Eric Chavez

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**Eric Chavez**

Position	Third Base
Team	Oakland Athletics
Years of Experience	8 years
Age	28
Height	6-1
Weight	206 lb.
Bats	Left
Throws	Right
College	N/A
2006 Salary	$9,500,000
Place of Birth	Los Angeles, California
Selection	Amateur draft, 1996
Drafted by	Oakland Athletics
Major League Debut	September 8, 1998

Eric Cesar Chavez (born December 7, 1977 in Los Angeles, California) is a third baseman in Major League Baseball who has played for the Oakland Athletics since 1998. His last name, frequently misprounced as CHA-vez, is correctly pronounced "sh'vez" (although it should be noted that his nickname, "Chavy", is pronounced interchangeably).

Argurably, he is considered the American League's best defensive third baseman and is the last member of the Oakland Athletics team described in the Moneyball era of 2000 to 2003. Due to this, Chavez is also seen to be and regarded as the prominent "team leader" of the A's today.

1 High school career
2 Professional career
3 Awards
4 External link

[edit] High school career

Chavez attended Mount Carmel High School in San Diego, California. He was a two-time Baseball America High School All-American selection and in his junior year was the only junior selected to win the award. That year he batted .535 with 9 home runs and 35 runs batted in and stole 51 bases. As a senior he batted .458 with 11 home runs and 24 runs batted in and had 33 stolen bases.

[edit] Professional career

Chavez was drafted out of high school in the first round of the 1996 draft by the Oakland Athletics. He made his professional debut in 1998. Widely regarded as one of the best defensive third baseman in baseball, he has won six consecutive Gold Gloves from 2001-2006. In 2004, the A's signed him to a six year, $66 million contract extension. Since the contract was signed, he has struggled to live up to the high expectations.

For his career, Chavez has batted only .250 and slugged .445 in April and in May combined but batted .294 and slugged .544 in June, July and August. In the 27 games of September and October 2001 (around the postponement caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks), Chavez hit ten home runs with 31 RBI, a .379 batting average and a .738 slugging average resulting in him being named the American League Player of the Month for the only time in his career.

He is married to a woman named Alex, and they have a son together, Diego, born on August 22, 2005 at 7:47 am.