It's a knockout - Aussie Style!

In case you haven’t noticed, the Defensive Specialist has been grounded – unable to attend any Claxton Shield games last weekend. Do you want the bad news? As a result of some diabolical scheduling and the Defensive Specialist’s commitment to various charities, there will be no previews, reviews or key learning’s this week either. The Defensive Specialist is keenly aware that the loyal readers aren’t going to keep venturing Deep in the Hole simply for the Defensive Specialist’s good looks and athletic ability so in lieu of any Claxton Shield coverage, the Defensive Specialist thought that it might make for an interesting read and subsequent debate if he tackled a little project.

What’s the project you ask?

Well how about the Defensive Specialist breaks down every Aussie to appear in the big leagues in order to try to determine the best player to come out of Australia? Now a few caveats:

1. Apologies to all friends, fans and family of the mighty Joe Quinn – Australia’s first big leaguer. The Defensive Specialist’s complex evaluation metrics don’t work so well with a guy who hasn’t taken a legitimate swing in anger since 1901.
2. For all of the people out there having a conniption because their favourite local area shortstop or pitcher was the greatest player to ever strap it on down under, The Defensive Specialist is afraid that you’re just going to have to suck it up and either write your own post or start up an email campaign not only justifying your guy’s inclusion but also providing 5000 signatures to support the case.
3. A number of players are currently in the big leagues so the Defensive Specialist will evaluate to present day.
4. The Defensive Specialist plans to run through all 23 (Joe Quinn is the 24^th) Australians to play in the big leagues, take a look at their careers, ruminate on their careers and then determine the best Aussie big leaguer. Before the Defensive Specialist makes his call, a poll will be run so that the readers can chime in with their choice. The Defensive Specialist will break the players into 4 pools and as the players in each pool are detailed, readers will have chance to cast a vote. The 4 leaders from each pool will then be put into a final poll for a reader’s choice award.
5. Pools A, B, C will contain 6 players, Pool D will contain 5.
6. Hopefully the readers realize that this is going to run over a few weeks.

Ok, with all that out of the way, let The Defensive Specialist make a dent in the list by getting the breakdowns underway. Please note, players are represented in no particular order:

Pool A

Glenn Williams

Williams’ career batting average at the big league level is an impressive .425. If that figure had been carried over a 1 or 2 year career, well it wouldn’t have been a 1 or 2 year career – he’d be getting paid a lazy 30 million a year and kicking it with Derek Jeter in the offseason instead of coaching the NSW Patriots. Williams got a cup of coffee in the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins in 2005, went on a ridiculous tear over 13 games before snapping his shoulder off and not stepping foot on a big league diamond again. Williams hit successfully in all 13 games that he appeared in making major league baseball look easy.

Being somewhat of a minor league journeyman by 2005 at the age of 27, Williams didn’t profile as your prototypical third baseman – a position that generally requires a power bat. Without the ability to consistently pop the ball out of the yard (Williams career high in homeruns in the minor leagues was 23 in 2004 at the AAA level), the Twins were using Williams as a stopgap only. Sure, if he kept swinging it at a .420 clip, Minnesota would have found a way to keep him in the lineup, but long term, he probably wasn’t going to be an option as an every day player and Williams was not able to get a shot in the big leagues again.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willigl01.shtml?redir

Michael Nakamura

Nakamura did not enjoy much success in the Major Leagues but if the Defensive Specialist was writing a blog about Australia’s best Japanese Major Leaguer, Michael would be our guy. Nakamura made his big league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2003 giving up 11 earned runs in 12 innings of work. Nakamura was traded to the Toronto Bluejays the following year where he appeared in 19 games, giving up 21 runs in 25 innings. Nakamura did not appear in the big leagues again and finished with a career ERA of 7+ in 31 innings.

Nakamura’s career took a different turn when he was drafted in 2004 by the Nippon Ham Fighters. In his second season in Japan, Nakamura set a Pacific League single-season record by recording 39 saves in a championship year for the Fighters. Nakamura now plays for the Yomiuri Giants.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/n/nakammi01.shtml

Cameron Cairncross 

Debuting as a 28 year old in 2000, lefty Cairncross appeared in 15 games for the Cleveland Indians working 9 innings of relief.  The Queenslander had his lone major league win against the Baltimore Orioles when Kenny Lofton hit a walk off homerun in the 13^th inning for a 12—11 W. Cairncross finished the season with a respectable ERA of 3.86.

Cairncross did not play professional baseball again in the US after the 2000 season.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cairnca01.shtml

Now, if you’ll excuse the Defensive Specialist, he has commitments at the soup kitchen and will bring you the remainder of Pool A later in the week.