While perusing the Philadelphia Inquirer on the morning of May 2, something interesting popped up—the obituary of Raul Ibanez. The celebrated outfielder and former All-Star was apparently dead at age 39, although details of his passing were largely unknown. It seemed like an appropriate time to look back on the storied career of this once celebrated ballplayer.
Ibanez actually broke into the Major Leagues in 1996 during a brief August call-up, going hitless in the only four games in which he appeared. The following season, he got another cup of coffee, playing in 11 games, eventually registering his first big league hit and home run. His games played increased ever so slightly each of the next few seasons, from 37 to 87, to 92. Ibanez, seemingly destined to be a career backup with the Mariners, left the team as a free agent, ultimately signing with the Royals on January 22, 2001. The Royals seemed far more willing to allow Ibanez to succeed, or, at least play. Ibanez appeared in 104 games for Kansas City in 2001, where the outfielder hit .280 with 13 HR and 54 RBIs. Then, the following year, and at the ripe old age of 30, Ibanez was finally given the chance to prove himself as an everyday player, and prove himself he did. Ibanez enjoyed a breakout season, one in which he hit .294 with 24 HR and 103 RBIs.
After another fine season in which he hit .294 with 18 HR and 90 RBIs, Ibanez returned to his old Seattle stomping grounds in 2004, hitting a career-high .304 in the process. While in Seattle, Ibanez enjoyed perhaps his finest season, hitting .289 with 103 runs, 33 home runs, and 123 runs batted in, even finishing 21st in the American League MVP voting. From 2006 to 2008, Ibanez hit .291 averaging 26 HR and 113 RBIs. He’d gone from being an obscure fourth outfielder in his frost go-round with the team, l to one of Seattle’s offensive and clubhouse leaders. However, by the time he’d finally realized his dream, the baseball world was already casting doubts on whether a then-36 year old player could maintain such lofty numbers.
Those questions were only magnified when Ibanez signed a 3-year, $31.5 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. Certainly a player of his advanced age couldn’t handle playing in the National League where the weary couldn’t be afforded rest time at designated hitter. Clearly, the Phillies would come to regret guaranteeing three years to a player entering his age 37 season. And it was a foregone conclusion that failure was the only option for both sides, as calamity would eventually ensue. But it didn’t. Much like he’d done after turning 30, Ibanez again silenced the critics in 2009. After hitting .359 with seven home runs in a torrid April, Ibanez continued his destruction of National League pitching by hitting .312 in May with 10 home runs. By the All-Star break, he’d already hit 22 home runs, garnering over four million votes for the midsummer classic in the process. He went on to post career-highs home runs (34), slugging percentage (.552) and OPS (.899)—not bad for an aging, near-wash-out.
However, after a so-so 2010 campaign in which he hit just .275 with 16 home runs and 83 runs batted in, it seemed as though Ibanez was starting that inevitable decline. The critics, it seems, may have been correct. Further still, 2011 started difficultly for Ibanez, particularly a ten game stretch from April 18 through May 1, during which Ibanez went just 1-for-31, prompting those same critics, and even casual observers to wonder aloud whether Ibanez was finally finished as an everyday player. As it turns out…no.
Very recently, something rather strange, perhaps even uncanny happened; Raul Ibanez started hitting. Over his past three games, all versus the Washington Nationals, Ibanez has gone 8-for-12 with two home runs and five runs batted in. In the process, he’s raised his batting average 60-points while raising his OPS 187-points. No, his numbers still don’t look like the Raul Ibanez of old, but his recent resurgence suggests that perhaps he’s not just an old Raul Ibanez. If nothing else, he’s taken a step in refuting the assertions that he was in fact deceased. As it turns out, there may be some life left in Ibanez after all. Perhaps the final chapter in this former All-Star’s life has yet to be written. Stay tuned.
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