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Jarrod Saltalamacchia

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Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Boston Red Sox – No. 39
Catcher
Born: (1985-05-02) May 2, 1985 (age 39)
West Palm Beach, Florida
Bats: Switch
Throws: Right
debut
May 2, 2007, for the Atlanta Braves
Career statistics
(through 2011 season)
Batting average.244
Hits286
Home runs39
Runs batted in151
Slugging percentage.406
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Jarrod Scott "Salty" Saltalamacchia (pronounced /ˌsɒltələˈmɑːkiə/; born May 2, 1985, in West Palm Beach, Florida), is an American professional baseball catcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.

His last name is the longest in Major League Baseball history.[1] Saltalamacchia is Italian for "jump over" (salta) the thicket (lamacchia, a kind of tall shrub).

Baseball career

Saltalamacchia was drafted out of Royal Palm Beach High School in the first round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft by the Atlanta Braves.

In 2006, Saltalamacchia had a breakout season for the Class A Myrtle Beach Pelicans, where the switch-hitting slugger hit .314 with 35 doubles, 19 homers, and 81 RBIs in 129 games. Saltalamacchia ranked 18th in Baseball America top 100 prospects in 2006, and 36th the following year.[2]

Saltalamacchia batting for the Braves in 2007.

In the 2007 season, Saltalamacchia started at catcher for the Double-A Mississippi Braves. In 22 games played, he belted 7 home runs with a batting average of .373.

On his 22nd birthday, he was called up to Atlanta to replace Brayan Peña on the roster and to fill in for Brian McCann, who re-injured his finger on May 1, 2007.[3] Saltalamacchia's call-up made him the new record-holder of the longest surname in Major League Baseball history, at 14 letters,[4] breaking the record set by William Van Landingham (or tying it, depending on whether one counts the space in the latter's surname).

On May 6, 2007, Saltalamacchia had the first hit of his major league career in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the seventh inning, with two outs and two men on base, Saltalamacchia got his first RBI, which also drove in the winning run for the Braves. On May 27, 2007, Saltalamacchia hit his first major league home run, a solo shot off Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies. On June 26 in a start at first base, Saltalamacchia had his first multi-home run game. Both blasts came batting right-handed off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik.

Because Saltalamacchia was "blocked" (by McCann, who was recently signed to a large contract with Atlanta), he was the subject of much trade speculation within baseball, and was traded to the Texas Rangers on July 31, 2007, with Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, and Beau Jones for first baseman Mark Teixeira and reliever Ron Mahay.

In 2007, Saltalamacchia batted .284 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI in 47 games with Texas.

Texas Rangers

Upon joining the Rangers after being traded Saltalamacchia changed his number to 25. In his first game with the Rangers on August 1, 2007, Saltalamacchia started at first base and drove in two runs.

On August 22, 2007, Saltalamacchia had two home runs and seven RBIs in the historic 30–3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles.[5]

In 46 games with the Rangers in 2007, Saltamacchia batted .251, collecting 7 home runs and 21 RBIs.

On March 26, 2008, Saltalamacchia lost the starting catching job to Gerald Laird, and the Rangers chose to send him down to the minors to catch every day instead of sitting as the alex casparino backup.[6] However, Saltalamacchia was soon called up on April 25, 2008.[7]

Saltalamacchia during his tenure with the Rangers in 2009.

After the Rangers signed free agent Andruw Jones, Saltalamacchia gave up his number 25 to Jones and selected the number 21.[8] On April 25, 2009, Saltalamacchia struck out in his 28th consecutive game played, setting a new MLB strikeout streak record for a position player (pitcher Bill Stoneman holds the all-time record with 37 games). Saltalamacchia's streak started on July 23, 2008.[9] Saltalamacchia suffered a shoulder injury on August 15, 2009 and was placed on the disabled list.

Saltalamacchia was placed on the disabled list after the 2nd game of the 2010 season. On April 27, 2010, Saltalamacchia was removed from the DL and assigned to the Oklahoma City RedHawks.[10] He has struggled with throwing the ball back to the pitcher.

Boston Red Sox

Saltalamacchia was traded to the Boston Red Sox just before the Major League Baseball trading deadline on July 31, 2010. The Rangers received minor league prospects Chris McGuinness, Román Méndez, a player to be named later (Michael Thomas), and cash. He reported to the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox, wearing uniform number 39.[11][12] Saltalamacchia was called up on August 11 after Kevin Cash went on the disabled list needing surgery in his left thumb, in September 2010.[13][14]

In the 2011 season, Saltalamacchia was slated at the beginning of the year to be Boston's primary catcher with veteran Jason Varitek taking the role as the backup. Out of the gate, he struggled defensively and showed weakness in the batter's box.[15] However, he showed improvement at the plate as the season progressed, hitting .327 in the month of June.

On January 15, 2012, Saltalamacchia avoided arbitration by signing a one-year, non-guaranteed contract worth $2.5 million with the Sox to be their starting catcher. Kelly Shoppach will be his backup, while Ryan Lavarnway will be the third string catcher when not in the minor leagues/.[16]

Personal

Saltalamacchia and his former Rangers teammate, Kason Gabbard, were childhood friends. Both were traded to the Rangers from different teams on July 31, 2007.[17] They were nearly potential teammates once again when the Red Sox, having reacquired Gabbard in 2009, released him from their farm system into free agency on July 24, 2010, exactly one week before Saltalamacchia was traded to Boston.[18]

In 2005, Saltalamacchia married his high school P.E. teacher, Ashley Patrick (or Perry), who is 14 years older than Jarrod. [19] They have three daughters.

References

  1. ^ Glier, Ray (May 9, 2007). "Q&A: Catching up with the longest name in baseball". USA Today. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  2. ^ http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/all-time.html
  3. ^ Rogers, Bowman (May 3, 2007). "Saltalamacchia solid in debut". Braves.com. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
  4. ^ Glier, Ray (May 3, 2007). "Man of letters: Saltalamacchia sets mark". USA Today.
  5. ^ T. R. Sullivan (2007-08-22). "Rangers break record". MLB.com.
  6. ^ "Laird named Rangers' starting catcher , Saltalamacchia sent down". ESPN.com. 2008-03-26.
  7. ^ Anthony Andro (April 25, 2008). "JD confirms Saltalamacchia". Foul Territory. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  8. ^ http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/02/saltalamacchia-giving-up-jersey-number.html [dead link‍]
  9. ^ 57hits.com (2011-05-15). "http://www.57hits.com/top-ten-longest-strikeout-streaks". 57hits.com. Retrieved 2011-05-15. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); External link in |title= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/team/transactions.jsp?c_id=tex#month=4&year=2010&team_id=140
  11. ^ Bob Hersom (May 12, 2010). "OKC catcher: just trying to play catch". okcredhawks.com. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  12. ^ http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100731&content_id=12854726&vkey=news_tex&fext=.jsp&c_id=tex
  13. ^ http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20100811&content_id=13330004&vkey=pr_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos
  14. ^ [1]
  15. ^ Craig Calcaterra (April 6, 2011). "Jarrod Saltalamacchia has until June". NBC Sports. Retrieved August 2, 2011.
  16. ^ Associated Press (January 15, 2012). "Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Red Sox agree on 1-year contract". KSPR.com.
  17. ^ "Gabbard tastes victory in home debut". texas.rangers.mlb.com. 2007-08-08.
  18. ^ http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=451257
  19. ^ http://sports.rightpundits.com/?p=94
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