Sergio Contreras
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Sergio Alberto Contreras (Born: April 30, 1980 in Obregon, Sonora, Mexico) is a minor league outfielder and first baseman currently in the Mexican League. He is 5'11" tall and he weighs 180 pounds. He throws and bats left handed.
On June 5, 1999, he was signed by the Anaheim Angels as a nondrafted free agent. His first professional year started out a little bumpy-in 63 games with the Angels of the Dominican Summer League, he hit only .252 with 2 home runs and 33 RBI.
His next season-2000 with the Butte Copper Kings-was a complete opposite of his first. In 45 games, he showed great contact by hitting .399. He managed to hit 3 home runs and drive in 28 runs as well. At one point in his 2000 season, Contreras had scored a run in 13 straight games.
In 2001, Contreras played both American and Mexican baseball. With the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, he hit .271 with 3 home runs and 37 RBI. His 15 stolen bases showed that he was developing more as a base-stealer than anything else. On September 5, 2001, he was loaned by the Angels to the Pericos de Puebla of the Mexican League. He played 86 games with them, hitting .313 with six home runs and 52 RBI. He also hit 9 triples and stole "only" seven bases.
In 2002, Contreras played with Rancho Cucamonga again, appearing in 81 games and hitting .271. He played in Mexico that year too, again with the Parrots. Although he hit only .267, he managed to steal 24 bases-a career high.
2003 was an off-year for Contreras. In 12 games with the Cedar Rapids Kernels, he hit only .176. When he played in Mexico that year, he was used as a bench player. He hit .272 in Mexico, with 12 steals.
After being picked by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 2003 Rule V Draft, Contreras was then loaned to Mexico again and spent his entire 2004 season there.
In 2005, he again spent his entire season in Mexico, hitting .314 with 9 home runs with 54 RBI.
His 2006 season also was in the Mexican League, this time with the Tigres de la Angelopolis. He hit .370 in 2006.
Contreras has never had a great eye at the plate, not once in his professional career has he walked more than 50 times in a season. Lorenzo Buelna was his teammate for 5 years, longer than any other teammate.
