Allen Thomas Craig (born July 18, 1984) is the first professional American baseball baseman and an outsider in San Diego Padres. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals compiled it from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006, and he made his Major League debut with Cardinals in 2010.
Every season in the minor league from 2007-09, Craig finished with an average batting over 1,300 with at least 20 home runs. A career player of 0.306 in MLB until 2013, he improved his production with runners in goalscoring position (RISP). In 2012, he installed an average of.400 batting with RISP. The following season, he raised that figure to 0.454, the third highest average of all time.
Craig has appeared in two World Series and in history both are made. In the 2011 World Series, he tied the record by collecting three hits that drove in the game-winning run. In 2013, he became the first player to score a game-winning run on a call obstruction.
Video Allen Craig
Early life and amateur career
Allen Craig was born in Mission Viejo, California, to Ron and Kim Craig and grew up in Temecula, California. He has a younger sister named Kendal. Her parents had moved to Temecula Valley in the 1970s. Craig can get a job in Rancho California Water District. In addition to moving from Mission Viejo in Orange County to Temecula in Riverside County after Craig's birth, the family moved residence several times before finally settling in Temecula.
Craig's father was an early volunteer to help build a baseball field that became the Ronald Reagan Sports Complex near Temecula Valley High School in Temecula, California. Once he can swing a baseball bat, his parents put him in the National Ball Tee Division of the Little Baseball League where his father trains and his mother serves on the board of directors. While participating in the 14-and-under Baseball USA team, he plays games in Venezuela.
At Chaparral High School, Temecula, California, Craig is a two-sport athlete in baseball and basketball. As a senior in 2002, Craig was recognized in both sports. He was awarded the first team of all league and all-valley in basketball while setting school records with 94 three-point shots. In baseball, he was named the All-Valley of the Year Baseball Player. At the Riverside All-Star Game, he was awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP). The average.585 batting and eight of his home runs help energize Chaparral to the Southwest League title. That summer, Craig played for the US National Junior team, hitting.485 with 11 goals scored in their bid to clinch a bronze medal at the International Federation of Junior World Championships (IBAF) in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
After high school, Craig attended the University of California, Berkeley, and became a four-year starter for the California Golden Bears baseball team in all four midfield positions. Particularly playing shortstop as a freshman, he posted an average of 0.353 with runners in goal-scoring positions (RISP). He won the Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for 4-10 February 2003, after a 7-for-17 (.412) effort with two doubles, a grand slam and five run batted in (RBI) in San Francisco and his opponent. Loyola Marymount. Applying more time in first base in the sophomore season, Craig hit 0.285, leading the team with 29 bases on the ball (BB) and collecting 19 multi-hit games. He is an honorable mention for the Pac-10 academic team. The following year, Craig began primarily in the left field, fought in.308 overall, and fought.338 with RISP. Against Washington State, 22-24 March 2005, he composed the 7-13 series (.538). One month later, on April 22, Craig collected three shots in three bats and two days later to 4-4; both games against USC. Craig is a respectable title for the All-Pacific-10 baseball team and again for the academic team. His batting career numbers at UC Berkeley included an average of 0.308 batting, 27 home runs and 108 RBI.
During his off-season playing time at UC Berkeley, Craig played two campaigns for the Alexandria Beetles (Minnesota) of the Northwoods League (NWL), a college summer baseball league. Craig spent most of the game on shortstop but also contributed in outfield, in third base, and first base. His first season was in 2003, after his first season at UC. He fought just 0.229 in 15 matches where his playing time was cut due to injury. He returned in 2005 after his junior season and amassed a historic NWL season that included 21 straight matches. In 49 matches, Craig hit 0.362 with 12 home runs, 17 doubles and 40 RBI. Craig was named first short-team for Baseball America's 2005 Summer All-America team 2005.
Maps Allen Craig
Drafts and minor leagues
The Cardinals compiled Craig as a shortstop in the eighth round of the 2006 draft (256 overall) and signed him for $ 15,000. However, he played just three games on shortstop with State College Spikes in 2006 before spending most of the game playing third base. As a bat, Craig showed strength at all levels of the Cardinal farming system, hitting 76 home runs in a three and a half seasons range between 2006 and 2010 comprising most of his minor league time.
In the Florida State League in 2006, he installed a customized plus slugging base in 26% above the league average. 21 of his home runs in a particularly humid air environment and a large ballpark carrying a notice as one of the top minor leather beaters. Baseball America placed it as the 15th rank of Cardinals after this season. Each season from 2007 to 2009, Craig progressed from high A level to AAA and participated between 119 and 129 games while hitting at least 0.304 with 22 home runs and 80 RBI.
