Sample Player Profile Page

UGGLA, DAN


Nickname:	N/A	Position:	2B
Home:	Columbia, Tennessee	Team:	Retired
Height:	5' 11"	Bats:	R
Weight:	205	Throws:	R
DOB:	3/11/1980	Agent:	Terry Bross-Gaylord Sports Mgmt.
Birth City:	Louisville, Kentucky	Draft:	D'Backs #11 - 2001 - Out of Univ. of Memphis
Uniform #:	N/A		D'Backs #11 - 2001 - Out of Univ. of Memphis

YR	LEA	TEAM	SAL(K)	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG
2002	MWL	SO. BEND		53	171	16	34	5	1	2	10	0		23	34			.199
2002	CAL	LANCASTER		54	184	21	42	7	2	3	16	3		21	51			.228
2003	CAL	LANCASTER		134	534	104	155	31	7	23	90	24		46	105			.290
2004	CAL	LANCASTER		37	140	29	47	13	3	6	38	2		17	21			.336
2004	TL	EL PASO		83	294	29	76	12	2	4	30	10		15	55			.259
2005	SL	TENNESSEE		135	498	88	148	33	3	21	87	15		52	103			.297
2006	NL	MARLINS		154	611	105	172	26	7	27	90	6	6	48	123	.339	.480	.282
2007	NL	MARLINS	$392.00	159	632	113	155	49	3	31	88	2	1	68	167	.326	.479	.245
2008	NL	MARLINS	$417.00	146	531	97	138	37	1	32	92	5	5	77	171	.360	.514	.260
2009	NL	MARLINS	$5,350.00	158	564	84	137	27	1	31	90	2	1	92	150	.354	.459	.243
2010	NL	MARLINS	$7,800.00	159	589	100	169	31	0	33	105	4	1	78	149	.369	.508	.287
2011	NL	BRAVES	$9,147.00	161	600	88	140	22	1	36	82	1	3	62	156	.311	.453	.233
2012	NL	BRAVES	$13,147.00	154	523	86	115	29	0	19	78	4	3	94	168	.348	.384	.220
2013	IL	GWINNETT		2	7	1	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	4	.286	.714	.286
2013	NL	BRAVES	$13,147.00	136	448	60	80	10	3	22	55	2	0	77	171	.309	.362	.179
2014	NL	BRAVES	$13,147.00	48	130	13	21	3	0	2	10	0	0	10	40	.241	.231	.162
2014	NL	GIANTS		4	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	.083	.000	.000
2014	PCL	FRESNO		2	7	1	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	.444	.429	.286
2015	CAR	POTOMAC		2	7	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.143	.143	.143
2015	EL	HARRISBURG		3	10	3	3	0	0	1	4	0	0	1	3	.417	.600	.300
2015	SAL	HAGERSTOWN		2	6	1	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	3	.286	.333	.167
2015	NL	NATIONALS	$13,250.00	67	120	12	22	4	2	2	16	0	1	19	40	.298	.300	.183

Uggla has been saddled with the nickname "Ugly" through his life, and it has carried into the Marlins' locker room when he first came to the Majors.

"It doesn't bother me," said Uggla�whose name traces back to Swedish roots. "You get used to it." Dan's family has roots in Sweden, and their name means "owl" and the name, tracing it back to the 1300s, is descended from a long line of noblemen.

Mispronouncing Dan's name is no surprise to anyone in the Uggla family. Mention it to John Uggla and he laughs over the phone from his Columbia, Tenn., home. He and his ex-wife raised two boys, Dan and older brother Mike, and they have heard just about everything possible.

In addition to the innocent mistakes, there have been catcalls from drunk frat boys in the stands, cackling insults from the bleachers, corny puns from broadcasters. Recently, the Mets' TV crew was yukking it up at the new kid's expense.

"They were making some comment on how Daniel had to live with that name," says John Uggla, a technical consultant who retired in 2001 after 30 years at General Electric, "how his teammates were calling him [Ugly] and all that kind of stuff. It's not really true, but they can say whatever they want."

Annoying, right?

"Yeah," says the elder Uggla, 59, "but it makes 'em tough." (Mike Berardino-South Florida Sun Sentinel-4/21/06)
Uggla went to one of Bucky Dent's youth baseball camps when he was 13 years old.
Growing up in Tennessee, Dan was very athletic and played many sports. But baseball was where he showed the most ability, and he was constantly encouraged to build on that talent. With the support of his parents, Uggla found success in high school baseball, as well as in college at Memphis before being drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2001.

