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On this day in 1967 Jaime Navarro was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The Brewers selected him in the third round of the 1987 draft and he was still only 22 when he made his big league debut in 1989, appearing in 19 games and posting a 3.12 ERA over 109.2 innings.
Navarro had the best season of his career in 1992, posting a 3.33 ERA over 246 innings despite striking out just 3.7 batters per nine. Things went downhill pretty fast for him after that, as he posted a 5.29 ERA over his last eight major league seasons.
All told, Navarro posted a 4.30 ERA over 1043 innings as a Brewer between 1989-94 before leaving as a free agent and signing with the Cubs. He returned briefly for a disastrous stint as a Brewer near the end of his career in 2000, but was released after allowing 31 runs over just 18.2 innings in five appearances.
Navarro's 1061.2 innings pitched as a Brewer are the eleventh most in franchise history and over 200 more than active career leader Yovani Gallardo (916.1). He's also tenth on the Brewer all-time list with 156 games started.
Thanks to the B-Ref Play Index for reminding me that Navarro turns 46 today. We'd also like to wish a happy birthday to:
- 1980 Brewer Vic Harris, who turns 63.
- 1956-61 Milwaukee Brave Wes Covington, who would have turned 81.
Today is also the second anniversary of the 2011 trade that brought Nyjer Morgan to Milwaukee and introduced us all to Tony Plush. We covered that event in this space last year.