David Ross (catcher)

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David Wade Ross (born March 19, 1977 in Bainbridge, Georgia), is an professional baseball catcher for Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds. The 6'-2" (1.89 m), 225 pound (102 kg) Ross bats and throws right-handed.

His collegiate career began at Auburn University, but he transferred to the University of Florida in 1996. Arguably, his finest collegiate moment came in the 1997 SEC semifinal round against Florida State, where he blasted a walkoff home run. He's one of a very few players to play in the College World Series with two different schools.

Although David Ross was originally drafted in the 19th round of the 1995 amateur draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, he did not sign and instead attended college. In 1998, the Dodgers again selected Ross in the 7th round of the amateur draft. He signed and made his major league debut on June 28, 2002 and was with the team until 2004. He split time between the San Diego Padres and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2005; as a Pirate, he was traded to the Padres for infielder J.J. Furmaniak.

He was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds during spring training 2006 and has quickly become a fan favorite in Cincinnati for his tape measure home runs. While Ross is most often used as the "personal catcher" for former Boston Red Sox right-hander Bronson Arroyo, for whom the Reds traded outfielder Wily Mo Pena in spring training, the consensus among Reds fans was that Ross had proven himself deserving of being the number one catcher and one of the other Reds catchers, Jason LaRue or Javier Valentin, should have been dealt (possibly as part of a package deal) for a relief pitcher. LaRue was the one most frequently cited, but no deal was made by the July 31st trade deadline.

Arguably, one of David Ross' most memorable moments as a Cincinnati Red occurred on April 26, 2006 against the Washington Nationals, at the Nationals' home field, the expansive, pitcher-friendly RFK Stadium. Facing right-hander (and former Red) Ramon Ortiz in the third inning, Ross blasted a pitch deep into the upper deck stands in right-center field. The home run traveled an estimated 475 feet (144.7 m).

[edit] Career Stats

Yr   Ag Tm  Lg G   AB  R  H   2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB K    AVG  OBP  SLG TB  SH SF IBB HBP GIDP
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2002 25 LAD NL 8   10  2  2   1  0  1  2   0  0  2  4   .200 .385 .600 6   0  0   0   1   0
2003 26 LAD NL 40  124 19 32  7  0  10 18  0  0  13 42  .258 .336 .556 69  0  1   0   2   4
2004 27 LAD NL 70  165 13 28  3  1  5  15  0  0  15 62  .170 .253 .291 48  0  5   1   5   3
2005 28 PIT NL 40  108 9  24  8  0  3  15  0  0  6  24  .222 .380 .380 41  1  3   0   1   3
2005 28 SD  NL 11  17  2  6   0  1  0  0   0  0  0  4   .353 .389 .471 8   1  0   0   1   0
2006 29 CIN NL 52  138 22 41  9  1  13 33  0  0  18 36  .297 .371 .659 91  1  3   5   0   3
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TOTALS         221 562 67 133 28 3  32 83  0  0  54 172 .237 .309 .468 263 3  12  6   10  13
5 Seasons

Stats as of August 5, 2006

[edit] Trivia

Ross hit his first career home run off of (at the time)Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Mark Grace. The Dodgers were blowing out the Diamondbacks and they put Grace into pitch for fun.