Rickie Weeks

[Brock Beauchamp]

Rickie Darnell Weeks Jr. was born September 13, 1982, in Altamonte Springs, Florida. His father played college baseball for Seton Hall and Stetson. His grandfather was an outfielder in the Negro leagues during the 1940s. 

Rickie Weeks was not heavily recruited out of high school due to a small frame; thus, he ended up at a smaller school, Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Physically, he filled out and emerged as one of the greatest hitters in NCAA history.

As a sophomore, the right-handed hitting Weeks led the nation with a .495 batting average and 20 home runs. To show it wasn’t a fluke, he again led the nation in hitting the following year with a .479 BA - along with 16 HRs. He was named College Player of the Year. He ended his career with a .473 average – the highest in NCAA history. 

Rickie Weeks had speed and athleticism in his arsenal - but what stood out was his bat. He simply destroyed pitching. While he didn’t have a ton of power, he commanded the strike zone, and his bat speed was amazing. He could especially brutalize left-handed pitching. Defensively, he was a work in progress - but no one really cared. His bat was - hopefully - going to make him a star.

The Brewers - like most teams - were enamored with Weeks and were thrilled to pick him with the second selection of the 2003 draft (after the Rays took Delmon Young). 

Weeks received a $3.6 million signing bonus, and his professional career got off to a roaring start when he hit .349 at low A ball in 20 games. He even got a 7-game call up to Milwaukee - netting him a pair of hits on a dozen at-bats.

Weeks had a fine season at AA in 2004 but broke out at AAA the following year, hitting .320 with a dozen HRs in only 55 games. The Big League club was next on the agenda. 

Rickie Weeks spent the next ten years in Milwaukee - playing exclusively at 2B (unless the chance to DH against an American League club came up) and often batting leadoff. He was a warrior - willing to do whatever it took to win. He led the league twice in Hit by Pitches, took a lot of walks, and stole as many as 25 bases in a season.

But Weeks struggled with inconsistency (especially against right-handed pitching) and injuries. In 2009, it looked like he was putting it all together before a wrist injury ended his season in May. Weeks returned in 2010 and built on his previous year’s success. He hit .269 to go with 29 HRs - and at age 27 - positioned himself as one of the league’s best second basemen - even if he struggled at the defensive side of the game.

In 2011, Weeks was voted the starting 2B in the all-star game - his only appearance in the mid-season classic. However, in July that year, he suffered a severe ankle injury while legging out a single. Weeks tried to play through the pain, but his game suffered - both at the plate and in the field.

Honestly, the ankle injury Weeks suffered in the summer of 2011 was the beginning of the end of his career. In the future, he was never quite the same player. It sapped a bit of his speed as a batter, and he became an increasing liability at the plate against right-handers. As a second baseman, it is evident that he struggled to move laterally. At his best, Weeks was an adequate fielder (and that’s being generous). But after the ankle injury, he was flat-out bad.

In 2012, Weeks managed to return and his 21 home runs, but his average sunk to .230, and defensive metrics were brutal. The following season was even worse - and ended prematurely with a torn hamstring in August. Scooter Gennett took over the keystone. 

Weeks was under contract for one more year and hit well in limited playing time in 2014. But the writing was on the wall. Weeks could still hit left-handed pitchers, but his defensive limitations made him a liability - especially with the DH years away in the National League. The Brewers let him walk as a free agent after the season, declining a club option.

Weeks spent three more years in the majors with three different teams - playing mostly OF, DH, and 1B. He offered some punch against left-handers - but the results were mixed. Tampa Bay released him in July 2017 after an extended time on the DL. His career was over. He was 34 years old.

With his playing days over, Weeks went into broadcasting and, in early 2022, joined the Brewers as an assistant to the player development staff. In 2019, he was added to the Brewers Wall of Honor, and in 2021, he was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Weeks’ brother, Jemile Weeks, played parts of six seasons in the majors, and his sister, Kaisha, was a college track star. Rickie and his wife are parents to a son and a daughter.

Rickie Weeks is one of the more difficult players to assess when doing a retrospective. Most people will probably look at his career and say it was a failure. But that’s too harsh. But what’s probably more fair was to say that Weeks had a career that fell short of expectations. 

Rickie Weeks had come out of college expecting to hit .300+. Brewer fans expected an all-star. However, that was probably unfair to Weeks. Yes, he had some very loud tools - and the stats to back them up. But some of the hype about Weeks should have been tempered by the fact that he had played at a smaller college program against lesser talent. But let’s be honest - you hit .490 in any league - and that’s pretty amazing. 

In reality, Weeks’ batting stroke - which was so fast it was almost violent - left him with a hole in his swing. Combine this with a patient approach at the plate - and it led to a lot of strikeouts. This was more noticeable against right-handed pitchers. He had a .829 OPS against left-handers for his career - but a .739 OPS against right-handers. 

And the injuries can’t be discounted either. Weeks played hard - and it took a toll on him. 

Ultimately, Rickie Weeks had a career most players would die for. He played 13 seasons, made nearly $50 million, and was voted the starter in an all-star game. And he helped get the Brewers back into the playoffs for the first time in a quarter of a century.

For the Brewers, he slugged 148 HRs, hit .249, and had an OBP of .347. He ranks sixth all-time in runs scored, is 10th in doubles, and holds the franchise record with 125 Hit by Pitches. The next closest person is 30 behind him - so it’s a record that may never be broken.

The big problem for Rickie Weeks was that he had such enormous expectations. And while he had his share of success - he never rose to the heights many predicted. 

Please share your memories of former Brewer second baseman Rickie Weeks. 

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