Although for a while Craig seemed to play enough in third base, his throwing movement raises the question of whether he can play there in the Major League when he is promoted through a minor league. With David Freese a step further into the Cardinals depth chart and having better gloves, Craig shifted outfield in 2009. He further increased his flexibility by playing first base. Despite a defensive transition, his blow remains steady as he posted an on-base percentage plus slugging 0.921 with AAA Redbirds Memphis. His consistent beating and increased positional coverage prompted Craig to be named Cardinals system Player of the Year. The club added it to their list of 40 players in November.
After making his Premiership debut in April 2010, Craig spent significant time on the Cardinals list. In addition, he collected 83 matches in Memphis, batting 0.320 with 14 home runs, 81 RBI and 0.559 slugging percentages. The next two seasons, he made 19 more appearances in Memphis, Springfield and Palm Beach, collecting 20 hits in 69 bats with four home runs and 14 RBI.
St. Louis Cardinals
2010-11
Allen Craig made the Cardinals big league club out of spring training in 2010 and appeared in his first MLB match on April 8th. He started on the right field and went 0-4 on the plate against the Cincinnati Reds. Craig hit his first home run on July 19th from Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Kendrick. The second rally at home stood on 22 August at 9-0 thanks to Cardinals 'from San Francisco Giants' Barry Zito. A month later, he hit his third home run in a 7-1 defeat of the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 24 to support Adam Wainwright's bid for his first 20-win season. In 44 games total in 2010, Craig saw 124 plates appearance (PA), beaten.246, hit seven doubles and four home runs with 18 RBI.
In 2011, it became clear that Craig was able to hit the pitching major league as well as him in the minor league. However, the situation is less than ideal for him to realize regular playing time. Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday, and Albert Pujols each have their first base corner, left and right fields - Craig's position is best suited to play. To get his wand in the lineup more, manager Tony La Russa began playing him in second base near the end of May.
In June, after batting.336 with 23 RBI in 107 at-bats, he suffered a small knee fracture against the Houston Astros by running into the wall tracking the flying ball in the right-hand field. The team places it on the disabled list (DL) with a rest period of about six weeks. However, stagnant fracture healing throughout the season, and swelling continued around the knee, slowing down Craig's rehabilitation. Nevertheless, he regularly strengthens the muscles around the patella and is cleansed to play after passing a series of medical tests. He also spends extra time to heat his knee before every game. Upon his return, Craig hit 0.290 in 35 games. He ended the regular season with an average of 0.315 batting, 15 doubles, 11 home runs, 40 RBI, and 0.555 slugging percentages in 75 matches and 219 PAs.
The Cardinals made the playoffs that year. Craig fought in his first ten games which included 21 throwing appearances against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series (NLDS) and Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), collecting just three strokes in 17 at-bats. However, he sent the only pinch-hit in Game 6 to send Cardinals to the World Series.
In the World Series, Craig made his debut in Game 1 by hitting two-outs, the only hits from fast pitcher Alexer Ogando of Texas Rangers. The following night, La Russa once again calls Craig to pinch against Ogando. This time, he lined the fastball 96 miles per hour (154Ã, h) to the right of the field to break the goalless tie. On the single, he joined Dusty Rhodes, Del Unser, and Hal McRae as the only players who collected the RBI in three consecutive postseasons in a row on a bat. He also joins Duke Snider and Amos Otis as the only hitter with a go-ahead hit in the sixth or subsequent inning in World Series games in a row. Furthermore, Craig became the first player with two RBI players who advanced as bats in the World Series drama. After reaching the home run in Game 7, he made it out of the last Series, helping to secure the 11th World Series Cardinals championship. The home record tied the World Series record Kiki Cuyler and Hank Greenberg shared with three RBI winners. For the series, Craig appeared in all seven games, collecting five hits at 19 at-bats (average batting, 263), three home runs and five RBI for.737 slugging percentage. The total in postseason 2011 includes.622 percentage of slugging and 1.013 on-base plus slugging (OPS). However, with his knee still not fully healed, Craig chose to undergo surgery to repair the fracture in November next.
