On this day in 1986, Jonathan Lucroy was born in Eustis, Florida. After a few years in college for Louisiana-Lafayette, the Brewers drafted him in the third round (pick #101 overall) in the 2007 draft. He's a career .298/.379/.459 hitter in the minor leagues, and when Gregg Zaun went down for the season Lucroy was given an opportunity to join the Brewers in 2010 after just 156 games above A ball.
Lucroy has done everything asked of him since in an effort to prove he belongs as a full time major leaguer, and has hit more home runs in 121 games as a Brewer (10) than he did in his last full season in the minors (9 in 125 games for Nashville in 2009).
I mentioned this once in a Thursday Thinker, but now seems like a good time to update the list: There are only five catchers in Brewer history who had caught more games than Lucroy by the end of their age 25 season:
| Catcher | Games |
| Darrell Porter | 482 |
| B.J. Surhoff | 435 |
| Charlie Moore | 397 |
| Mike Matheny | 211 |
| Dave Nilsson | 199 |
| Jonathan Lucroy | 121* |
* - Lucroy still has through the end of the season to add to this total.
Lucroy turns 25 today. With help from the B-Ref Play Index, we'd also like to wish a happy birthday today to:
- 2002 Brewer Ben Diggins, who turns 32.
- 1984-85 Brewer Bobby Clark, who turns 56.
- Seattle Pilot Billy Williams, who turns 78.