This week in Where Are They Now? sluggers edition: Travis Hafner

Photo Credit: ESPN

Once upon a time in MLB, there was a tremendous slugger named Travis Hafner.  Remember him?  He's the guy who averaged .296/.410/.567 with 32 HR and 108 RBI from 2004-2007 with the Cleveland Indians.  In those four years, he finished in the top-10 in MVP voting twice (2005 and 2006), WAR once (6.2 in 2006), ISO twice (2005 and 2006, when he lead the league with .350), and OPS thrice (.993 in 2004, 1.003 in 2005, 1.097 in 2006).

So Hafner could hit, hit for power, and get on base.  A bona fide superstar.  Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?

Hafner, who was nicknamed Pronk (a portmanteau of Project, which he was in the minor leagues, and Donkey, which is what he ran like), had his own cheering section in Jacobs Field named Pronkville.  He also had his own candy bar and beef jerky.  Meanwhile, on the field, in 2006 he became the only player in MLB history to hit 5 grand slams before the All Star Break.  He later tied Don Mattingly's record of 6 grand slams in one season.  The question is...what happened to him?  Why has he only played in 246 games over the past three seasons?  And why is this former superstar hitting .279/.378/.448 in 2010??

The company answer is injuries.  In 2008, when Hafner played in only 57 games, he posted a career-low .628 OPS.  At least one blog has posited that he was never quite the same after breaking his hand on a C.J. Wilson beanball.  The same blog offered other theories: Hafner was distracted by family illness and slowed by lingering shoulder soreness.  (That shoulder soreness is still bothering him -- Hafner was placed on the DL on 8/3/10 for the same exact problem.)

An alternative theory is steroids (Editors note from Andrew: this is ONLY a theory from Jay--and here and here Hafner denies it. NYaT is not accusing Travis Hafner of ever taking PEDs).  Much like Jose Bautista, Hafner is a guy who came out of nowhere.  Prior to his 2004 breakout season (.311 BA, 28 HR, 109 RBI) Hafner hadn't done much.  In 2003, he hit .254 with 14 HR and 40 RBI in 91 games.  Not exactly the same pace, although you can understand how he developed as a young player.  But in 2003, he hit .242 with 1 HR and 6 RBI during 70 PA's with the Rangers.  Whoa.  Not the start you'd expect from a guy who would finish 2nd in MLB in OPS just three years later (1.097).

Whatever you believe, the fact is that Hafner went from superstar to bloated, unmoveable contract in a rather short period of time.  In fact, he's still owed $13 million in each of the next two seasons, with a $13 million option ($2.75 million buyout) for 2013.  And he is on pace to play in less than a hundred games for the third straight season.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen.  Kinda makes you appreciate the longevity of sluggers such as Jim Thome and Vlad Guerrero (even unlikeable sluggers such as A-Rod and Manny), doesn't it?