2012
Despite his strong performance in 2011 and World Series exploits, new manager Mike Matheny commissioned Craig a utility player role in early 2012, with players such as veteran Carlos BeltrÃÆ'¡n, Berkman, and Holliday already placed in first base and off the pitch. corner. Furthermore, Craig spent all of April on the disabled list (DL) recovering from knee surgery. However, when he returned to play May 1, Cardinals appointed outfielder Erik Komatsu for the task of making space, and Craig found a livelier playing time with Berkman now at DL. After reaching five home runs in a seven-game stretch, the injury quickly struck again when he drew a hamstring injury in a match against the San Francisco Giants on May 18 and landed back on the 15-day DL. To that end, Craig made a convincing argument to force his way into the starting lineup with a combination of Matt Adams' top prospect slumped and hit 0.373 with 0.424 percentage on-base and 0.765 percentage of slugging in thirteen games.
Craig returned to action on June 1, and three days later, tiebreaking a two-time run at home against the Mets allowed the Cardinals to end a five-game losing streak with a 5-4 win. In the stretch from June 9-21, he experienced a rare slump as he fought only.75 with one home run in 11 games. However, Craig discovered that the pitcher threw more sliders at him. During the next nine games until July 3, he broke his opponent's strategy, hitting.364 with five HR and 15 RBI. Total seasons for that date included only appearing in 40 of the Cardinals's first 80 games, taking 152 at-bats. Nevertheless, he binds Holliday (296 at-bats), catcher Yadier Molina (265), and third baseman David Freese (276) with 13 HR. He also carries an average of 0.322 with 43 RBI. Total RBI ranks third in the NL from 1 May, even with the second DL live.
Through September 16, he showed that he was adept at hitting with runners in scoring positions with an average of 0.355 batting in his 197 at-bats career. Consistency made Craig throughout the season, finishing with 0.307 on average, 22 HR and 92 RBI in 119 matches. He ranked tenth in the NL in batting, seventh in the slugging percentage (.522) and placing 19 in the Most Valuable Player (MVP) vote. He also leads all major leagues with an average of.400 batting with runners in goal-scoring positions (RISP). Despite two DL trips, Craig played 30 games off the pitch and led the team to start in first base with 86, while Berkman appeared in just 32 games total.
2013
With Berkman's departure through a free agent, Craig became Cardinals' first major baseman. On March 8, the club announced they had reached an agreement with him on a five-year contract with team options for the sixth season. The $ 31 million deal bought three years of eligible arbitrage and the first year of free agent. Craig will earn $ 13 million in the 2018 season if the Cardinals exercise their choice.
In July, National League manager Bruce Bochy selected Craig for his first All-Star Game at Citi Field in Queens, New York City, as the first backup baseman. His first half show included hitting 0.333 with 10 home runs and 74 RBI. Both the RBI and the total hit (116) are placed second in the NL. He became the fifth alumni of Golden Bear California to be named the MLB All-Star team.
With his side facing a 5-4 deficit, Craig won a grand slam match against rivals in the Red division on 26 August. The final result is 8-6. This was his first grand slam of his career, increasing his total to seven hits in ten base-loaded in-bats to go with 20 RBI to that point in this season (14 for 31,.452 batting on average for his career). He also hit 0.452 with a runner in scoring position - once again leading the Premiership - and it is the highest third of all time for a single season, after George Brett (.469, 1980) and Tony Gwynn (.459, 1997).
The Lisfranc injury on September 4 on infield hit the Reds preventing him from appearing in the game for the rest of the regular season. At that time, he was third in NL at RBI with 97. He finally finished eighth. Although closed early, he leads Cardinals in this category. St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports writer Bernie Miklasz nicknamed Craig "The Clutchmaster", "The RBI Machine" and "RBI Monster." He also finished in eighth on average (0.315). His average final batting with RISP -.454 - remains the highest and third Major-League of all time. That number surpassed Brian Jordan's average of.422 in 1996 (62 out of 147) as a team record. In spite of its hit success with RISP, Baseball-Reference.com rated Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in 2.2 and Fangraphs in 2.6.
Craig's chances of returning to play before the end of the season depend on how far the Cardinals can extend their season in the playoffs. They qualify for the postseason by finishing with the best regular season record (97-65) in the National League. They continue to win through the playoffs, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NLDS and Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Ready as a batter in time for the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Matheny initially pulled him out of defense because the injury has not fully healed. Therefore, he serves as a designated batter (DH) at Fenway Park in Boston and pinch hammer at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Louis, a National League park where DH is not usually played.
