Michael Bourn

Michael Ray Bourn (born December 27, 1982) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Baltimore Orioles between 2006 and 2016.

He also played internationally for the United States national baseball team.

Bourn was raised in Houston, Texas, where he attended Nimitz High School and the University of Houston, playing baseball.

Michael Ray Bourn was born in Houston, Texas on December 27, 1982, the first of two sons to parents Carrie and Raymond.

As a child, Michael played three sports, baseball, basketball and football.

His Little League team was coached by his father.

Teammates included Carl Crawford.

At the age of 10, his father had him facing 85 mph pitching in a batting cage.

Bourn attended Nimitz High School in Houston.

He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 19th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft out of high school but declined to sign.

He planned to continue his baseball career at Galveston College until Todd Whitting, then an assistant coach for the Houston Cougars baseball team, saw him playing AAU baseball and decided to offer him a scholarship.

He played college baseball with the Cougars for three seasons.

While he displayed little power, collecting only two home runs and 23 extra-base hits in 644 at-bats, he won attention from professional scouts by posting a .431 on-base percentage and stealing 90 bases in 119 attempts.

In 2002, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

He was named to the All-Tournament Team at the 2002 Conference USA baseball tournament, in which Houston was the runner-up.

In June 2003, following his junior year, the Philadelphia Phillies drafted Bourn in the fourth round, with the 115th overall selection of baseball's first-year player draft.

Bourn signed shortly after the draft, and was assigned to play for the Batavia Muckdogs of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League.

In 2004, Bourn was the starting center fielder with the Lakewood BlueClaws of the Class A South Atlantic League.

Bourn ended the season with a .433 on-base percentage and an OPS of .903, earning 85 bases on balls in 109 games.

He also stole 57 bases in 63 attempts – a success rate of over ninety percent.

Following the season, he was named to Baseball America's Top Ten Prospects list for the Phillies organization.

Bourn started the 2006 season with the Reading Phillies of the Class AA Eastern League, and was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons of the Class AAA International League late in July 2006.

In early September 2006, Bourn took a brief hiatus from his professional obligations to play for the USA Olympic qualifying team, for whom he hit two home runs to help Team USA defeat Cuba in the gold-medal game.

Bourn was then promoted to the expanded major league roster.

He was sent to home plate to bat only 11 times during the month of September, but was used frequently as a pinch runner as the Phillies competed for the National League's wild card position (ultimately coming up two games short) to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Disappointingly, he stole only one base in three attempts during the month, and was memorably tagged out after accidentally oversliding second base on a steal attempt in a late-season loss against the Washington Nationals on September 26, 2006.

In August–September 2006, Bourn played for the United States national baseball team in the qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

He hit two home runs in the final game of the qualifying tournament against Cuba.

After a strong performance during spring training in 2007, Bourn won a position on the Phillies' major league roster to begin the year.

He was used sparingly, appearing primarily as a frequent defensive replacement in left field for Pat Burrell.

On July 15, 2007, Bourn hit his first career home run as the Phillies recorded their 10,000th franchise loss by losing to the St. Louis Cardinals 10–2.

On July 27, Bourn was in the Phillies' starting lineup for the first time due to injuries to both Chase Utley and Aaron Rowand, and had his first 4-hit game in an 8–1 rout of the Pirates, in which he scored two runs.

Bourn finished third among all NL rookies with 18 stolen bases, and was caught only once.

He batted .277.

On November 7, 2007, Bourn was traded along with Geoff Geary and Mike Costanzo to the Houston Astros for Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett.

Houston's General Manager, Ed Wade, declared Bourn as the 2008 Astros' leadoff hitter and starting center fielder, effectively moving Hunter Pence to right field.

Bourn stole 41 bases in 2008.

He was named to the NL All-Star team in both 2010 and 2012 and won consecutive Gold Glove Awards in 2009 and 2010.

Bourn also led MLB in stolen bases in 2011, and led the National League in stolen bases from 2009 to 2011.

He was as of 2018 in 119th place on the all-time Major League Baseball stolen base list, with 341.