Crawdad Chronicles 61.04 - 'Dads continue to Push SS Abdul-Malik

[JimBob2232]

GM Jim Roberts has a major project on his hands - and the clock is ticking for it to pay off.

SS Tareef Abdul-Malik came to the Crawdads as a Rule 5 pickup before the 2060 aeason.

A former International Free Agent from Egypt, Abdul Malik signed a 9.5M deal with Nashville to come over as a 17 year old kid. He was immediatly thrown into rookie ball and never hit above .196 in 4 seasons with the Lynchburg Whiskeyjacks.

Never-the-less, he hit the Rule 5 draft in 2060 - and the Crawdads were impressed by his potential. Desperately needing SS help - and knowing his bat would be poor (at best) - they drafted him and shockingly made him their starting SS for most of the season. He hit .099 which is a big reason for the teams failure...but also reflects the team not having a much better option.

So natrually, having passed his one year point, the 'Dads sent him down to the minors. In AA Corpus Christie - he hit .218...the best in his career. Then in September, they called him up to the big club once again. He hit .250.

Now, 23 years old, his window is starting to close. Look for New Orleans to use a Developmental League spot on him next offseason to see if he can finally develop into someone who can be a useful middle infielder for the Crawdads down the road.