Omar Infante

Omar Infante started his career as a Detroit Tiger back in 2002 and spent the first half of his career there. The Tigers brought up Infante from Triple A Toledo after playing 120 games there. While in the International League, Baseball America said that he was the best defensive shortstop and the best infield arm in the league. http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=408299 Infante made his major league debut against the New York Yankees in September of that season. In that game, he drove in the game winning run (his first big league hit) off of Yankees starter Mike Mussina. http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=408299

Infante eventually became the starting shortstop for the Tigers in 2003 taking over for Ramon Santiago but he struggled at bat, despite being a good defensive player. For the season, he batted .222 with no homeruns and eight RBIs through 200 games. Tigers manager Alan Trammell sent Infante back to the minors and replaced him with Santiago the rest of the season. Infante spent five years with the Tigers before being traded to the Chicago Cubs for Jacque Jones and then from the Cubs to the Braves for Jose Ascanio. In January 2008, Infante signed Infante signed a two-year contract with the Braves for a reported $4.3 million dollars.

Last year he batted .305 with two homeruns and 27 runs batted in; his on base percentage was .361. Infante is a good clutch hitter batting .356 with runners in scoring position which was the highest in the majors http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=408299 Last year, he suffered a fracture of the fifth metacarpal on his left hand on May 20th when he was hit by a pitcher; at the time he was batting .349 (30-for-86) with 1 HR & 11 RBI in 29 games before going on the disabled list. http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=408299