On Board with John Hattig
Catcher Erik Kratz was the poll's landslide winner.
But "On Board" ponders, how exactly do you measure the strength of a man?
Are we talking pure physical strength? Or can you include personal strengths, like the effect you have on others, when considering one's overall might?
Can you count the weight of an entire country carried on your shoulders?
While Kratz may be the closest thing the Chiefs have to bodybuilder Charles Atlas, he doesn't share the burden of the mythical Atlas who held up the heavens, so we'll table his story until next week.
Chiefs third baseman and Guam native John Hattig on the other hand is like a real-life Atlas, lifting an entire island every day and therefore earning "On Board's" designation as the strongest man in the Chiefs lineup.
Don't think Hattig is some sort of Hercules? Wondering how he does it? Read on!
On Aug. 17, 2006, the Toronto Blue Jays promoted Hattig from Syracuse to play in the big leagues. Later that day, he became the first player from Guam to play in a Major League game when he suited up for the Jays against the Baltimore Orioles.
Hattig, better known as "J.R." to coaches, family and friends, made Guam's Pacific Daily News' front page headline that day.
That accomplishment alone was enormous - it became the top local story of 2006 for the Guam paper.
"It's a great honor to be the top story of the year," a humble Hattig told the Pacific Daily News from his hometown in Piti earlier this year.
"Tons of times when I'm struggling, I think back about all the kids that I'm representing. All the adults that didn't get to play at a higher level. The 150,000 people on that little tiny island of Guam, it weighs on me a lot. I think about it in the back of my head all the time," Hattig told "On Board" recently.
Hattig's journey to the big leagues also inspired the local television station KUAM to run an hour-long documentary, called "Making it to the Majors: The J.R. Hattig Story."
The story details Hattig's life from little league to his first hit with the Blue jays. You can watch the entire hour by clicking on this site: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3223295709484070408&q=Hattig
Hattig was born in Tamuning, Guam, on February 27, 1980 and now resides in Piti, a small town just down the West Coast.
Piti is approximately 16,644 miles from Syracuse - or 22 hours, 20 minutes by plane.
While trying to research the distance from Syracuse, "On Board" turned to Continental Airlines International Reservations in Houston, Texas.
The gentleman that answered the phone was very helpful in acquiring the information needed. The story took a sharp curve at that point as the man on the other end of the phone turned out not only to be originally from Guam, but also a huge fan of Hattig who follows his career on an everyday basis.
"I'm a big Hattig fan," John Blue, the reservation specialist, said. "I follow his progress daily. I hope his rise to the Major League level helps make Guam like the Dominican Republic and opens the door for a stream of baseball talent from our island."
"Guys like Mr. Blue and the kids on Guam look up to me as a role model," Hattig said. "I don't know if anyone would understand it, but seeing the effect and magnitude after making it to the Major Leagues and then going home and seeing how that affected people brought tears to my eyes."
"He may not be the last," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "He may spark a little more interest (in baseball in Guam)."
"It made feel good that I could go out and become the first ever Guamanian Major Leaguer," Hattig said. "Just to have something to have the kids to look up to as they go through their steps toward professional baseball."
Guam's only other native son to play professional baseball was Keith Hattig, John's uncle.
Keith, a former Angels' prospect, was once dubbed the "Michael Jordan of Guam baseball". However, a serious groin injury forced him to leave the game before he could get out of Single-A ball.
"He called up the same scout that signed him, and said 'Come take a look at my nephew'," John told minor league news during his days with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs. "At the time, I was only a right-handed hitter and I was playing shortstop. He came out, I had two tryouts, and he liked what he saw."
Boston Red Sox scout Wally Kamatsubara, who had originally signed Keith Hattig, made his way back to Guam to work out John at his uncle's urging and liked enough of what he saw to write a positive report.
So in 1998, the Boston Red Sox made John Hattig a 25th round selection in the June draft. He already had a leg up on his uncle, who was an undrafted free agent.
For Hattig, with just one year of high school baseball, his odyssey had just begun.
After several successful years with various Red Sox Single-A clubs, Hattig started the 2004 season with the Sea Dogs and was on his way to a big season, hitting just under .300 and showing excellent power. He had 21 doubles and 12 home runs in two thirds of a season when Boston traded him to Toronto for Terry Adams.
Hattig finished the year with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats and dropped some walks, but added more power - ten home runs in forty games.
