On this day in 2007, Ryan Braun made his major league debut. Braun was the #5 overall pick in the 2005 draft, and worked his way up to the big leagues after just 199 minor league games over one full and two partial professional seasons.
Braun earned the callup by hitting .342/.418/.701 in 34 games in AAA to start the season, and the fact that the Brewers were platooning Craig Counsell (hitting .261/.360/.308) and Tony Graffanino (hitting .187/.261/.234) at third base certainly helped nudge them toward the move. It turns out that Braun wasn't exactly cut out for the hot corner, but his .324/.370/.634 line was enough to win him NL Rookie of the Year anyway. Now, it appears '07 will be the first of at least 14 seasons he'll play as a Brewer.
With help from the B-Ref Play Index, happy birthday today to:
- 2000-01 Brewer Angel Echevarria, who turns 40.
- 1997 Brewer Sean Maloney, who also turns 40.
- 1953 Milwaukee Brave Don Liddle, who would have turned 86.