Michael Bourn

Michael Ray Bourn is a professional baseball player from the USA who plays as a centre fielder. A student at the Nimitz High School, Bourn was an avid footballer, playing in the Humble Area Football League. In 2000, upon graduation, Bourn went on to attend the University of Houston on the back of an NCAA Division I baseball scholarship.

For three seasons, Bourn was noticed mainly for his on-base percentage and stolen bases rather than his hitting ability. 0.431 for an on-base percentage and 90 successful steals out of 119 attempts was good enough to grab all the attention his 2 homers in 644 at-bats failed to get.

At the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft, Bourn was picked at 115th overall by the Philadelphia Phillies. Bourn was placed into the Rookie League with the Batavia Muckdogs before becoming the starting centre fielder for the Lake BlueClaws in the Low-A League. A .433 OBP with 57 stolen bases in 63 attempts meant that he would make it to Baseball America’s Top Ten Prospect list for the Phillies.

Bourn was still lagging behind in the batting department however after spending over a season & a half with the Reading Phillies in the A-League, Bourn was sent to the International league to play for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. In July of 2006, Bourn was picked for the American Olympic qualifying team where he, surprisingly, hit a couple of home runs to take the team to victory over Cuba in the finals. This, along with his performance through the season, got Bourn a place on the MLB roster for the Phillies after the expansion.

More often than not, Bourn was used as a pinch runner for the Phillies who had to compete for the NL Wild Card position, something they failed to reach. In his three attempts, Bourn was only able to steal base once but his exploits were remembered for the exuberance he demonstrated when over-sliding the second base in what looked to be a successful attempt at stealing second.

After a strong Spring Training in 2007, Bourn was given a place in the roster at the beginning of the season although he was rarely in the fray, playing mostly as a replacement fielder for Pat Burrell in left field. Once Ahse Utley and Aaron Rowand were placed on the disabled list, Bourn got his chance and had a 4-hit game against the Pirates in an 8-1 win.

In his rookie year, Bourn had 18 stolen bases and was placed third amongst all rookies. His batting average stood at .277. By November, 2007, the Phillies had had enough of Bourn and he was traded out to the Houston Astros along with Geoff Geary and Michael Costanzo. Immediately, Bourn was named as the starting center fielder for the Astros as well as the leadoff hitter.

Despite getting little playing time every now and then, Bourn was quite effective in stealing bases, swiping 41 bags through the season. His fielding was also quite impressive but small niggling injuries every now and then meant that he was never in full flow for a long period at a stretch. During the winter of 2008, Bourn moved to the Dominican Winter League to play for the Aguilas Cibaenas where he had a .415 batting average.

In 2009, he began the year by leading all players in steals, with a 13 out of 15 record. He finished the season with 61 steals and led the National League while coming behind Jacoby Ellsbury’s 70 in the MLB. His batting average was a respectable .285 while a .354 on-base percentage in 157 appearances was also considered fair. Bourn had 12 triples to tie with Stephen Drew for the second most in the Majors.

The Baseball Writers Association of America formally named Michael Bourn as the Astros MVP for 2009. Bourn was also awarded the Golden Glove for the 2009 season.