As the Stros continue their improbable push to a second straight Wild Card playoff berth, two of the team members who are most popular among the Stros’ players — shortstop Adam Everett and utility player Eric Bruntlett — are the subjects of the seventh segment in our series on the Stros’ key players. Previous posts are here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Everett came over to Houston from the Red Sox organization in the 1999 Carl Everett trade, but he lost out to Stros farmhand Julio Lugo in the minor league competition to replace the eminently forgettable Tim Bogar as the Stros’ shortstop after the disappointing 2000 season. However, Lugo had a highly-publicized spat with his wife in 2003 and was promptly exiled to Tampa Bay, so Everett was handed the job as a 26 year old rookie.

He showed promise during the 2003 season by exhibiting superior fielding skills while generating about a position average hitting line (-13 RCAA/.320 OBA/.380 SLG/.700 OPS). Then, while showing improvement at the plate during the first part of the 2004 season, Everett’s left wrist was broken in a beaning and he was not able to come back in time to play any meaningful role in that club’s historic run to the playoffs. Thus, the 2005 season is quite important for Everett, who is no longer a young player at 28 and still has not established himself as a top level National League shortstop.
Frankly, Everett’s season has been disappointing. He still is excellent defensively, but his hitting has regressed to the point that a genuine question exists whether he can be anything more than a complementary defensive player on a good hitting team, which the Stros are not. Everett’s hitting problem is twofold — (i) he does not take enough walks (only 24 in about 550 plate appearances), so his on-base average is deficient, and (ii) he has a bad habit of attempting to pull every pitch, which results in a high number of weak ground balls on outside pitches that he ought to be taking to center and right field.
Thus, Everett is not yet a part of the Berkman-Oswalt-Ensberg-Lidge nucleus that will likely keep the Stros in playoff contention over the next several seasons. Inasmuch as he is an above-average defensive player and is at least close to league position average as a hitter, Everett could still become a productive player for the Stros if he can continue to bump his power numbers (11 HR’s so far this season) and learn to generate more walks. However, he will be 29 next season, so he needs to improve those skills quickly or he will fall into the category of players who cannot be taught new tricks.
Bruntlett, on the other hand, has had a remarkable season, although perhaps because the expectations for him were much lower than Everett. For the first part of the season, Bruntlett was the player named most likely to be sent to the minors whenever a player was ready to come off of the disabled list. However, the 27 year old career infield utilityman expanded his defensive skills to play center and left field, and has done it very well. In the meantime, he has hit better than expected, has had two game winning hits, and hits above-average for his usual position, which is shortstop. It is doubtful that Bruntlett has the ability to sustain that level of hitting if he were used as a regular player, but he has proven this season that he is a valuable (and, perhaps most importantly, inexpensive) utility player. Bruntlett is one of the real nice stories for the Stros during this surprising 2005 season.
Everett and Bruntlett’s statistics are here.