After showing the Blue Jays that he possessed an ability to hit .300 (almost), a good eye, and good power, from the time he was acquired to his promotion to the big leagues last year, does Hattig still fit into Toronto's plans?
"At the end of the year last year," Hattig said convincingly, "with the taste of the big leagues I spent the off-season preparing to go back."
As of press time, the switch-hitting Hattig was hitting .237 (37-for-156) so far this season. He has four home runs and has driven in 24 runs, the latter number good for third on the team. He has also walked 17 times, but struck out 44.
"I still haven't mastered both sides of the plate," Hattig said. "I don't know if I ever will. It is one of the hardest things to be a switch hitter and work on two swings. My bread and butter is hitting from the left side because I'm going to face more right-handed pitching, but my strength is from the right side."
Hattig also has to get his defense in gear. Currently with a team-high 11 errors he knows his defense needs improvement.
"Defense is one of my weaker points right now," Hattig said. "I need to stay consistent with my footwork and delivering good quality throws to whatever bag."
It wasn't a shock to Hattig that when Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus went down with an injury earlier this season that Toronto dipped into the Chiefs infield and brought up Hattig's best friend Ryan Roberts.
"I wasn't playing well enough to get the call," Hattig said. "They needed a hot bat. Roberts was swinging the bat well at the time and I wasn't. That's the nature of the business."
Hattig claims not to be bitter about being passed over, even after all the fuss of last September's call-up.
"It was kind of a wake-up call," Hattig said of the Roberts call-up. "I didn't think I was going to get the call either way. We all actually play for 29 other teams here in baseball, either for the Blue Jays (or) perhaps somebody else. It's great to be in the Major Leagues, but I feel my value as a player is to play every day. I'd like to have 500 at-bats a year and show what I can do throughout a course of a season."
While Hattig looks to have a good season to put him in the Jays plans for 2007, and earn a possible return promotion to Toronto at the end of the year, some scouts still question whether Hattig can make it in the big leagues. A strong, injury-free, season at Syracuse will elevate the 27 year-old's reputation.
In the meantime he will continue to enjoy being the "BMOI" (Big Man on Island) of Guam.
"J.R. is Top Dog," Ray Aguon, one of Hattig's former Guam Pepsi Giants coaches said during the television documentary. "He's shown a lot of power and maturity over the years. He's a trailblazer for everyone else to follow."
"It was a great feeling to go back and hear all the people support me," Hattig smiled. The way they followed my career, it was an awesome feeling. This off-season was really big. Sponsorship deals, personal appearances, it felt great to be the top story."
"It's such a far-out country that you wouldn't think baseball would be there," Hattig said. "The level of baseball is not as high as you would play in the states. I'd never seen a guy throw over 80 mph, and that is one of the odds I had to overcome. I also had to learn how to switch-hit. It was a different style of baseball being played. Here you play six to seven months out of the year where in Guam you may play two months. Baseball was not a life for us it was more recreational."
It's not a stretch to think that Hattig "gets it". He knows where he comes from and where he's going and is still doing everything possible to reach his goals. He also knows that to give has its rewards and has started a baseball clinic, now in its third year, that is held during January in Guam.
"I wanted to give the kids an idea of how it was done in the states," Hattig said. "It's a place where parents can drop their kids off and learn some baseball. I work with some of local Guam baseball talent to try and pass the knowledge of professional baseball to the kids and show them how it's done."
The clinic will cost $25 per child, less for a family of four, and even less if an entire team signs up. The clinic comes with a meal, t-shirt and hat. Kids have a chance to win prizes at the end of the day and are able to hang out and enjoy themselves in addition to learning about baseball. Any money made goes to support a local baseball team or a community to help fix a field, bleachers or scoreboard.
"It all basically goes back to the kids," Hattig said. "That's one objective I had when I went into doing these clinics."
So after being raised by his grandparents, Jack and Antonia Hattig, for a good portion of his life, John now gets to spend the off-season hanging with his Dad, John Sr., and his uncles.
"My grandmother was a great lady," Hattig said remembering his fond childhood memories with his grandmother who passed some 15 years ago. "My uncles are like brothers to me."
Now we get it, too. In the end it's his family that gives John Hattig the strength to carry a nation on his shoulders.
Ed Gonser is a contributing writer for SyracuseChiefs.com. His "On Board" column profiles a Chiefs player or coach every week throughout the season.