But, Dan says, "I was never scouted in high school. I was very bad for two years in college. And people routinely notice when you're a shorter player. They tend to use that against you."
In the Arizona Fall League after the 2005 season, Dan hit .304-7-22, which got the Marlins' attention. They chose him in the Rule 5 Draft from the D'Backs.
Before 2006 spring training, Baseball America rated Dan as 29th-best prospect in the Marlins' organization.
March 30, 2006: Dan and his fiancee, Tara Sims, celebrated the birth of their son, Jackson Daniel.

And on June 4, 2008, Tara gave birth to their second child.
Uggla has excellent makeup. He puts everything he has in a game. In fact, he even gives 100 percent in practice. He is a gamer. You never see lack of effort.
POWER HITTING INFIELDER
On June 2, 2009, Dan became the quickest second baseman to reach 100 home runs. He did it at age 29 in his 502 game at second base.
As of September 9, 2009, Dan had homered in an amazing 24 MLB parks in his four year-career.
Uggla was the first second baseman in MLB history to reach the 20 homer mark in each of his first five seasons. Joe Gordon had a stretch of four a row from 1938-41.
On July 31, 2010 Uggla belted a home run off Kevin Correia of the Padres, giving him 144 in his career, which passed Mike Lowell (143) for most in Marlin history.
On September 13, 2010 Uggla became the first player in MLB history whose primary position is second base, to hit 30 home runs in four successive seasons.
Dan was the only second baseman to hit at least 30 homers in five consecutive seasons (2007-11).
July 13, 2014: The Braves suspended the struggling second baseman for their final game before the All-Star break. The team announced the suspension on its Twitter feed, with no further explanation. Manager Fredi Gonzalez also declined to elaborate when asked about the punishment before the Braves' game
In an interview early in 2015 Spring Training, it was discussed that Uggla's struggles on the field coincided with getting hit in the head with a pitch in 2012 and '13, and he was thought to be suffering from issues related to concussions. Uggla said, however, that he never had a concussion, but suffered from oculomotor dysfunction, an eye-tracking problem that was inhibiting his ability to focus on one object. He would pick up the ball out of the pitcher's hand, step and immediately lose track of the ball, not picking it up again until it was near home plate. He said he later discovered his vision was going from 20/15 to 20/100 when he moved his head.
Uggla said he would have not even known he had the problem had it not been the recommendation of former Major Leaguer Marquis Grissom, who went through a similar decline before linking up with Dr. Robert Donatelli, a Las Vegas orthopedist. Grissom recommended Donatelli to Uggla in August of last year.
Three days later, Uggla went to Vegas. "I hope I'm messed up so you can fix me," he recalled telling Donatelli.
After an offseason of treatment, Uggla saw improvements in his vision, and early in Nationals camp, he felt as if he was seeing the ball better.

"Time will tell with that," he said. "I know how I feel and I'm not going to blame the last couple years on [the eye injury]." (Collier - mlb.com - 2/22/15)
August 14, 2015: Nationals second baseman Dan Uggla received a nice gift from the Giants when Giants general manager Bobby Evans presented him with a World Series ring.
Uggla was with the Giants last year for two weeks before he was released in early August. Uggla has known since the offseason he was going to get the ring. They even asked about ring size.
"It's awesome. I know I was here for [two weeks], but I got an awesome ring out of it," Uggla said. "It's something no one can take away from me. I don't feel I'm deserving of it, but I was part of the organization in a short period of time." (B Ladson - MLB.com - August 14, 2015)

TRANSACTIONS

June 2001: Dan signed with the Diamondbacks, via scout Scott Jaster, after the team drafted him in the 11th round.
December 8, 2005: The Marlins picked Uggla out of the D'Backs organization in the Rule 5 Draft.
January 20, 2009: Uggla ($5.35 million) and the Marlins ($4.4 million) filed for salary arbitration.

And they went to the table, with Dan winning his salary arbitration hearing and earning $5.35 million for 2009.
January 18, 2010: Dan and the Marlins avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $7.8 million contract.
November 16, 2010: The Braves sent infielder Omar Infante and lefty reliever Mike Dunn to the Marlins, acquiring Uggla.
January 5, 2011: The Braves and Uggla agreed on a five-year, $62 million contract extension.

But on July 18, 2014, the Braveds released Dan. It was just five days after suspending the slumping slugger for what manager Fredi Gonzalez called "an internal matter."
In his fourth season with the Braves, the 34-year-old Uggla was batting .162 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 48 games and 130 at-bats. He was still owed over $18 million over the '14 and 2015 seasons.

July 21, 2014: Uggla signed with the Giants organization.

August 1, 2014: The Giants released Dan.
December 26, 2014: Uggla signed with the Nationals organization, with an invite to spring training.

