Braswell and the Mendoza line

Most baseball fans know the story of Mario Mendoza, the light hitting shortstop who was a wizard with his glove while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. All baseball coaches have some players who do not hit well, but have great fielding prowess. But at some point their batting average gets too low to justify starting them. Mendoza’s batting average hovered around .200 for his MLB career and .200 became the Mendoza line. No matter how good their glove was, one had to hit at least over .200, the Mendoza line, to play.

Braswell, who actually hit okay at the end of last season, for some reason struggled at the plate this year. He ended up hitting .189, just below the Mendoza line, but Johnson stuck with him.

It paid off in the world series where Braswell had some real web gems that saved runs. In the 1-0 game one win over Coastal, a run saved was every bit as valuable as a run made.

It was interesting to see how Braswell remarkably remained popular with many LSU fans who are notoriously hard on players who can’t hit. He hit some hard outs in his last few games, you had to feel for the guy, you knew he so wanted to help his team at the plate. It was a pretty cool moment when he finally got a base hit in the second Coastal game that got him a standing ovation from fans and his team mates.

My favorite defensive play of the World Series was in the ninth inning of game one with the score 1-0 where he snagged a hard hit grounder headed for left field and then making one of the coolest off balance, snap sidearm throws I’ve seen. He not only robbed the guy of a hit, that out helped keep Anderson in the game with his pitch count rising. If I knew how to link to the play, I would, it was smooth as butter. Braswell seems like a well liked, cool dude. His glove played a big part in the World Series, he made a few great throws on tough bunts as well.

Mario Mendoza returned to Mexico in 1983 to play seven more years in the Mexican league batting a respectable .291. Hopefully Braswell will find his bat if he goes on to the minor leagues.