Howie Kendrick has signed a four year (2012-15), $33.5 Million contract with the Angels, buying out one year of arbitration and three years of free agency.
Here are 47 Facts about #47:
- Born July 12, 1983
- Signed: June 19, 2002
- Major League Debut: April 26, 2006
- Drafted 10th round of the June, 2002 draft (aka the infamous "Moneyball" draft)
- 294th Pick Overall
- Career 13.8 Wins Above Replacement
- 8 Players chosen in the first round of the 2002 draft have more career WAR than Howie.
- 5 Players taken in rounds 2,3 and 4 have more career WAR
- 4th Round: Josh Johnson 18.5 WAR
- 2nd Round: Joey Votto 19.4 WAR
- 2nd Round: Brian McCann 20 WAR
- 2nd Round: Jon Lester 22.7 WAR
- 3rd Round: Curtis Granderson, 3rd Round, 27 WAR
- 5th-10th Round 2002 draftees with more career WAR: None
- Next Pick in 2002 with higher WAR: 17th Round: Russell Martin (0.2 more, big whoop)
- Of Angels with more than 2,000 PA, his .292 Batting Average ranks 5th in club history behind:
- Luis Polonia (.294)
- Garret Anderson (.296)
- Rod Carew (.314 ...yes, Rod Carew batted Pi)
- Vladimir Guerrero (.319)
- Howie has played 2B in 552 Games, ranking 5th in Angels history, behind:
- Sandy Alomar Sr (703 Games)
- Bobby Knoop (801)
- Adam Kennedy (969)
- Bobby Grich (1,099)
- If Howie averages 105 games a year at 2B over this contract and he surpasses Kennedy
- To pass Grich, he will need to average 137 games at 2B per season over the next four years.
- Howie’s 163 Doubles ranks 13th (just ahead of Jim Edmonds’ 161 and behind Troy Glaus’s 165)
- 18 Triples rank 18th (tied with Buck Rodgers, who had 700+ more PA here in which to do that)
- 723 Hits rank 21st (he'll crack the Top 20 when he surpasses Bob Boone’s 742 early next season)
- 337 Runs Scored rank 22nd (tied with Devon White)
- 2,472 AB Rank 25th (2 behind Dave Chalk for 24th)
- 2,638 PA - Rank 28th (just ahead of David Eckstein and just behind Albie Pearson)
- 655 Games Rank 29th (Maicer Izturis is four ahead of him at 28th)
- In Angels franchise history, his 50 Homeruns rank 34th (just behind the 51 hit by Adam Kennedy)
- Every Breath You Take by The Police was the #1 Song in the USA the day Howie was born.
- Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant was #2 (obviously should be Howie’s walk-up song in the 2-hole)
- Proving that disco was hard to kill, What A Feeling (Theme from Flashdance) by Irene Cara was #3.
-
Never Gonna Let You Go by Sergio Mendes was #4 (barf)
-
Too Shy by Kajagoogoo was #5... so if you were born in 1984 your parents hooked up to this.
-
Return of the Jedi was the #1 movie in the USA the week Howie was born!
- Trading Places, the best film for and against Capitalism ever made, ranked 2nd.
- Superman III (the terrible one with Richard Pryor) was 3rd.
- "Would you like to play a game?" War Games (Ronald Reagan claimed this movie is the reason we all didn’t nuke each other, mildly important in world affairs if not cinema history) was 4th.
- James Bond was still kicking ass in Octopussy at #5.
- He doesn't like to be called Howie as his given name is Howard.
- His hobby is photography but if he owns a Leica he never posts photos from it.
What a great way to start the week!