Craig John Counsell (born August 21, 1970 in South Bend, Indiana) is a Major League Baseball infielder who currently plays for the Arizona Diamondbacks and has a career batting average of .262. He has also played for the Colorado Rockies, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers. He attended college at Notre Dame and won the 2001 NLCS MVP Award while on his first tour on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Counsell grew up in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin and went to Whitefish Bay High School, where he played baseball. His father worked for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Counsell is particularly known for his unusual batting stance, where points the bat straight up into the air as high as he can and moves back and forth in an erratic fashion. While batting, almost his entire back is pointed towards the pitcher, though his feet remain perpendicular with the pitcher's mound.

Interesting facts

• In the 2004 season, Counsell reached base on catcher's interference six times. That was more than the rest of the National League combined (five times).
• Counsell was on-base for the winning scoring plays of two World Series Game 7's. He scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series for the Marlins on an Edgar Renteria single over pitcher Charles Nagy's head. He was also hit by a pitch by Mariano Rivera to load the bases for Luis Gonzalez in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, after which Gonzalez drove in the winning run for the Diamondbacks, also a single over the pitcher's head.

External links

1970 births | Living people | Major league players from Indiana | 1997 Florida Marlins World Series Championship Team | 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks World Series Championship Team | Arizona Diamondbacks players | Colorado Rockies players | Florida Marlins players | Los Angeles Dodgers players | Milwaukee Brewers players