Interesting Larry Stone Column

This was from yesterday's Seattle Times...By the way is there aren't too many Larry Stone columns that aren't interesting.

Midseason promotions can make or break a playoff push

This week, the organization finally decided that it could wait no longer.

The phenom outfielder had nothing left to prove in the minors, where he was hitting over .300 with power. So with the pennant race raging, the team called him up to The Show and hoped for an infusion of youthful energy, as well as a jolt of needed offense.

I'm talking, of course, about the Arizona Diamondbacks, who on Thursday summoned Justin Upton, generally considered the top prospect in baseball, from Class AA Mobile.

Upton, just 19, will take over right field for the Diamondbacks, who have shot to the top of the National League West.

"He's not going to be here to sit," manager Bob Melvin told reporters.

The move, of course, mirrors that of the Mariners, who brought up their own uber-prospect, 22-year-old Adam Jones, from the minors on Friday. The Mariners plan to ease Jones into the majors as a spot starter.
...
It's a time-honored tradition in baseball, the midseason promotion of the young phenom, rivaling the trade-deadline acquisition as the bastion of hope for a contending team.
...
The most famous example in history occurred in 1957, when the Milwaukee Braves needed to dip into the minors in late July to replace injured outfielder Bill Bruton. They summoned 26-year-old Bob Hazle. It was a stroke of genius. Hazle, known forever after in baseball lore as "Hurricane Hazle," hit .403 in 41 games for the Braves, with seven homers and 27 RBI. The Braves won the NL pennant, then defeated the Yankees in the World Series.

Hazle would play just 63 more games in his major-league career, derailed by a beaning that left him hospitalized for a week. But he was immortalized that summer.

Bonus points for a Milwaukee Braves example. And now a counter-example:

Teams don't always hit with their call-ups, of course. The 1983 Braves faltered after calling up highly touted outfielder Brad Komminsk in August. He hit .222 with no homers and four RBI in 19 games as the Braves lost the division by three games. Of course, it didn't help when Bob Horner injured his wrist a few days after Komminsk arrived.