Micah Hoffpauir

Micah Hoffpauir
Hoffpauir with the Cubs in 2010.
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters — No. 9
First baseman / Outfielder
Born: March 1, 1980 (1980-03-01) (age 31) Fort Worth, Texas
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
May 18, 2008 for the Chicago Cubs
Career statistics (through 2010)
Batting average	.251
Home runs	12
Runs batted in	48
Teams
Chicago Cubs (2008-2010) Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (2011-present)

James Micah Hoffpauir (pronounced "Mike-ah Hoff-power") (born March 1, 1980, in Fort Worth, Texas) is a first baseman for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. He was drafted in 2000 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the in the 44th round (1,301st overall), but he did not sign and returned to college. The Cubs selected him in the 13th round (393rd overall) of the 2002 draft. He is a distant cousin of Jarrett Hoffpauir of the San Diego Padres.

Early life

A six-foot three-inch left-hander, Hoffpauir attended Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville, Texas. He attended Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas where he played for the Cardinals, where he holds a school record in nearly every major offensive category. He graduated in 2001.

Minor leagues

After being drafted by the Cubs, Hoffpauir was sent to the Single-A Boise Hawks, where he batted .301 with 10 home runs and 41 runs batted in. His good play caused the Cubs to send him to their other Single-A team, the Daytona Cubs, in 2003. There he batted only .254 with 8 home runs and 58 RBIs. In 2004, Hoffpauir made the leap from Single-A Daytona to Triple-A Iowa, where he played in only one game before being sent down to the Double-A West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. He hit 11 home runs and drove in 75 runs in 94 games with the Diamond Jaxx. In 2005, Hoffpauir began the season with Triple-A Iowa, where hit only 3 home runs and drove in 47 runs in 119 games, and batted .268. His poor performance resulted in him being sent back down to Double-A West Tenn for the remainder of the season. He began the 2006 campaign with West Tenn, but was moved up to Triple-A Iowa, where he had his best offensive production year of his career with 22 home runs and 80 RBIs to go along with .267 average. With all-star Derrek Lee at first base on the major league team and no openings in the outfield available, Hoffpauir returned to Triple-A Iowa for the 2007 season. On July 4, Hoffpauir was placed on the disabled list with a right knee injury. Hoffpauir went on the DL hitting .316 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs in 82 games.

After a short debut with the Cubs, he was returned to Iowa, where he tied a Pacific Coast League record with four home runs in a game on August 9. On September 25, Hoffpauir went 5 for 5 with 2 home runs against the New York Mets.

Major leagues

Hoffpauir was called up to the Chicago Cubs on May 18, 2008, to replace an injured Daryle Ward. He made his major league debut that day, pinch-hitting for Jason Marquis and striking out against Pittsburgh Pirates reliever John Grabow. He had 80 plate appearances, with excellent results: .342 AVG, .400 OBP, and .534 SLG. Luck played a big role, with a .489 batting average on balls in play (BABIP), the highest in the majors.

He was then returned to Iowa.

In the 2009 MLB season, Hoffpauir was a PH due to Lee's struggles at first and through April 15 had success with 2 hits in 4 at bats with 2 RBIs. He also played right field due to the absence of Milton Bradley, hitting his first home run of the season on April 21 at home against the Cincinnati Reds.
In his 257 plate appearances, his BABIP plummeted from .489 in 2008 to a low .258^[1] . So did his rate stats, which were .239 AVG, .300 OBP, and .427 SLG.

References

1. ^ Goldman, Steven; Kahrl, Christina (2010). Baseball Prospectus 2010. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 90. ISBN 978-0-470-55840-9. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Hoffpauir, Micah
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 1, 1980
Place of birth	Fort Worth, Texas
Date of death
Place of death