Wilson Betemit

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Wilson Betemit
Los Angeles Dodgers — No. 10
Third base
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
September 18, 2001 for the Atlanta Braves
Selected MLB statistics
(through 2005)
Batting average     .284
Home runs     5
Runs batted in     25
Former teams

    Wilson Betemit pronounced Bet-UH-mee (born November 2, 1981 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball player on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Betemit made his Major League debut with the Atlanta Braves on September 18, 2001. He was, at the time, the Braves' top minor league prospect, viewed as their shortstop of the future. After several disappointing years from 2002-2004, Betemit finally broke out in 2005 as the Braves' principal reserve infielder, frequently filling in at third base for the Braves' oft-injured star 3B Chipper Jones, hitting over .300 for the season.

    In the offseason, following SS Rafael Furcal's free agency in the winter of 2005, the Braves considered giving Betemit the starting shortstop job. However, they decided instead to trade for SS Edgar Rentería from the Boston Red Sox for their top minor league prospect at the time, 3B Andy Marte, whom the Red Sox then traded to the Cleveland Indians for CF Coco Crisp. Betemit continued to play a valuable role for the Braves as a pinch-hitter and backup for 2B Marcus Giles, Rentería, and Chipper Jones, until being traded on July 28, 2006.

    On July 28, 2006, Betemit was traded to the Dodgers for relief pitcher Danys Baez and infielder Willy Aybar. He made his debut for the Dodgers on July 30, 2006, playing 3B against the Washington Nationals.

    [edit] Date of birth

    There is some confusion surrounding Betemit's date of birth. His official Player Profile on MLB.com lists it as 1980-07-28, while other sources, including his information page on respected statistics site Baseball-Reference.com, have it as 1981-10-02. An article from February 2000 in the Savannah Morning News offers an explanation for the discrepancy.


    [edit] External links