Greg Vaughn

[Michael Trzinski]

Back in the early 1990s, Greg Vaughn spent his time roaming left field in ‘Vaughn’s Valley’ at Milwaukee County Stadium. Although his best years came later after he was traded from the Brewers, Vaughn still played well enough to be considered one of the best left fielders in Milwaukee Brewers history. In his eight years as a Brewer, Vaughn was named to two All-Star teams and hit more than 20 home runs in a season four times.

Gregory Lamont Vaughn was born in Sacramento, California and attended Sacramento City College after graduating from John F. Kennedy High School, where he starred in both football and baseball. He was drafted five different times over two-plus years before he finally signed with Milwaukee, who drafted him fourth overall in the 1986 MLB June Draft-Secondary Phase.

Prior to signing, Vaughn played two seasons in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), leading the Cotuit Kettleers to league titles in both seasons, and was named league MVP in 1985. He was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2009.

The right-handed hitting Vaughn spent four years in the minors before getting called up to Milwaukee for good in August 1989. Vaughn doubled and singled in his first two big league at-bats. His final numbers for the season showed a batting line of .265/.336/.425 over 113 at-bats with five homers and 23 RBI.

Vaughn led the Brewers in home runs from 1991-94 and would have led in 1996 but was traded to the San Diego Padres before the trade deadline after slamming 31 round-trippers in just 375 at-bats. That trade, which brought the Brewers pitchers Ron Villone and Bryce Florie, along with outfielder Marc Newfield, was probably one of the worst in Brewer history. In the eight years after the trade, Vaughn hit over 45 homers in two straight seasons (45, 50), made two more All-Star appearances, and hit 186 home runs to give him a career total of 355. Villone, Florie, and Newfield combined for a bWAR of just 0.8 in seven combined seasons for Milwaukee, while Vaughn's total bWAR in eight seasons after the trade was 15.6.

As a Brewer, Vaughn ranks eighth all time with 169 home runs and 10^th with 566 RBI.

 

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[Babe Ruth is Dead]

Villone, who did have a long career as a lefty although not with the Brewers, and Florie were very mediocre pitchers . Pick off the waiver wire types. The Brewers though thought were getting a young player just about to break out in Newfield who was the 6th pick in the 1990 player draft. But the injuries that ended his career were already plaguing him. Whoever okayed this trade really screwed the Brewers.

[MattK]

Vaughny seemed to just be finally putting other things together to go with his homer swing when the Crew dealt him.  He had power, walks, and good enough speed, but it just seemed the team underrated him.  Improving every year is something which wouldn't make me sell "high" on him and possibly miss a late peak.  Shrug?