Milwaukee’s Best, Part 1: The 50 Best To Play For Braves, Brewers: 50-41
By Phil Watson
44. Bill Hall, 3B-SS-CF
Brewers 2002-09
The Brewers drafted Bill Hall in the sixth round of the 1998 amateur draft out of Nettleton High School in Tupelo, Miss., and he arrived in the majors in September 2002.
A jack of all trades for Milwaukee, Hall was a regular at shortstop, third base and center field during his parts of eight seasons with the Crew.
Hall had a breakout 2005 campaign when he hit .291/.342/.495 with 17 homers and followed that up in 2006 with a 35-home run, 85-RBI season, during which he scored 101 runs.
But his batting average tumbled from there, to the point he was hitting just .201/.258/.338 in 2009 before he was traded to the Seattle Mariners in August of that year for minor-league right-hander Ruben Flores.
Hall was eighth in the National League in extra base hits and 10th in home runs in 2006, but he also had the third-most strikeouts in the circuit.
After leaving the Brewers, Hall was traded in January 2010 to the Boston Red Sox. He signed as a free agent with the Houston Astros in December 2010, but was released in June 2011 and signed with the San Francisco Giants.
A free agent after the season, he signed with the New York Yankees in February 2012, but became a free agent in April after refusing a minor-league assignment. He later signed with the Baltimore Orioles that season.
He spent a month in the minors with the Los Angeles Angels organization in 2013 and played in 2014 with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.
Here are his stats from his eight seasons with the Brewers:
| Year | Age | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 22 | 19 | 39 | 36 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 13 | .194 | .256 | .361 | .618 | 62 |
| 2003 | 23 | 52 | 155 | 142 | 23 | 37 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 28 | .261 | .298 | .458 | .756 | 95 |
| 2004 | 24 | 126 | 415 | 390 | 43 | 93 | 20 | 3 | 9 | 53 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 119 | .238 | .276 | .374 | .650 | 67 |
| 2005 | 25 | 146 | 546 | 501 | 69 | 146 | 39 | 6 | 17 | 62 | 18 | 6 | 39 | 103 | .291 | .342 | .495 | .837 | 117 |
| 2006 | 26 | 148 | 608 | 537 | 101 | 145 | 39 | 4 | 35 | 85 | 8 | 9 | 63 | 162 | .270 | .345 | .553 | .899 | 125 |
| 2007 | 27 | 136 | 503 | 452 | 59 | 115 | 35 | 0 | 14 | 63 | 4 | 5 | 40 | 128 | .254 | .315 | .425 | .740 | 89 |
| 2008 | 28 | 128 | 448 | 404 | 50 | 91 | 22 | 1 | 15 | 55 | 5 | 6 | 37 | 124 | .225 | .293 | .396 | .689 | 81 |
| 2009 | 29 | 76 | 234 | 214 | 22 | 43 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 72 | .201 | .265 | .341 | .606 | 60 |
| TOTALS | 831 | 2948 | 2676 | 370 | 677 | 177 | 17 | 102 | 367 | 49 | 35 | 228 | 749 | .253 | .312 | .446 | .758 | 95 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/16/2015.
Next: 43. The Brewers' First Big-Time Free Agent