Shane Victorino

Shane Victorino
Philadelphia Phillies – No. 8
Outfielder
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
debut
April 2, 2003, for the San Diego Padres
Career statistics (through 2008 season)
Batting average	.281
Home runs	34
Runs batted in	162
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
San Diego Padres (2003) Philadelphia Phillies (2005-present)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (2008)

Shane Patrick Victorino (born November 30, 1980 in Wailuku, Hawaii) is an outfielder in Major League Baseball who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. He is a switch-hitter and throws right-handed.

Victorino's strongest attributes are his impressive speed and great throwing ability. He is a former Hawaii state high school track and field champ (Spring, 1999) for St. Anthony High School in the 100 m, 200 m, and 400 m dashes. His 100 m time (10.80) was a state record. (Reference?) He has been consistently clocked at 3.7-3.8 sec. from home to first right-handed. (Reference?) He also has a strong arm, with 24 career outfield assists.

Career

Minor Leagues, Los Angeles Dodgers, and San Diego Padres Career

Victorino was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1999 in the sixth round of the 1999 amateur draft out of St. Anthony High School in Wailuku, Hawaii. He spent most of the 1999 through 2005 seasons in the minor leagues.

Victorino was selected as a Rule 5 draft pick in 2002 by the San Diego Padres, played 36 games for the Padres, but was eventually returned to the Dodgers.

Victorino was again selected in the 2005 Rule 5 Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. He again failed to stay with the major league club, and was offered back to the Dodgers. The Dodgers declined, so the Phillies retained his contract, and assigning him to their minor league club in Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

Philadelphia Phillies

Victorino obtained the nickname of "The Flyin' Hawaiian," because of his great speed, and as "Energizer Bunny," at least in the local press and by his teammates, largely because of his hyper-active personality.

In 2007, Victorino changed his jersey number from 18 to 8 after giving number 18 to new teammate Wes Helms in exchange for a new watch. Victorino was the Phillies starting right fielder for the 2007 season. He permanently replaced Bobby Abreu, who was traded to the New York Yankees midway through the 2006 season, and eventually moved to center field after the departure of Aaron Rowand to the Giants. (References?)

On June 3, 2007 the Phillies celebrated "Shane Victorino Day" with Victorino hula figurines and flew his father in from Maui for the game. Victorino ended the day's game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth against the San Francisco Giants..

2008 playoffs

In the 2008 NLDS Game 2 against the Milwaukee Brewers, Victorino hit a grand slam (his first ever grand slam in the major leagues and the Phillies first post-season grand slam) off of CC Sabathia in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Victorino went on to say in his blog, that it was a home run that he will cherish. Victorino also became the first person in post-season history to have a home run, a double, and two steals in a single game.

Victorino's success carried over into the 2008 NLCS, as he continue to make crucial hits and defensive plays for the Phillies. In Game 2 he was 2 for 5 with 4 RBIs. After the game, Victorino was informed that his grandmother had died. Game 3 saw Victorino in the midst of controversy. After being brushed back by Hiroki Kuroda, Victorino began to gesture towards the non-English speaking pitcher that it was alright that he throw inside, just as long as he didn't do so at his head. After grounding out to second, he continued to gesture at Kuroda and benches from both teams cleared. Victorino quickly became the villain for Dodger fans and was booed each time he came up to bat. After the game, Victorino was fined $2500 by the league for his part in the incident. Victorino was quick to silence the crowd during Game 4 when he hit a game-tying two run home run. The Phillies would go on to win the game and the series. In their first trip to the fall classic since 1993, the Phillies went on to win the World Series by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. After Burrell hit a double to left center field in the seventh inning of Game 5 (subsequently taken out of the game in favor of pinch-runner Eric Bruntlett), Victorino moved Bruntlett over to third on a groundout. Bruntlett ultimately scored the series winning run off a single by third baseman, Pedro Feliz.

Career stats

Year	Age	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
2003	22	San Diego	NL	36	73	8	11	2	0	0	4	7	2	7	17	.151	.232	.178	.410	13	1	1	0	1	5
2005	24	Philadelphia	NL	21	17	5	5	0	0	2	8	0	0	0	3	.294	.263	.647	.910	11	0	2	0	0	0
2006	25	Philadelphia	NL	153	415	70	119	19	8	6	46	4	3	24	54	.287	.346	.414	.704	172	8	1	0	14	5
2007	26	Philadelphia	NL	131	456	78	128	23	3	12	46	37	4	37	62	.281	.347	.423	.770	193	5	2	1	10	10
2008	27	Philadelphia	NL	146	570	102	167	30	8	14	58	36	11	45	69	.293	.352	.447	.799	106	5	0	2	7	8
Totals:				487	1,531	263	430	74	19	34	162	84	20	113	205	.281	.342	.421	.763	644	19	6	3	32	28

Roll over stat abbreviations for definitions. Stats through 2008 Major League Baseball season.

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs