Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Minor Moves: Canzler

According to Matt Eddy at BA the Rays have signed Russ Canzler, formerly of the Cubs organization. The 24 year-old plays the corner infield and outfield positions and spent all of 2010 at AA. He was originally drafted by Chicago in the 30th round of the 2004 draft. Here are his career stats (all in the Cubs organization):
Year   Age Lev   AB   R   H  2B 3B HR RBI SB CS  BB  SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
2004    18  Rk  105  12  26   2  3  1  13  0  1   9  35 .248 .310 .352 .663
2005    19  Rk  157  22  47  11  3  1  20  1  5  24  41 .299 .387 .427 .814
2006    20  A-  280  49  74  22  4 16  61  7  4  22  70 .264 .319 .543 .862
2007    21   A  460  60 124  24  2  7  54 12  8  35  88 .270 .321 .376 .697
2008    22  A+  326  47  89  22  2 12  59  7  4  27  70 .273 .327 .463 .790
2009    23  A+  100  14  27   8  1  2  14  2  0   7  24 .270 .315 .430 .745
2009    23  AA  233  27  60  15  0  6  35  2  5  31  41 .258 .346 .399 .745
2010    24  AA  355  68 102  28  4 21  66  5  4  46  95 .287 .372 .566 .938
7 Seasons      2016 299 549 132 19 66 322 36 31 201 464 .272 .339 .455 .793
Hmm, 24 years old, plays CIF/COF, was at AA last season, who does he remind me of?

[Update per Homein2's comment]: From the StandardSpeaker in Hazleton:
Free agent Russ Canzler agreed to a deal with the team on Friday, one that includes an invite to the Rays' spring training camp in Port Charlotte, Fla., an opportunity to earn a full-time job with, at the very least, their Triple A affiliate - the Durham Bulls - and his next step toward fulfilling his life-long dream of becoming a major leaguer. Should that happen, the former Hazleton Area High School and area American Legion standout who once regularly hit balls over the fence at Joe Maddon Field would play for the same manager who has made Hazleton a frequent conversation piece during the Rays' recent successful run: Hazleton native Joe Maddon.
...
"It was a very exciting, tense two weeks of negotiating and hearing offers from other teams," he added. "In the end... the Rays were looking for a strong, right-handed corner infielder or outfielder with power who could help at the Triple A level right away... someone prepared to help them at the major league level sooner rather than later."

5 comments:

  1. Nah, Canzler hit .287/.372/.566/.938 all in AA, Wrigley only hit .270/.312/.457/.769 split between A+ and AA. Plus Canzler's career numbers are much better. Must be someone else... :)

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  2. Seriously, this looks like a nice pick up for the Rays. Should start the year with Durham I would guess. Better keep an eye on him Chris @ WDBBB.

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  3. Here is a local newspaper about the signing.

    http://standardspeaker.com/sports/canzler-adds-to-rays-local-flavor-1.1066476

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  4. Thanks Homein2, good link, I'll add it to the post.

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