A year ago Mike Aviles was an obscure minor league infielder. Today, he's a fixture of the Royals' future and the subject of more fantasy baseball mailbag questions than 95% of the people on the planet. Today, he's 28 years old.
Mike was born on March 13, 1981, in New York, NY.
Last season, Aviles probably should have won the AL Rookie of the Year Award, and was a borderline down-ballot MVP candidate, hitting .325/.354/.480, with good defense at shortstop. He was 26th in the AL in total VORP alone, in various position adjusted stats, he was much higher.
Of course, the amazing thing is that Tony Pena Jr. had to hit under .170 for three months for any of this to happen. If Pena hits, say, .210, I'm convinced Aviles maybe gets 75 PAs last season.
Happy Birthday, Mike!