In Game 3, Craig is part of an unusual game, the end of the game. With a score of 4-4 draw at the bottom of the ninth, Cardinals center fielder Jon Jay hit the ground ball off Koji Uehara's pitcher into second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who threw the ball home to Jarrod Saltalamacchia catcher to easily tag Yadier Molina out try to score. Saltalamacchia then threw a ball into Will Middlebrooks when Craig rounded out third, but the ball widened to the left of the field by mistake, and, at the same time, Middlebrooks tackled Craig as he grabbed the ball. Daniel Nava recovered the ball and threw it back into the home plate long before Craig scored. Due to being tripped, referee Jim Joyce gave Craig home plate when he called obstruction at Middlebrooks, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 victory victory. This is the first known walk-off victory in World Series history. However, the Cardinals lost the series to the Red Sox in six games. Craig was beaten 16 times and collected six hits for an average of 0.375 batting. After the season, he finished 21th in the MVP vote, but is likely to finish much higher if he does not miss nearly a season month due to injury.
2014
With the departure of other free agents at BeltrÃÆ'¡n, Craig again shifted position in 2014, replacing it on the right field. It also cleared the way for Matt Adams to take the first base. Craig started the season slowly, hitting just 0.220 with 0.644 OPS in April. He fought.291 and raised his OPS to.781 in May.
Boston Red Sox
On July 31, 2014, Craig traded alongside Joe Kelly to the Red Sox in exchange for John Lackey and Corey Littrell's prospects. After being included in the Red Sox lineup, Craig battled furiously against the last two months of the season, only hitting.128 while attacking 36 times. The following season, Craig started the season as the 1st baseman. On May 9, 2015, the Red Sox voted Craig to the Pawtucket Red Sox of the AAA International League Class; because Craig has not gained five years of service, the Red Sox can vote for him in the minor league without his consent. On May 18th, they handed it to minors, removing it from the list of 40 people. He added back to the premier league list on September 1st. On June 30, 2017, Allen Craig was released by Triple A affiliates of Red Sox, Pawtucket Red Sox.
San Diego Padres
On January 22, 2018, Craig signed a minor league deal with San Diego Padres.
Skill Profiles
While still in the minor league, Craig showed in no time that he could hit at all levels but he did not have a natural position. Despite the challenge of categorizing his defensive abilities, his versatility and athletics have enabled him to play in all major league positions except for pitchers, shortstopes and catchers. After an experiment in the second base early in his career in the Premiership, first base and off-field corners emerged as the most suitable position for him. He played shortstop on amateur balls and third base in small leagues, but he was not fit to play in any of the major league positions, because of the speed of the game. He posted an agile percentage of only.927 in 246 minor league matches in third base, considered a very low percentage.
According to former Cardinals player development executive Jeff Luhnow and Memphis Redbirds manager Ron Warner, Craig's arm, reach and footwork proved problematic for third base. He improved his footwork quite well for the Texas League, but they still considered it insufficient for the major leagues as his movement on his left was hampered, limiting his ability to start multiple dramas. Furthermore, with the inefficient semi-sidearm throwing movement he could not finish, Craig relied on his innate strength to offset the loss of time.
Awards and honors
Bold: leads the National League
 : leads all the Premier League
Personal life
Allen Craig has a degree in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. When growing up, his favorite baseball player is Ken Griffey, Jr. He is also a fan of Cal Ripken, Jr. Craig attended high school with Brandon Snider, the grandson of Duke Snider, with whom he tied the series World Series in a row with pinch hit marks. His brother, Kendal Craig, also graduated from Chaparral High School in Temecula and played softball. He studied at California State University San Marcos in San Marcos, California.
On November 12, 2011, Craig married his longtime girlfriend, Marie LaMarca, who also graduated from Chaparral High School. The couple lives in their hometown in Temecula, along with their daughters Eden and Averie and the pet tortoise, Torty. Torty, whom he had since hatching, became famous and cult followed through a Twitter account representative and has since served as an unofficial mascot for Cardinals. Craig's favorite movies are Premier League and The Premier League II . He still likes to play basketball and also play golf since his father introduced him to the sport as a child.
In May, 2014, Craig partnered with Cardinals outsider Jon Jay for Jay-Craig Celebrity Bowl and Flamingo Bowl in downtown St. Louis. Louis. These results benefit Great Circle, a nonprofit organization that provides autism in behavioral health services, educational challenges, emotional health, home crisis interventions, care and adoption, adventure therapy, and psychological trauma recovery.
See also
- Bind averages with runners in scoring positions
References
External links
- Career and player information statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-References, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- @TortyCraig on Twitter
- Jay-Craig Celebrity Bowl
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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