Shea Hillenbrand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Shea Hillenbrand**

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — No. --
First Baseman
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 2, 2001 for the Boston Red Sox
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Batting average	.287
Home runs	104
Runs batted in	459
Former teams
Boston Red Sox (2001–2003) Arizona Diamondbacks (2003-2004) Toronto Blue Jays (2005-2006) San Francisco Giants (2006)

Shea Matthew Hillenbrand (born July 27, 1975) is a Major League Baseball first baseman/third baseman who plays for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He bats and throws right-handed. On December 26, 2006, Hillenbrand signed a one-year deal with the Angels[1].

A native of Mesa, Arizona, Hillenbrand attended Mountain View High School there, excelling in both baseball, as a shortstop, and soccer. He attended Mesa Community College from 1994-96, before being drafted by Boston in the 10th round of the 1996 amateur draft.

Hillenbrand played 72 games in 1996 for the Low-A Lowell Spinners in the New York - Penn League. In 1997, he was promoted to the Sarasota Red Sox of the Florida State League, and was promoted again after 57 games, finishing the season with 64 games with the Michigan Battle Cats of the Midwest League. Despite being drafted as a shortstop, he played at first base and third base his first two years in the minors.

In 1998, still with Michigan, he was converted to play catcher and responded with his best season in the minors, with a .349 batting average and 19 home runs. This earned him a promotion in 1999 to AA Trenton Thunder of the Eastern League. However, a leg injury restricted him to only 69 games.

The year 2000 saw Hillenbrand back at Trenton, now back to playing first base and third base as the injury prevented him from catching. An average season at age 25 did not bode well for his chances as a prospect, but he parlayed an invitation to spring training with the Red Sox in 2001 into a spot on the big-league team for opening day. Hillenbrand played 139 games for the Sox in his rookie season, mostly at third base, but a .263 batting average failed to hide his failure to get on base adequately (he had one of the lowest walks to plate appearances rates in the MLB), nor to hit with power. However, he retained his spot on the roster for 2002, and responded with a much better season, hitting 20 home runs with a .330 on base percentage and a .459 slugging average. His play earned him the starting third baseman spot in the All-Star Game.

Nevertheless, Hillenbrand entered 2003 being the subject of trade rumors. The Red Sox had signed free agent Bill Mueller, another third baseman, and many believed that Hillenbrand's lack of strike zone judgment would not be compatible with the on base percentage priorities of new Sox general manager Theo Epstein. With Mueller hitting around .380 and playing a solid third base, Hillenbrand became expendable and was sent to Arizona for pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim on May 29. The move was arguably expedited after Hillenbrand had earlier made some disparaging remarks about Epstein on a radio show by calling him a "faggot" while demanding he be traded from the Red Sox. He finished the season with a combined .280 batting average and career-highs in RBI (97) and home runs (20), including a three-homer game with the Diamondbacks in month of July.

In 2004, Hillenbrand hit a career-high .310 with 15 home runs and 80 RBI over 148 games. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of the season.

On July 19, 2006, Hillenbrand criticized the Blue Jays organization for failing to congratulate him on his recent adoption of a baby girl and not playing him upon his return. He was also disgruntled about sharing first base duties with Lyle Overbay and third base duties with Troy Glaus while being made to play as a designated hitter.^[1] Hillenbrand refused to sit with his team in the dugout during that night's game. After an argument in the clubhouse between Shea and manager John Gibbons over Hillenbrand allegedly writing defamatory comments about the team on the clubhouse billboard ("This is a sinking ship") after batting practice, tensions escalated with Gibbons challenging him to a fight and Hillenbrand being asked to leave the team. It was also reported that Hillenbrand ripped a Canadian flag patch off his hat after being removed from a game on Canada Day (Hillenbrand denied this).^[2]

He was later designated for assignment that same evening, with the club citing irreconcilable differences. Two days later, Hillenbrand was traded to the San Francisco Giants with reliever Vinnie Chulk in exchange for Giants reliever Jeremy Accardo. He later admitted to writing the comments on the board.