Cristian Guzmán
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Guzmán with the Nationals in 2008 Photo by Chris Nelson |
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| Washington Nationals — No. 15 | |
| Shortstop | |
| Born: March 21, 1978 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic |
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| Bats: Switch | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| April 6, 1999 for the Minnesota Twins | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through June 24, 2007) |
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| Batting average | .263 |
| RBI | 334 |
| Home Runs | 45 |
| Teams | |
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Cristian Antonio Guzmán (born March 21, 1978 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a baseball player who has played shortstop in the major leagues for the Minnesota Twins and Washington Nationals. Guzmán was acquired by Minnesota in 1998 from the New York Yankees organization as part of the Chuck Knoblauch trade.
Guzmán's best year was in 2001. He was named to the All-Star team and posted career bests with 10 home runs and a .302 batting average. He was a key part of the Twins teams that won three consecutive American League Central titles from 2002-2004. While a Twin, he led the American League in triples in 2000 (20), 2001 (14) and 2003 (14). His total of 20 in 2000 was only the tenth time a player had reached that number in the prior 70 years.[1]
He signed a $16.8 million, four-year contract with the Nationals for the 2005 season but then proceeded to have the worst year of his career. As the full-time shortstop, he was batting .192 at the end of August, but rallied in September, hitting .325, which helped bring his average up to .219.[2]
Guzman was sidelined the entire 2006 campaign due to a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery, but returned in 2007 as the Nationals starting shortstop following the trade of second baseman José Vidro to the Seattle Mariners and the move of Felipe López to second base. However, he injured his hamstring on the first day of the regular season. He was on the disabled list until May 7, 2007. When he returned he began what looked like could be his best season ever. Batting leadoff, he was hitting .329 (second on the team), and despite missing almost half of the sesason through late June, was third in the league with six triples. But on June 24 Guzman was injured while tagging out a would-be base-stealer, and had surgery the next day to repair a torn thumb ligament, sidelining him for the rest of the 2007 season.[3]
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[edit] Trivia
On March 30, 2008, Guzman got the first hit in the history of Nationals Park, a broken bat single to right off Atlanta Braves starter Tim Hudson. He followed with the first run in the history of the park, after an RBI double by Nick Johnson.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference
- Sportsnet player stats
[edit] References
- ^ Joseph A. Reaves. "Triple's always something special", The Arizona Republic, June 23, 2007.
- ^ Thomas Boswell. "Hot Hand Felled By a Bum Thumb", June 27, 2007, p. E01.
- ^ Barry Svrluga. "Guzman's Injury Likely Ends Season", Washington Post, June 26, 2007, p. E01.
