Brandon Larson Update

[Brutus]

A while back, I read someone say (probably on one of these forums) that Brandon Larson was out of baseball. I assumed that was the case, myself.

As it turns out, he's still alive in the baseball world and doing well for himself (sort of).

Larson is hitting .338 with 17 home runs and 58 RBI's for Somerset of the Atlantic League. He leads the league in slugging percentage and is in the top five in homers, RBI's and batting average.

The Atlantic League is the independent league, sort of a baseball purgatory for those that do not belong to any organization. It's the league J.D. Drew played in after being drafted by Philadelphia before St. Louis picked him up.

Such former Major Leaguers having success there are Carl Everett (.342/.440/.584, 15-52), Luis Lopez (.340/.441/.464, 4-51) and Josh Pressley (.340/.410/.583, 18-56).

Other players you may remember: OF Josh Rabe, P Ryan Drese, P Brian Lawrence, P Felix Rodriguez, DH Matt LeCroy, 2B Brent Abernathy, SS Edgardo Alfonzo, OF Alex Sanchez, OF Richard Hidalgo, P Donovan Osborne, 2B Bobby Hill, OF Ruben Mateo, 1B Randall Simon, P Brian Reith, OF Curtis Pride, OF Chris Ashby, 3B Shea Hillenbrand and recently signed Brewer OF Jay Gibbons.

Here's the Atlantic League website for those that are curious about it:

Atlantic League (http://www.atlanticleague.com/)

[dougflynn23]

:confused: Chosen over Lance Berkman....

[Ghosts of 1990]

:confused: Chosen over Lance Berkman....

ouch

[Griffey012]

It's amazing someone can destroy minor league pitching like that and hit worse than CPatt at the ML level

[OesterPoster]

I read somewhere that Larson recently called a Reds player (Dunn maybe?) and asked for any extra baseball bats he might have.

[akron3344]

larsen once homered off randy johnson

[jmac]

larsen once homered off randy johnson

If I am not mistaken, so did Ryan Freel :D

[levydl]

larsen once homered off randy johnson

I was there. Didn't Larson get hurt that very game? Did Johnson hit him? I can't quite remember.

[Jerry Narron]

I was there. Didn't Larson get hurt that very game? Did Johnson hit him? I can't quite remember.

Was that the game where Johnson had 20 K's?

[levydl]

Was that the game where Johnson had 20 K's?

No. He did have 11 Ks though, and threw a 2 hitter. August 15, 2002. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN200208150.shtml) You can see Larson homers off him in the 2nd, and then is hit by him in the 7th. Here (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/team/transactions.jsp?c_id=cin&year=2002&month=8) on August 16th, they put him on the DL. Johnson hit him in the toe and broke it.

[pitcher7]

I thought that game was the turning point for Larson. All those reports about how the laser eye surgery had helped him out and how he had such huge power potential. Its too bad he never good hit consistently

[dougflynn23]

I thought that game was the turning point for Larson. All those reports about how the laser eye surgery had helped him out and how he had such huge power potential. Its too bad he never good hit consistently
I still think that had the Reds put him in either LF or at 1B and stuck with him that he would have developed. Unfortunately those positions were filled, and he took his struggles at 3B and carried them over into his AB's.

[Stephenk29]

Glad to hear he's doing some what well for himself, supper nice guy.

[Ghosts of 1990]

I read somewhere that Larson recently called a Reds player (Dunn maybe?) and asked for any extra baseball bats he might have.

Austin Kearns. They were talking about it when we played the Nationals.

The way Kearns hits now, I wouldn't want his wood.