PERSONAL:

Uggla is pronounced UH-glah.
Dan has developed into a strong run producer. He is a skillful batter who hits for power and a good batting average. But he still strikes out too much, mostly when his swing gets a tad long, putting him behind on a good fastball.
Uggla's power numbers suggest he isn't a prototypical No. 2 hitter, but it's a role he has filled nicely. Uggla isn't one to lay down a bunt, but he helps Florida put up runs by advancing runners when necessary.
"Anytime there's a runner on first, whoever it is, I'm basically going to give them a chance to steal a base—whether it's taking a strike or taking a few pitches," Uggla said. "And if they're on second, obviously I want to get them over to third."
This righthanded batter's home runs usually come against righthanded pitchers.
Dan swings as hard as anyone in the game—every time. He swings like a big beer league softball player, trying to hit the ball has hard and as far as he can. The "caveman approach."
Or as Braves pitcher Will Ohman says, "His strength is, he takes an absolute porn hack."
Uggla strikes out a lot—his swing-from-the-heels approach sending him back to the bench in a hurry quite often.
Uggla has excellent pull power, but he can also hit it out to right-centerfield.
Dan has a bat wiggle that he has no explanation for, other than it makes him feel comfortable at the plate. He has had the wiggle since 2004.
In 2006, Uggla set a couple of all-time Major League records. He hit the most home runs by a rookie second baseman in Major League history. Joe Gordon hit 24 with the Yankees in 1938.
Secondly, Uggla and Josh Willingham are the second pair of rookie teammates in league history to hit 25 or more homers. The first pair was Al Rosen (37) and Luke Easter (28) with the Indians in 1950.
In 2006, Dan set the Marlins franchise rookie record for home runs, with 27.
In 2007, under Marlins hitting coach Jim Presley, Dan began taking more of the outside pitches he was getting to the opposite field.
"Presley told me I really needed to concentrate on staying closed and try to drive the ball to the middle and right side of the field," Uggla said. "That's when I always get in trouble, when I start cheating and trying to hit home runs, rather than just letting it happen naturally. I'll open up and have no shot at anything away. That also makes me take my eyes off the ball, and I start swinging at bad pitches."
On September 5, 2009, Dan became the first Marlins player in club history to record 20-plus home runs in each of his first four seasons.
September 2009: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Uggla is the third player in Major League history who is primarily plays second base to have four straight years of at least 25 homers. He joins Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg (1989-92) and Alfonso Soriano (2002-05).
He also became the first second baseman to begin his career with four consecutive 25-home run seasons.
May 16, 2010: Uggla hit his 130th career home run that put him in third place in Marlin franchise history, behind Mike Lowell (143) and Miguel Cabrera (138).
From July through August 14, 2011, Uggla had a 33-game hitting streak, the longest in the Majors in five years, when Jimmy Rollins had a 38-game streak for the Phillies.
Dan was hitting only .173 when he started the streak on July 5. He has raised his average to .231. Uggla had 15 homers and 32 RBIs in the streak.
Uggla is the all-time leader in home runs for the Marlins, and is the only second baseman in MLB history to hit at least 30 home runs in four consecutive seasons. He also holds the Atlanta Braves record for longest hitting streak.
Uggla battled blurred vision throughout most of the 2013 season and missed a little more than two weeks after undergoing LASIK surgery in August. But Uggla does not believe his eyes were the primary reason he struggled at the plate.
Instead he blames bad habits, which began to form after the first two months of the 2012 season. Too often, Uggla found himself leaning on his front foot or left off-balance because his head was moving too much as he prepared to swing. "Everything was so rushed," Uggla said. "I didn't have any of my legs because I was out on my front foot so bad. I want to get back to my legs, where I have a base, because that is where my swing starts. For whatever reason, I got into some bad habits and I couldn't fix it. I just went into a tailspin."
Uggla's struggles actually date back to early June of 2012, approximately a month before he assumed the honor of being elected to serve as the NL's starting second baseman in the All-Star Game. In the 129 games, Uggla played from July 5, 2011 -- the day he began a 33-game hitting streak -- through June 4, 2012 -- the day he highlighted a four-hit performance with a pair of homers against his former Marlins teammate, Uggla batted .286 with 32 homers and a .917 OPS.
"Just like anything else in life, you've got to deal with it like a man and put it behind you," Uggla said. "You don't necessarily forget about it. But you put it behind you and use it in a positive way."After looking at video during the winter before 2014 spring training, Uggla determined to quiet his swing he needed to begin crouching a little more like he did during his 2006 rookie season. He began working on regaining this stance during his offseason hitting sessions.
Along with being confident that he has a better feel for the mechanics of his swing, Uggla appears ready to distance himself from his recent miseries and be fueled by the pain the end of last year brought."Obviously, there was a lot of anger and a lot of other emotions going when that all happened," Uggla said. "But you've got to live with it and deal with it." (Bowman - mlb.com - 2/18/14)
2014 Spring Training: As Dan Uggla entered what would prove to be the most agonizing and painful season of his career last year (in 2013), he defiantly attempted to convince himself that the mechanical flaws that had doomed him during the Grapefruit League season would not be a problem once the regular season began.
Six months later, as he dealt with the embarrassment of being left off Atlanta's National League Division Series roster, Uggla had no choice but to realize that his playing career could soon be over if he did not spend the winter months retooling his swing from scratch.
"I could always hit," Uggla said. "The only thing I had to worry about was keeping my shoulder closed and landing square. That is the only thing I ever had to worry about. I never had to worry about hitting a fastball or a slider. I could do it. Once that stopped happening, I was like, 'Well, I don't know what's going on.'
"Everybody was like, 'Keep your shoulder square and stop falling off the ball.' I was like, 'How do you do that? How do you land with your hips square?' I had to go back to the basics and re-teach myself how to hit because I was so messed up."
Given that Uggla has batted .185 in the past 236 games he has played dating back to June 5, 2012, there was reason to remain skeptical when Uggla arrived for Spring Training in 2014 and said he had made the necessary adjustments.
"He did everything he had to do this winter," Braves hitting coach Greg Walker said. "When he came in here, you could see the difference. Everything was flowing, and he looked like Dan Uggla again. We got excited early on, and then you said, 'Is it going to hold up when games begin?' and it did. He's just looking more and more dangerous. He looks like Dan Uggla."
Spring 2015: With sharper vision, Uggla has a case to make for the Nats. One of Dan's biggest issues while struggling during the 2013 and 2014 seasons has been his inability to put the ball in play. The strikeout totals were astonishing -- his 217 strikeouts in 188 games since the start of the 2013 season were more than his total of hits (101) and walks (88) combined.

