Player Profile 1: Chase Utley

By: Matt Davis

Who’s a three time Silver Slugger award winner and World Series champion? That would be the second baseman for the Philadelphia Philles Chase Utley.

Chase (Cameron) grew up in Long Island, California were he played as a star at Long Beach Polytechnic High School. After earning his degree he moved on to collage. He was accepted into UCLA and played baseball there for three years. On his third year of collage he combined playing on the UCLA Bruins and Cotuit Ketleers (a amateur baseball league team). Chase played for three other minor league teams before breaking through to the Philadelphia Philles.

In Chase’s first Major League game he recorded his first hit, and was it a big one. He hit a grand slam which was four of six runs his team scored on a win versus the San Deigo Padres on August 1^st, 2003. He was bouncing from the minors to majors until 2005. The spot was almost clear for him to be the starting second baseman exept for one man. That man is Placido Polanco. To Chase’s luck Placido was traded to the Detroit Tigers mid-way through the 2005 season.

In 2006 Utley proved himself as one of the best batting second basemen in the National League. That year he had a .309 batting average and a record tieing 35 game hitting streak. With those numbers he earned the 2006 NL Silver Slugger award.

On January 21^st 2007 he got married and also signed a new 7-year $85 million dollar contract. For the second consecutive season he won the NL Silver Slugger award. This year with a .332 batting average and 103 RBIs.

2008 was by far Utleys greatest season. At the end of April he had 11 homers and the Phillies first winning April since 2003. For the record breaking third time in a row, Chase Utley won the NL Silver Slugger award. By the end of the 2008 season the Phillies swept in the Divison and NL Championship series. They ended up beating the Tampa Bay Rays and becoming world champs!

A quote from his manager, Charlie Manuel. “He is always the first to show up and last to leave. I just like his style.”