Dan Uggla; Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The Atlanta Braves have agreed on a four-year contract extension worth $62 million with second baseman Dan Uggla, who was born in Louisville, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reports. The deal makes Uggla, who the Braves acquired from the Florida Marlins earlier this offseason, the highest paid second baseman in history. Uggla set career highs in batting average (.287), home runs (33), RBI (105) and on-base percentage (.369) in 2010 for the Marlins. Over a five-year career Uggla has a .263 batting average with 154 home runs and 465 RBI.

Uggla’s 154 home runs rank fourth all-time among MLB players born in Kentucky. Uggla attended high school in Columbia, Tenn., and was the 11th round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 draft out of the University of Memphis. The Marlins selected Uggla in the MLB portion of the 2005 Rule 5 draft. In his rookie season Uggla batted .282 with 27 home runs and 90 RBI, finishing third in rookie of the year award voting. The 2010 silver slugger winner and a two-time all-star, Uggla has slugged at least 27 home runs in each of his five MLB seasons. The Braves acquired Uggla for two players on Nov. 16, 2010. (Read more)