Michael Bourn

Michael Bourn
Atlanta Braves – No. 24
Center fielder
Born: December 27, 1982 (1982-12-27) Houston, Texas
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 30, 2006 for the Philadelphia Phillies
Career statistics (through 2011)
Batting average	.271
Home runs	13
Runs batted in	158
On-base percentage	.336
Stolen bases	234
Teams
Philadelphia Phillies (2006–2007) Houston Astros (2008–2011) Atlanta Braves (2011-present)
Career highlights and awards
2× Gold Glove Award winner (2009, 2010) Fielding Bible Award winner (2010) Stolen Base Champion All Star Selection (2010)

Michael Ray Bourn (born December 27, 1982) is an American professional baseball outfielder with the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball. He serves as the Atlanta Braves leadoff hitter. He as also been a member of the United States national baseball team.

Bourn was raised in Houston, where he attended Nimitz High School, graduating in 2000. He later played college baseball at Houston as a scholarship player, before being drafted into the Major League. In 2009 and in 2010, Bourn won consecutive Gold Glove Awards.

Collegiate career

Bourn earned an NCAA Division I baseball scholarship at the University of Houston, where he played for three seasons. While he displayed little power, collecting only two home runs and 23 extra-base hits in 644 at-bats, he won attention from professional scouts by posting a .431 on-base percentage and stealing 90 bases in 119 attempts.

Professional career

Philadelphia Phillies (2003–2007)

Bourn playing for the Reading Phillies, AA affiliates of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2006

In June of 2003, immediately following his junior year season, Bourn was drafted in the 4th round (115th overall) of baseball's first-year player draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, who were attempting that season to stockpile players with speed. Bourn signed shortly after the draft and was assigned to play for the Batavia Muckdogs of the short-season New York - Penn League.

In 2004, Bourn was the starting center fielder with the Lakewood BlueClaws of the Low-A South Atlantic League. Bourn ended the season with a .433 on-base percentage and an OPS of .903, earning 85 bases on balls in 109 games. He also stole 57 bases in 63 attempts – a success rate of over ninety percent. Following the season, he was named to Baseball America's Top Ten Prospects list for the Phillies organization.

Bourn was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons of the International League late in July 2006. In early September 2006, Bourn took a brief hiatus from his professional obligations to play for the USA Olympic qualifying team, for whom he hit two home runs to help Team USA defeat Cuba in the gold-medal game. Bourn was then promoted to the expanded major league roster. He was sent to home plate to bat only 11 times during the month of September, but was used frequently as a pinch runner as the Phillies competed for the National League's wild card position (ultimately coming up two games short) to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Disappointingly, he stole only one base in three attempts during the month, and was memorably tagged out after accidentally oversliding second base on a steal attempt in a late-season loss against the Washington Nationals on September 26, 2006.

Michael Bourn on April 8, 2009

After a strong performance during spring training in 2007, Bourn won a position on the Phillies' major league roster to begin the year. He was used sparingly, appearing primarily as a frequent defensive replacement in left field for Pat Burrell.

On July 27, Bourn was in the Phillies' starting lineup for the first time due to injuries to both Chase Utley and Aaron Rowand, and had his first 4-hit game in an 8–1 rout of the Pirates, in which he scored two runs.

Bourn was third among all NL rookies with 18 stolen bases, and was caught only once. He batted .277.

On July 15, 2007, Bourn hit his first career home run as the Phillies recorded their 10,000th franchise loss by losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 10–2.

Houston Astros (2008–2011)

On November 7, 2007 Bourn was traded along with Geoff Geary and Michael Costanzo to the Houston Astros for Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett. Houston's General Manager, Ed Wade, declared Bourn as the 2008 Astros' leadoff hitter and starting center fielder, effectively moving Hunter Pence to right field.

Bourn stole 41 bases in 2008. Among players who had enough plate appearances to qualify, Bourn's OPS was the worst in the Majors in 2008. He finished the season with a .229 batting average and a major league-low .288 on-base percentage and a major league-low OPS of .588, while striking out 111 times in his 467 at-bats.

In 2009 spring training, Bourn led all players in steals, with 13, while being caught twice. Bourn had a major turnaround year, as he finished with 61 stolen bases, which was tops in the National League and second in the Majors only to the 70 steals by Jacoby Ellsbury, to go along with a .285 BA and a .354 OBP in 157 games, as well as 27 doubles and 12 triples (tied for second most in the Majors with Stephen Drew) in 606 ABs. Bourn's OPS went from .588 in 2008 to .738 in 2009, which was the eighth best improvement in the Majors. His much improved play prompted former manager Cecil Cooper to informally name him the club MVP before he was fired. The Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America formally named Bourn the Astros 2009 team MVP shortly after the end of the season.

Changing his uniform number to 21, Bourn followed up his breakout season with another successful year in 2010, being elected to the National League All-Star team and was in the outfield when the final out of the game was recorded. Bourn suffered an oblique injury on September 19 while swinging at a pitch, causing him to miss the final 3 weeks of the season. He finished the year hitting .265 with a .341 on-base percentage and a .346 slugging percentage. He won a Fielding Bible Award for his statistically-based defensive excellence in center field during the year. He was later awarded his second consecutive Gold Glove award on November 10.

Atlanta Braves (2011-present)

In July 2011, prior to the trade deadline, Bourn was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Jordan Schafer, Brett Oberholtzer, Paul Clemens and Juan Abreu. Bourn finished 2011 with a career best .294 batting average and 61 stolen bases (39 with the Astros and 22 with the Braves).

See also

• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases

External links

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

Preceded by Willy Taveras

National League Stolen Base Champion 2009 - 2011

Succeeded by incumbent