Arquimedez Pozo, whose spent all of 80 career plate appearances in the major leagues, has a straight up awesome name. I don't know if it's the first name that brings to mind the great Greek Mathematician or the last name that brings to mind a famous clown, but regardless the whole thing works together really great. Clearly a guy who needed to be mentioned on this site at some point.
As for Pozo's career exploits, he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Mariners in 1990 as an 18 year old. He slowly worked his way up the organizational ladder, peaking with a 1993 Minor League All Star nod with the Riverside Pilots, who were in the first year of their three year existence as a team (they later became the Lancaster JetHawks). Pozo made his MLB debut two years later in a single 1995 at bat, but was later traded straight up for Jeff Manto (who was 9 years Pozo's elder but more seasoned) to the Red Sox.
He slashed .192/.218/.315 in the majors with the Sox in a mostly unremarkable sample size between 1996 and 1997, but was relegated to the minors in 1998 and ended up spending time in Mexican baseball and the Korean league thereafter. He's kind of the definition of a AAAA player/guy who never got a legitimate shot, as his lifetime minors slash of .299/.360/.477 and AAA slash of .291/.349/.471 (over four seasons) seem to suggest a guy who was capable of quite a bit more.
All that being said, Pozo did have one great moment in the Sun on July 28, 1996. The Sox were facing the Twins, in an Aaron Sele vs. Rick Aguilera matchup, and Pozo was set to bat leadoff and play 2B. His first four at bats were all outs, but in his final at bat, with the bases loaded and no outs in the 9th inning, he hit a grand slam off "Easy" Eddie Guardado to pull the Red Sox within a single run. It wasn't enough as Dan Naulty came in and finished the Sox off for his 4th save of the year, but it was the only homerun of Pozo's career, so it's impressive that it came in such a dramatic moment off a reliever who three years later would lead the league in saves.
Best of luck to Pozo in the voting, and welcome back to the GSNHOF!
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Clown names...there was an Angels minor leaguer who had a couple of '90s cards named Elgin Bobo
ReplyDeleteOoo that's a good one!
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