Thursday, June 18, 2009

1989 Topps Major League Debut #150: Todd Zeile



Todd Zeile

PHOTO: This is the last player card in the set and it's a nice photo. The red teams (Reds, Cardinals, Phillies) had on-average the best cards in this set thanks to the red borders. This is also another of many, many photos in this set taken at Shea Stadium.

STAT: Among the 44 guys to amass 2000 hits since 1989, Zeile has one of the worst career OPS+ values. Of the guys worse than him, a few did it on longevity alone, while guys like B.J. Surhoff did it, like Zeile, with a mixture of longevity and some hitting talent.

ANAGRAM: Todd Zeile = I'd let doze

CAREER: 6/10

Zeile is a tough guy to grade. In his favor: above average hitter, played multiple positions, hit well in the post-season including stellar performances in the 1996 ALCS and 2000 NLCS, despite never making the leaderboard for hits in any season he's one of just 258 players to top 2000 hits, and he had a long career. Against his case: played in 150 games in only 8 seasons, above-average but few truly great seasons, never topped 300 total bases, topped 100 RBI or runs only once, stole 53 bases but thrown out 51 times, below-average defensively.

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