Hall of Scrubs

The June draft is approaching and there is a lot of excitement in Michigan about the top high school player,  Daniel Fields from U-D Jesuit.  There is a good story of how Daniel hit a home run at Comerica Park off of the batting practice pitcher at the age of 12. 

The batting practice pitcher for Daniel Fields was his father, Bruce, who was a bench coach for the Tigers at the time.  At one time, there was a lot of excitement about Bruce Fields in Michigan, too.  He was a top prospect for the Tigers after he hit .368 for their AAA team, Nashville, in 1986.  He even got into the Donruss Rated Rookie card set, but the picture on the card is of Darnell Coles.  It was a big mixup for Donruss.

He was called up at the end of ‘86, but hit “only” .279 in the majors.  It was not enough to make Sparky happy since Bruce did not have much power or speed.

Bruce spent all of 1987 at AAA and was traded in the off-season to the Mariners for Stan Clarke.  He played a little in Seattle in 1988 and hit .269.  He got only 3 at bats in 1989 and hit .333.  He spent most of that year tearing up AAA again with a .351 batting average.

Bruce was a top minor league hitter who just never got a shot at holding down a major league job.  He went right into coaching and managing when he retired and was regarded as a major league manager prospect after leading Toledo for a couple of years.  However, after spending time on Alan Trammell’s coaching staff during some of the worst seasons ever in Detroit, he has not received much attention as a potential candidate for manager positions.  Recently, he has been a minor league hitting instructor.

Hopefully, Daniel Fields will make it to the majors and have a better career than his father did.  It sounds like he has a lot more power than Bruce had.

You can view Bruce Fields stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Bruce’s stats

After Fernandomania hit Major League Baseball in 1981, several teams started looking to Mexico for pitching. The White Sox thought they had quite the find in 1982 when they purchased 25 year old Salome Barojas from the Mexico City Reds on April 1st. They immediately placed Salome in their bullpen and he responded nicely by recording 21 saves.

Salome Barojas made the cover of Baseball Digest magazine as he became a top reliever in the American League. He followed his debut season with another stellar year in 1983, helping the White Sox win the American League West. His ERA in 1983 was 2.47 and he had 12 saves.

In 1984, the White Sox became tired of Salome’s wildness and traded him to the Mariners for Jerry Don Gleaton and Gene Nelson. Seattle made Salome a starter and he did ok. He won 6 games and had a 3.97 ERA. Certainly, he was good enough to stick with a major league team as a 4th or 5th starter.

The bottom fell out in 1985, however. He went 0-5 with a 5.98 ERA. Seattle released him in the off-season and he returned to the Mexico City Reds.

The Phillies purchased him from Mexico City in July 1988 but he pitched sparingly and ended the year with a 8.31 ERA.

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

Salome’s Stats