6 home run titles in various leagues.  Yet he was never given more than a handful of at bats with the Twins.  Why?  Mainly because he could not field and did not hit for average. 

But if he was capable of hitting thirty homers a year, why wouldn’t they give him an everyday job?  It never made sense.

Bernardo played in only three seasons with the Twins.  He got 14 whopping at bats in 1992, 54 in 1993 and another 5 in 1995.  Altogether, he had 73 at bats and 5 home runs in his major league career.  Projecting that out over the course of the year, he would have had 38 homers as a full-time DH.  I would take that.

As I watched my favorite team trot out Dave Bergman as a DH on occasion, I could not help but dream of a blockbuster trade for Mr. Brito.  Unfortunately, it never happened.

You can view Bernardo’s meager major league stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Bernardo’s stats

Carmen Castillo entered the league as a Cleveland Indian in 1982. His original name was Carmelo Castillo. However, when Carmelo Martinez debuted with the Padres, Castillo decided to change his name to Carmen. For some reason, he did not want to be associated with the rotund center fielder from San Diego.

As Carmen, Castillo continued to provide power from the right side for the Indians in the mid-80’s - the dark years in Cleveland. He was strictly a platoon player and pinch hitter throughout his career. He specialized in crushing mistake pitches from lefties throughout the league.

In 1991, Carmen had 12 at bats for the World Champion Minnesota Twins to earn his first World Series ring. He decided to retire after this great accomplishment.

You can view Carmen’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Carmen’s Stats