In his first 5 full seasons in the MLB, 6 foot 2, 200 pound center fielder, Grady Sizemore served as one of the few bright spots on a Cleveland Indians team that to this day still has not consistently made the playoffs for the better part of the last decade. After being drafted right out of high school by the Montreal Expos, he was soon traded to the Indians.
There, he very quickly developed into a role as one of the most promising center fielders in the league. He hit lead-off as a rookie and managed to compile 22 home runs, 81 RBIs and a batting average of.289. Also his speed which was very quickly evident on the professional level made him only the 2nd player in franchise history to log more than 20 doubles, 10 triples, 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a single season. As a result of his play in that season alone, he signed a 6 year 23.45 million dollar contract with the Indians all before he even played a game in his sophomore season.
From there, he logged a career year in 2006 logging starts in all 162 of the team's games, with 28 home runs, 53 doubles and a batting average of .290. He was named to his first all-star team as a result of his play that season.
Over the next 3 years, he would make two more all-star games and bring a vow of consistency to the Indians team that in modern day baseball is very had to find. 4 times he was a member of the 20/20 club that listed all players with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases while his work in the field never spawned more than 3 errors in a single season. In 2006, he logged 7 assists from the outfield and committed just 3 errors.
And yet, at the height of his career, when all seemed good and Sizemore closed in on the conclusion of his 6 year deal with Cleveland knowing a huge payday was around the corner, he got injured. After starting 382 consecutive games, in the previous 2 seasons, Sizemore lost his impressive streak when he missed a game on April 27th while rehabbing a sprained ankle. Though he would come back and his 30 home runs and steal 30 bases later in that season, the ankle injury was the first in a long line of setbacks that would bite the star over the next few years.
He pulled a groin during spring training of 2009 and missed almost a week at the beginning of the year. 4 months after that, he began speaking about pain in his elbow and with 1 month to go in the regular season he had surgery on that elbow to prepare him for the following season. Unfortunately for him, doctors discovered a need for additional hernia surgery in his lower abdomen during his hospital stay.
That procedure effectively wiped out his plans for spring training the following season. But that was only the start of things.
Just 33 games into 2010, he blew out his knee and needed micro-fracture surgery to repair it. While he rehabbed that well after that, he re-injured his knee in 2011 and went under the knife once again for yet another hernia surgery.
The Indians neglected to pick up the option for the 2012 season and allowed Sizemore to basically stew without a team for the next 2 years.
But finally, having not played since 2011, the Boston Red Sox swooped in at the beginning of last off-season and signed Sizemore to an incentive heavy 1 year 6 million dollar contract. In the void left behind by the signing of Jacoby Ellsbury to the New York Yankees, Sizemore came to the team knowing that he had a chance to log some serious playing time in his natural position, center field. After Jackie Bradley Jr. struggled in spring training and Sizemore stunned with quite a few miraculous catches in the outfeild, the team named him their starting center fielder going into 2014.
Since opening day, he has been absolutely fantastic. Seizmore has played 9 games in Boston committing 0 errors and logging 14 putouts. Offensively, he has hit at a .333 clip with 4 RBIs and 2 doubles. He hit a home run on opening day in Baltimore while smacking a huge 3 run home run in the 6th inning of a game against New York just this past week.
All and all, Grady Seizmore has arrived in Boston with a huge pile of history and the capabilities to return to that level of greatness once again.
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