Is Ken Griffey Jr. offically back?
For many years Ken Griffey Jr. put up numbers that were easily considered the best ever for a young player just entering the game. He was quickly being put in the same sentence as Maris, Ruth, Mantle, Mays, Ted Williams and other historic baseball icons.
Then it all fell apart. After one decent year in his hometown team, The Reds, Griffey suffered two major injuries mixed in with a medicore season.
This year it appears that his swing is back to the perfect swing that it was before. He doesnt appear to have lost any of the bat speed that he had earlier in his career. So is he back? Or will something else bizzar happen to the once great Griffey?
Here are some stats to look at.
1993 .309 45 HR 109 RBI
1994 .323 40 HR 90 RBI
1995 Strike season, good numbers though
1996 .302 49 HR 140 RBI
1997 .304 56 HR 147 RBI
1998 .284 56 HR 146 RBI (average starts to drop off)
1999 .285 48 HR 134 RBI
2000 .271 40 HR 118 RBI (first year in Cin)
2001 .285 22 HR 65 RBI (missed half the season with hamstring problems, but had great numbers when he played)
2002 .264 8 HR 23 RBI (missed 90% of season with blown out shoulder diving for a ball)
2003 .247 13HR 26 RBi (I dont remember why he was out last year. oops)
Overall Griffey, when he plays, is awesome. The problem is, he hasnt played much in almost 4 years.
