San Diego Padres’ Chase Headley looks to play more - MLB News
Chase Headley has had the most fantastic baseball season of his career in 2012. The switch hitter was a part of the San Diego Padres for 160 games. He also managed to get some silverware due to his sheer brilliance, winning the Silver Slugger and the Gold
Glove Awards.
He is currently one of the five finalists for the National League MVP and will know his fate soon. The 28-year-old wants to be consistent in his performances and wants to play in every game for his team. His 160 regular season games were a joint second highest
number of games played by a National League player in 2012.
Chase wants to play as many games as possible and wants to perform for his team. "I take pride in that," Headley said about the number of games he played in 2012 season. "That's my job -- to play every day. I try to prepare my body so that I can play every
day. I think it says a lot that you're able to help the team and that the manager can count on you."
His returns in the 2012 were quite impressive. He posted a .286 batting average and an on-base percentage of .376, both above his career numbers. Headley also hit 31 home-runs and managed 115 RBI’s with a staggering 173 hits.
Bud Black, the Padres’ manager is also quite impressed by the efforts of Headley. He was all praise for the third baseman’s durability for the team. "Games played and innings played, I love those ones," He said recently. "You're talking about a six-month
season when you want your guys out there a lot. I admire that out of players. He's done that. He's shown durability, absolutely."
Headley has realised that he needs to give his body the right amount of work out to be able to play more. He altered his routine and cut some of the extra workout he was doing to give his body less of a strain during the season.
Chase has also shown improvement over the course of the season. August onwards, he posted a .318 batting average and a .389 on-base percentage in 57 games, going long on 19 occasions and managing 63 RBI’s in 220 at-bats. He was defensively stronger as well,
committing just two errors in this period out of the 10 for the season.
In recognition of his good work, he won the National League Player of the Month consecutively in August and September. He was the first player since Tony Gwynn in 1997 to win the prestigious Player of the Month for Padres and the first player to win the
award in consecutive months after Ken Caminiti did so in 1996.
Chase Headley is an excellent player and is developing quite well now. The team will do well to continue playing him as their main weapon in the near future. He does have a couple years left on his contract, with the possibility of salary arbitration. Padres
may want him to stay beyond that period should he maintains is rich vein of form.
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