9/10/2003

Who is this Bill Mueller?

The staring third baseman for the Red Sox is currently and silently leading the AL in Batting Average. Yet, some still wonder, who the hell is Bill Mueller?

Bill Mueller gets congratulated by his fellow teammates after hitting a HR at Yankee Stadium

As the general public, outside of Red Sox Nation, looks upon the Batting Title Race, they seem to first off, recognize the more popular names. Nomar Garciaparra, Manny Ramirez, Magglio Ordonez, Ichiro Suzuki, and Derek Jeter are a few that are in the race. Then, within the top of the list, the name Bill Mueller appears. Some people wonder who the hell is he, some people don't think he exists, and others call him "Mule-ler"(it's "Miller"). Red Sox Nation knows who he is. They even have a nickname for him: The Professional Hitter. Bill Mueller is the starting third baseman of the Boston Red Sox and currently, he's the AL Batting Title Leader. Everybody else should know who he is, not just Red Sox Nation.

Bill Mueller is currently the starting third baseman for the Boston Red Sox. He was picked up from the free agent pool pre-season 2003. He used to play for the San Francisco Giants, and had a brief stint with the Chicago Cubs before going back to San Francisco, before getting ultimately released. At first, he wasn't the starting third baseman. He had to share time with Shea Hillenbrand at third and also doubled up with Todd Walker whenever a lefty pitcher was up, since Mueller was a switch hitter. At first, GM Theo Epstein just picked him up for bench depth, but he didn't count on Mueller on being so good. By late May, Mueller was posting a ridiculous .393 Batting Average; from platooning around positions. Thanks to his recent surge, it made Shea Hillenbrand expendable. On May 29, the Red Sox traded Hillenbrand to Arizona for relief pitcher Byung-Hyung Kim. They had vied for relief pitching, and this trade also freed up the infield clutter, letting Kevin Millar and David Ortiz able to platoon between 1st base and DH and Mueller offically became the starting third baseman.

Mueller isn't just a good hitter, his fielding isn't half bad either

At first when he officially became the starting third baseman, he got grounded back to earth with his batting average, falling down to earth with his batting average. That only lasted for a little while. Soon enough, Mueller started hitting again, and was soon catapulted to the top 10 of the Batting Title race. Currently, his numbers are excellent for him. He has already reached new career highs with HR's(19 and counting), doubles(42 and counting), triples(5 and counting), hits(158 and counting), and most likely batting average. Currently, he ranks 1st in the AL for batting average(.333), 8th in AL in SLG(.560), 6th in AL in OBP(.406), and 5th in AL in OPS(.966). On top of that he ranks 8th out of AL third basemen in Fielding Pct.(.948). While that stat isn't too impressive, it shows that he's a decent fielder, and he's had quite the amount of Web Gems. He threw Ichiro Suzuki out with a diving stop. Ichiro is the the second hardest ballplayer, behind Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, to throw out. ICHIRO!! That's quite a play, my friends. Mueller even has doubled his Grand Slam amount from 2 career grannies into 4 grannies. This all happened within one night in Texas.

The night was July 29, 2003. They were playing the Texas Rangers. Mueller went 3-for-5 that night. His first hit was a solo blast to right field. He got the Red Sox within a one-run game. The Rangers were still leading 2-1 however. Mueller's next two at bats, he grounded out and lined out. Then came the 7th inning. The Red Sox, in total rallied for seven runs in that inning. They were at first trailing 4-2. Thanks to an RBI single by Gabe Kapler and a double by Ortiz, the game was all tied up

Now, David Ortiz was at second base with one out. The next batter, Kevin Millar, walked; as did Trot Nixon. Then Bill Mueller stepped up to the plate. The screen flashed his lifetime average with the bases loaded. I recall staring at the HR number, which was 2 at the time, as if I could somehow put a spell for Mueller to hit another grand slam. Well wouldn't you know? Mueller then blasted one into left field. He was batting from the left hand side at that moment, as well. After Mueller's epic slam, there were two quick outs and the score was now Boston was leading 9-4. After a quick bottom of the seventh, it became the eighth inning. After Garciaparra homered to center, the score then became 10-4. Gabe Kapler then walked, and after an Ortiz strikeout, Millar singled, which brought Kapler to third. Then, Nixon walked yet again. This set the stage for Mueller.

Page 2 of the Mueller Story