Detroit Tigers’ Brad Eldred Leaves Toledo, Heading to Japan
According to Matthew Mowery of the Oakland Press, Brad Eldred, the long-time minor league outfielder on contract with the Tigers, is leaving Triple-A Toledo and heading to Japan to play for the Hiroshima Carp. As Mowery reports, media covering the Tigers were in Toledo to cover Alez Avila’s minor league rehab start when they came across the Eldred story.
Eldred was drafted in 2002 by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made his Major League debut on July 22, 2005. In 2005, he played 55 games and hit .221/.279/.458 with 12 home runs. From 2005 on, Eldred was up and down with Major League clubs. In total, he played 90 games over four Major League seasons. His career line is .203/.258/.417. However, he found a lot more success in the minor leagues.
In 996 minor league games, Eldred is hitting .268/.336/.546. He has 968 hits and 251 homers over the course of 11 minor league seasons. However, it seems Eldred is ready to play against different competition.
This season, Eldred was hitting better than normal. Prior to his departure from the team yesterday, Eldred was hitting .305/.374/.695 with 24 home runs. He did play five games this season for the Tigers, but didn’t perform well. He hit .188/.235/.375.
Eldred hopes to find more opportunity in Japan. He may do just that as his window of opportunity with the Major Leagues is closing. At 31 years old, a career minor leaguer doesn’t have much of a chance making the show full-time. In Japan, he will be able to play professionally in a league about as close to the Majors as it gets.
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