Schu was signed as an amateur free agent out of high school in California in 1980. The young third baseman had a little power and drove in some runs. His best year in the minors was in 1984, when he hit .301 with 12 HR and 82 RBI. That earned him a promotion to Philadelphia in September and he hit .276 with 2 HR in 29 at-bats.
It took Schu a little while to get going following his promotion in 1985. He joined the team May 29 but didn't really break out offensively until June 12. But then again, everybody in the lineup broke out that night, as the Phils obliterated the Mets, 26-7. Schu went 4-for-7 with a double, a triple, and 2 RBI. He was having a good year, until a September slump dropped his average for the season to .252, with just 7 HR and 24 RBI in 112 games.
The lack of offense from Schu made the Phils move Schmidt back to third for the 1986 season, with Von Hayes taking over at first and Schu moving to a bench role. The move agreed with Schmidt, who won his third MVP after hitting .290 with 37 HR and 119 RBI.
But Schu would never be a regular again and never appeared in more than 100 games in a season. He was traded to the Orioles in 1988 and also spent time with the Angels, Tigers, and Expos. He came back to the Phillies briefly in 1991 after having a good year in AAA. He spent all of 1992 in AAA and moved to Japan for the 1993 and 1994 seasons, where he played for the Nippon Ham Fighters.
He came back to the U.S. and spent 1995 with the Rangers AAA team in Oklahoma City and Montreal's AAA team in Ottawa in 1996. But his last appearance in the majors was with the Expos on Aug. 14, 1996. Schu retired while playing for Ottawa in 1997.
Schu now serves as the assistant hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants. He also held coaching spots with the Diamondbacks and Nationals.
No comments:
Post a Comment