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Branyan signs with M’s

By john • Dec 3rd, 2008 • Category: major leagues, russell branyan, seattle mariners, top story

Russell Branyan has signed a one year contract with the Seattle Mariners. Branyan spent last season with the Milwaukee Brewers hitting .250/.342/.583 with 12 home runs in 132 at-bats.

Branyan, 32, has bounced around between 7 teams. After starting his career with the Cleveland Indians, he has since played for the Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Philadelphia Phillies, and St. Louis Cardinals. Seattle will be his eigth different organization.

In May we talked about the kind of hitter Branyan was, all or nothing yet celebrated his return to the big leagues.

At one point I believed if any man could hit a ball to the moon it would probably be Russell Branyan.

Early indications are that the Mariners would use him as their primarily first basemen. If that is true it would be the first time in his career that Branyan has been an everday player. He has never recorded 400 at-bats in a season and the last time he topped 300 was in 2002. That season he hit 24 homers.

We’ll never know how many home runs Branyan could have hit in his career if he played regulary during his prime. After all when his career began high strike out numbers were frowned upon. Things have changed since then as Ryan Howard, Mark Reynolds, Jack Cust and Adam Dunn have made swinging for air conditioning the hot new thing in baseball.

In 766 big league games over 11 years Branyan has compiled a .230/.328/.485 line with 133 home runs and 320 RBI.