Today In Brewer History: Happy Birthday, Royce Clayton

On this day in 1970, Royce Clayton was born in Burbank, California. The Giants selected him out of high school with the 15th overall pick in the 1988 draft, and he made his major league debut as a 21 year old in 1991. Before the 1992 season Baseball America ranked him as the game's #6 prospect. Over the first twelve seasons of his career Clayton spent time as a Giant, Cardinal, Ranger and a member of the White Sox before joining the Brewers as a free agent before the 2003 season.

Offensively Clayton wasn't anything to write home about, and he hit just .228/.301/.333 over 146 games in his lone season in Milwaukee. You might have expected him to be a good player defensively but the advanced metrics would suggest he wasn't: Ultimate Zone Rating had him at one tenth of a run above average at shortstop for the season.

The Brewers only relied on Clayton for one season before trying another option: in the winter of 2003 they allowed Clayton to move on via free agency and handed the starting job at shortstop to Craig Counsell, acquired in the Richie Sexson trade. Clayton played four more major league seasons spread out over six teams before retiring following the 2007 season.

In a relatively unusual note, Clayton's B-Ref page says he employed five different agents during his career. They combined to help him make over $32 million over his 17 major league seasons despite the fact that he posted an OPS over .750 and was an All Star just one time.

Clayton turns 42 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday today to 2007-10 Brewer Jeff Suppan. He turns 37.