Craig Counsell

Craig Counsell
Free agent
Infielder
Born: August 21, 1970 (1970-08-21) (age 41)
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 17, 1995 for the Colorado Rockies
Career statistics (through 2011)
Batting average	.255
Home runs	42
Hits	1,208
Runs batted in	390
Teams
Colorado Rockies (1995,1997) Florida Marlins (1997–1999) Los Angeles Dodgers (1999) Arizona Diamondbacks (2000–2003) Milwaukee Brewers (2004) Arizona Diamondbacks (2005–2006) Milwaukee Brewers (2007–2011)
Career highlights and awards
2x World Series Champion (1997, 2001) NLCS MVP (2001)

Craig John Counsell (born August 21, 1970, in South Bend, Indiana) is a Major League Baseball infielder.

Counsell grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, and attended Whitefish Bay High School, where he played baseball. His father worked for the Milwaukee Brewers. He attended college at the University of Notre Dame.

Counsell has also spent off-seasons coaching middle school basketball at University School of Milwaukee.

He and his wife Michelle have 4 children, sons Brady and Jack and daughters Finley and Rowen.

Professional career

Counsell won the 2001 National League Championship Series MVP award while on his first tenure with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Counsell was on-base for the winning scoring plays of two World Series Game 7's. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series for the Marlins on an Edgar Rentería single over pitcher Charles Nagy's head, after tying that game in the bottom of the ninth with a sacrifice fly. He was also hit by a pitch by Mariano Rivera to load the bases for Luis Gonzalez in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, after which Gonzalez drove in the winning run for the Diamondbacks, a bloop single over the drawn-in infield which ended the Yankees hopes of four straight World Series titles. He recorded his 1,000th career hit on August 16, 2008 against Derek Lowe of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In front of a sold out crowd on his final game with the Arizona Diamondbacks on October 1, 2006, Counsell hit a solo home run, his fourth of the season.

His current at-bat music is "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix.

On October 31, 2008, the Brewers declined Counsell's club option for 2009 and he became a free agent. On January 26, 2009, Counsell signed a one-year, $1 million deal to remain with the Brewers.^[1]

On December 14, 2009, Counsell re-signed a 1 year contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.^[2]

He re-signed a 1-year contract with the Brewers to return in 2011.^[3]

In 2011, Counsell tied the all-time record for consecutive at bats without a base hit for a position player, going hitless over a streak of 45 at bats as a bench player and spot starter. The record was set by notoriously poor hitter Bill Bergen in 1909 and later tied by infielder Dave Campbell.^[4]

By the SAFE: Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation method of evaluating defense, Counsell is one of the highest rated 2nd and 3rd basemen, with an average runs saved of 10.18 and 5.86 respectively.^[5]

In 2011, he was the fourth-oldest player in the National League, and had the second-best career fielding percentage of all active second basemen (.991).^[6][7]

Statistics

Craig Counsell (Updated as of 2011) ^[8]

	Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BA
Career	1,582	4,684	640	1,197	218	40	42	385	103	.256

References

1. ^ By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com. "Brewers re-sign infielder Counsell". Milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com. http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090126&content_id=3773556&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil. Retrieved October 3, 2011. 
2. ^ By Adam McCalvy / MLB.com. "Crew finalizes one-year deal with Counsell". Milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com. http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091213&content_id=7805250&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil. Retrieved October 3, 2011. 
3. ^ McCalvy, Adam. "Counsell re-signs for '11." Major League Baseball. December 20, 2010. Retrieved on December 20, 2010.
4. ^  . "SABR article". SABR article. http://sabr.org/latest/dittmar-bergens-hitless-streak-was-45-not-46. Retrieved October 3, 2011. 
5. ^ "SAFE: Spatial Aggregate Fielding Evaluation". Stat.wharton.upenn.edu. http://stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~stjensen/research/safe.html#infielderresults. Retrieved October 3, 2011. 
6. ^ "2011 National League Awards, All-Stars, & More Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2011-other-leaders.shtml. Retrieved October 3, 2011. 
7. ^ "Active Leaders &amp Records for Fielding % as 2B". Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/fielding_perc_2b_active.shtml. Retrieved October 3, 2011. 
8. ^ "Craig Counsell". MLB.com. http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?playerID=112736. Retrieved 2011-07-14. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Preceded by Mike Hampton

National League Championship Series MVP 2001

Succeeded by Benito Santiago

Persondata
Name	Counsell, Craig
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 21, 1970
Place of birth	South Bend, Indiana
Date of death
Place of death