Tyler Flowers
| Tyler Flowers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Flowers with the Chicago White Sox | |||
| Atlanta Braves – No. 25 | |||
| Catcher | |||
|
Born: January 24, 1986 Roswell, Georgia | |||
| |||
| MLB debut | |||
| September 3, 2009, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| MLB statistics (through April 19, 2016) | |||
| Batting average | .226 | ||
| Home runs | 46 | ||
| Runs batted in | 146 | ||
| Teams | |||
| |||
Cole Tyler Flowers (born January 24, 1986) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Chicago White Sox from 2009 to 2015.
Amateur career
Flowers attended Blessed Trinity Catholic High School a prep high school, in Roswell, Georgia before later attending Chipola College, a state college in Marianna, Florida. Jose Bautista, Russell Martin, and Steve Clevenger also are alumni of Chipola. Flowers was inducted into the Blessed Trinity school Hall of Fame.
Professional career
Minor leagues
Flowers was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 33rd round of the 2005 MLB Draft.[1]
In 2006 Flowers played 34 games played in his first professional season for the Rookie League Danville Braves. He hit .279 with 36 hits, 5 home runs and 16 RBIs playing 22 games at first and 8 as a catcher.
In 2007 he was the everyday first baseman/DH for the A-ball Rome Braves. He played in 106 games with a batting average of .298 with 116 hits (led the team), 12 homers (third most) 70 RBIs (tops on the club) and a .488 slugging percentage (third highest on the team). He started off slow in May (.238) and June (.257) before heating up in July (.352), August (.317) and September (.444)
In 2008 Flowers played for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of Advanced-A. He played 122 games, all at catcher. He had a .288 batting average, .427 on-base percentage, and .494 slugging percentage.
Chicago White Sox
On December 4, 2008, Flowers and fellow Braves prospects Brent Lillibridge, Jonathan Gilmore and Santos Rodriguez were traded to the Chicago White Sox for Javier Vázquez and Boone Logan.[2]
On September 1, 2009, Flowers was called up from AAA Charlotte Knights after hitting .297 with 15 home runs and 56 RBI between AA Birmingham Barons and AAA Charlotte Knights. He served as the Chicago White Sox third catcher. Flowers had his first major league hit on September 19, 2009 against the Kansas City Royals. In 10 games, Flowers finished the 2009 season batting .188 with no home runs and no RBIs.
Flowers started the 2010 season at AAA Charlotte. He hit .220 with 16 home runs and 53 RBI in 346 at-bats before getting another September call up. Flowers played in 8 games with the White Sox and only had 1 hit in 11 at-bats.
Flowers again started the 2011 season at AAA Charlotte. There he hit .261 with 15 home runs and 32 RBI in 222 at-bats. He was then called up in July to serve as the backup to A.J. Pierzynski after Ramón Castro went down with an injury. Flowers then became the stating catcher mid-August because of an injury to Pierzynski. Flowers hit his first Major League home run on August 13, 2011 against Luke Hochevar and the Kansas City Royals. Flowers blasted his first Major League grand slam on August 28, 2011 against Jason Vargas and the Seattle Mariners.
With the departure of veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski in the off season, Flowers became the starting catcher for the White Sox in 2013. Due to his poor play (apparently due to an injury sustained before the season began), Flowers was demoted to backup as the White Sox brought up one of their top rookie prospects, Josh Phegley. Flowers left in early September to have season-ending shoulder surgery. After the season, Flowers signed a one-year deal for $950,000 with Chicago, avoiding arbitration.[3] Flowers began and finished 2014 as Chicago's starting catcher. He played solid defense while hitting .241 with 15 home runs and 50 runs batted in.
Flowers and the White Sox on January 16, 2015 agreed to a one-year deal for $2.675 million avoiding arbitration.[4] On April 25, 2015, Flowers was fined an undisclosed amount for his role in a brawl against the Kansas City Royals but was not suspended any games.[5] The White Sox did not tender Flowers a contract for the 2016 season, making him a free agent.
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves officially signed Flowers to a two-year contract worth $5.3 million, on December 16, 2015.[6]
References
- ↑ http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/draftday/y2004/search.jsp?sc=lastName&sp=F
- ↑ White Sox acquire Tyler Flowers, Jonathan Gilmore, Brent Lillibridge and Santos Rodriguez from Atlanta Braves in exchange for Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan
- ↑ On May 26, 2014 FLowers received his first career ejection by Ron Kulpa for arguing a pitch that appeared low. Twitter / Ken_Rosenthal: Source: Tyler Flowers re-signs with #White Sox, one year, $950,000.
- ↑ "Samardzija, Flowers reach one-year deals". ESPN. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ↑ "Six players suspended after Royals-Sox brawl. Flowers fine undisclosed amount but not suspended.". MLB.com. MLB.com. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
- ↑ Bowman, Mark (December 16, 2015). "Braves make deal with catcher Flowers official". MLB.com. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)