Matt Tupman Suspended
A couple years ago I had never heard of Matt Tupman. That was when he was catching for Licey when they won the Caribbean World Series. Matt Tupman was a key figure in that Caribbean Series. He is again playing for Licey and is a free agent available to sign with any team. Myworld thought he would be a good signing for some team that needed a solid backup catcher. That doesn’t appear to be an option anymore.
Major league baseball hit Tupman with a 50 game suspension for a failed drug of abuse test. If he signs with another team, that suspension will last from the signing to the end of the 50 game period. Not much of an incentive for a team to sign a player. Perhaps when the Caribbean season is over there is always Independent ball. Or retirement. Tupman is 30 years old and made his major league debut in 2008. He only played in one game and got one at bat before the Royals sent him down. Yes, he did get a hit in that one at bat, so he will be one of those twenty or so players who will be listed in the history of major league players who finished their major league career with a batting average of 1.000.
Others suspended with Tupman were Daniel Vasquez (Diamondbacks), Jefferson Segundo (Cardinals), and Joel Tamares (Marlins). The latter two played in the Dominican Summer League. Vasquez is a Dominican and Tupman is playing down in the Dominican. What is it about the Dominican Republic and drug suspensions?
There are twenty players in major league history who retired from baseball with a 1.000 batting average. The greatest of those was probably John Paciorek, who played in one game back in 1963 as an 18 year old rookie and got five at bats in the last major league game of that season. In those five at bats he got three hits and two walks, scoring four times and driving in three runs. He never got into another major league game.
Back injuries prevented him from playing extensively in 1964 and throughout his career. John Paciorek is the brother of Tom and Jim, both of whom had more extensive major league careers. If you want to take a look at Paciorek’s minor league career it wasn’t that impressive: http://www.astroland.net/paciorek.html.