But after correcting an issue with his eyes in the offseason, Uggla is tracking the ball better this spring, hitting over .300. Yes, it is Spring Training and the sample size is small, but the Nationals are impressed with what they have seen from Uggla this month.

"His track record speaks for itself," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "He's got power. He's got the ability to be a dominant big league second baseman. So he's a good player, and he's worked hard." (J Collier - MLB.com March 27, 2015)
As of the start of the 2016 season, Uggla's career Major League stats were: .241 batting average, 235 homeruns with 706 RBI's in 4,759 at-bats.

BATTING:

Uggla does a solid job, not a great job, at second base.

Dan has soft hands and good instincts.
Marlins infield coach Perry Hill basically did a major defensive makeover on Uggla, starting in 2006 spring training.

"He worked with me every day in spring training," Uggla said. "Every aspect of defense, not just ground balls. Where to play certain hitters, how to do rundowns, how to cover bunt plays. Anything defense-wise."

Hill changed Dan's footwork, his angle in preparing to field a ball. And they talked about the mental side of the game; being prepared for every situation.
"Dan has a tremendous work ethic," Hill said. "And he is able to process what you want and repeat it quickly. A lot of things in spring training were new to him, but he figured it out quickly. He made himself a better defensive player."
All the work Uggla has put in has given him a load of confidence in his defensive ability. He wants the ball to be hit to him.

FIELDING:

Dan is a good baserunner.

RUNNING:

2005: Uggla played most of the year with a black, blue, and purple bruise covering most of his right thigh, which he got from repeatedly diving for balls.
June 27, 2008: Uggla tried to stretch a single into a double in the fourth, hurting himself as he pulled up to go back to first base. He was tagged out hobbling in the baseline and limped back to the dugout. X-rays were negative but he sustained a left ankle sprain, missing almost two weeks of action.
September 25, 2012: Uggla suffered a laceration on the first knuckle of his right index finger after reaching into a tub of ice to grab a beer during the Braves' playoff-clinching celebration. It required three staples on the knuckle to close the wound. But he played through the injury.
August 13-28, 2013: Dan was on the D.L. after undergoing LASIK eye surgery. Uggla had battled eye problems throughout the season and has experimented with contact lenses. Dan said the eye surgery "was a mutual decision." Before, he had hoped to postpone the procedure until the offseason.
"Obviously, I don't want to go on the DL whatsoever, but at the same time we've got to do what's best for the team right now," he said.
"I've been struggling pretty bad and battling with the contacts and grinding with these things day in and day out. I think the best thing to do it go ahead and so it now."
August 8-Sept. 1, 2015: Uggla was on the D.L. with back spasms.

CAREER INJURY REPORT: