Sean Casey
Born July 2, 1974 in
Willinboro, New Jersey
The Cleveland Indians took Sean in the 1995 draft during the second round from the University of Richmond. During his final year of NCAA baseball he took home the Division I batting crown with a .481 average. In Casey's stint with Cleveland's farm system he quickly surpassed top prospects Richie Sexson and Russel Branyon by the middle of the 1997 season.
A high-average strong situational hitter notorious for clutch hitting and smooth swing, Casey is considered one of the best first basemen in the MLB. Casey has spent most of his major league career in Cincinnati after being traded as a prospect from the Indians for pitcher Dave Burba during the 1997 season. A perennial .300 hitter, Casey is always a threat when there are men on base.
For all Casey's strengths one area he certainly lacks in is speed around the base paths. Casey is a classic example of the player who looks like he is really chugging away until you look at his feet and see much progress he is really making on the ground. This feature makes Casey's high average hitting even more impressive as he almost never beats out a throw for a single (See: Suzuki, Ichiro).
Known to players and fans alike as "The Mayor" for his ridiculous amount of banter with the endless stream of batters that make it on base via the Red's horrendous pitching. Casey is notorious for placing a priority on picking the brains of the games great players even sometimes at the expense of field positioning. First-timers to the mayors corner are often unnerved by his proximity to their faces while talking, but some have gotten so wrapped up in conversation with him they are picked off in mid-sentence.