The 20 worst A-Braves players: #17 Brad Komminsk

There was considerable excitement about Brad Komminsk‘s arrival, and why not. The 22-year-old dominated Triple-A pitching in 1983, batting .334 with 24 HR, 26 SB, 78 BB and only 70K’s, good for a 1.029 OPS. He was as can’t miss as they come.

But miss he did. Badly. He hit just .203 in ’84 with a .592 OPS and wasn’t much better in ’85, batting a punchless .227. He spent most of ’86 at Richmond, where he struggled mightily before mercifully being dealt to Milwaukee for Dion James (a coup, in retrospect).

Komminsk ended up with 642 AB’s as a Brave, equivalent to one full season, and hit .217 with 12 HR, a .297 OBP and .319 slugging percentage. He defines “bust.”

The 20 worst A-Braves players: #18 Bob Uecker

There’s a reason Bob Uecker is self-deprecating. He really, really sucked — especially as an Atlanta Brave.

Uecker played his first and last major league games with the franchise, debuting as a Milwaukee Brave in 1962. He was re-acquired in June 1967 from the Phillies to be Joe Torre’s back-up but ended up starting 48 games, often as Knucksie’s personal catcher. Not that he was any good at it.

The Miller Lite pitchman led NL catchers in errors (11) and passed balls (27 , 25 as a Brave) despite only 59 starts. That’s more passed balls than Eddie Perez and Charlie O’Brien allowed in their careers.

Uecker was equally inept at the plate, managing but 23 hits (18 singles) in 158 Atlanta AB’s, striking out 51 times for a .146 BA. The only thing worse than his .236 OBP was a pitcher-like .215 slugging percentage. Mercifully, the Braves released Uecker four days after the season concluded. I’m surprised it took that long.

NOTE: Not ranked in order; Uecker may well be the worst of the worst. He certainly won’t be the last catcher to make out list.