BIOGRAPHY
Michael Brantley was born May 15, 1987, in Bellevue, Washington. He is a left fielder in the MLB.
In 2015, Brantley batted .310/.379/.480 with 15 home runs, led the majors in doubles (45), and had the lowest strikeout percentage of all major league baseball players (8.6%). He also led the major leagues in walks-per-strikeout at 1.18 and had the highest contact percentage on his swings in the major leagues (92.6%).
Batting .306 with five home runs and 31 RBIs, Brantley was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. In 2018 he batted .309/.364/.468 with 17 home runs, as he also had the highest contact percentage on his swings in the major leagues (90.9%).
In 2019 he batted .311/.372/.503 with 40 doubles (5th in the AL), 22 home runs, and 90 RBIs in 575 at-bats.
In 2020 he batted .300/.364/.476 with 24 runs, 15 doubles (9th in the AL), 5 home runs, and 22 RBIs in 170 at-bats. He was the DH in 26 games and played left field in 19 games.
On May 4, 2022, Brantley singled home two runs in the second inning versus the Seattle Mariners, extending a lead to 3–0. He also doubled on the way to a 7–2 win that completed a sweep of the Mariners. In a contest versus the Boston Red Sox on May 17, Brantley's home run in the second inning off starter Nathan Eovaldi was the fourth of five Astros home runs, tying the major league record for home runs by a team in one inning. On June 14, Brantley doubled and reached base three times versus the Texas Rangers, including an eighth-inning single that sparked a rally as Houston won, 4–3. Brantley hit a grand slam on June 17 versus the White Sox, highlighting a ten-run sixth inning, which accounted for Houston's largest output in one frame since May 29, 2017.
On August 12, Brantley underwent right shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum, which prematurely ended his season. In the midst of another excellent season, he produced a .288 batting average and his .370 on-base percentage ranked second on the team at the time of the surgery. He had been the only American League player to bat at least .300 over each of the previous four seasons.
