Brignac To Debut At SS

Posted Jul 4, 2008 by Aaron Knox

Updated Jul 4, 2008 at 01:02 PM

By CARTER GADDIS
The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com, WFLA

The KC Star wondered whether former Rays OF Joey Gathright thought he’d receive a round of boos when he makes his appearance this afternoon at Tropicana Field. The question is, why would anybody boo him? He didn’t do enough to make much of a mark when he was here, and he is the reason the Rays now have one of the most reliable left-handed relievers in the AL, J.P. Howell.

Gathright was a fun player to watch when he was here, because he could run like the wind. Besides, he could jump over cars!

The Rays apparently didn’t call up 22-year-old SS Reid Brignac just for depth. He’s in the lineup today batting ninth after arriving on a flight from Durham this morning, along with fellow Bulls callup Ben Zobrist.

Tampa Bay’s second-round pick in the 2004 draft has made a fairly steady climb up the minor league chain. After batting .288 with 57 HR and 271 RBI in 416 minor-league games from Princeton to Double-A Montgomery, he was batting .265 with seven HR and 38 RBI in 78 games for Durham. With starter Jason Bartlett out with a knee injury, Brignac figures to get plenty of looks against right-handed pitchers (Zobrist is a switch-hitter and might play against lefties). We’ll get confirmation of Joe Maddon’s plans for the two infielders in a while.

Brignac said that since his relatively brief look in major-league spring training, he’s worked on his consistency at the plate and in the field.

“I keep working to keep improving my game, defensively as well,” Brignac said. “That’s probably a big part of the reason I got called up. I’m making all the routine plays and everything.”

Here is today’s Rays lineup:

Iwamura, 2B
Crawford, LF
Upton, CF
Pena, 1B
Longoria, 3B
Floyd, DH
Navarro, C
Hinske, RF
Brignac, SS

Jackson, P