To Pronkville or Bust

We all remember the Travis Hafner of 2006 when he hit 42 home runs and was one of the leagues most feared hitters. However, since that amazing year Hafner has been on the down slope. Some people seem to think that he was on steroids, and got off of them which is causing him to decrease in performance. However, these people are uninformed and ignorant. Hafner has had shoulder surgery twice in the off season which is very hard to come back from. He has had many injuries in his career including when he was drilled in the face by none other than White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle. Hafner has tried to recover from these injuries, and has not quite been successful.

However, I think he is going to turn it around this season. Last year he lost a lot of weight, and looked like an entirely different person. He was in the best shape of his life. He was healthy for the majority of last season, playing in 118 games which is his most since the 2007 season. The key to Hafner's success is going to be staying healthy. If he can do that, and play 120 or more games this year, I have a good feeling that hes going to turn it around. He has worked very hard this off season to return to the Hafner of old.

Another reason that Hafner will turn it around is this is a do or die year for him. Next year is his contract year on a huge 4 year $57 million contract. That was

a considerable amount of money to be spent on one player with the system that Larry Dolan runs. Hafner owes it to the Indians and to Indians fans to turn it around this year and get back to the way he use to be. Heck, the Indians named an entire section after him. The upper deck section in right field, which use to be called the mezzanine, was renamed Pronkville in Hafner's honor. This year is either to Pronkville, or bust for Travis Hafner.

Go Tribe,

Drew Lilly