José Molina (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| New York Yankees — No. 26 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born: June 3, 1975 Bayamón, Puerto Rico |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| September 6, 1999 for the Chicago Cubs | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through June 8, 2008) |
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| Batting Average | .240 |
| Home runs | 16 |
| Runs batted in | 113 |
| On-base plus slugging | .618 |
| Teams | |
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José Benjamin Matta Molina(b. June 3, 1975, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the New York Yankees.
At 6' 2" and weighing 245 pounds, Molina is taller than his older brother Bengie Molina, who now plays for the San Francisco Giants, and their younger brother Yadier Molina, also a catcher, who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals. They are the only three brothers in MLB history to all win World Series championship rings.
Molina graduated from Masetro Ladi High School in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico in 1993, and attended Ladislao Martinez University in Puerto Rico.
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[edit] Baseball career
[edit] Chicago Cubs (1999-2001)
Molina was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round of the 1993 amateur draft. Molina's first major league team was the Cubs, for which he played 10 games in 1999.
[edit] Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2001-07)
He joined the then-Anaheim Angels in 2001 as a free agent, but played only a handful of games before establishing himself during the 2002 season as the Angels backup catcher for his brother, Bengie.
In 2005 Molina hit a career-best six home runs, and tied his career-high with 25 RBIs, as he hit .306 against lefties.
Following Bengie's departure from the Angels, José Molina entered the 2006 season as the Angels' new starting catcher, though it was expected that rookie Jeff Mathis would also see substantial time handling the team's catching duties over the course of the season. Mathis struggled during the first month of the season, however, and was demoted to the minor leagues. Molina himself then struggled offensively, and the promising offensive performance of Mathis' replacement on the roster, rookie Mike Napoli, once again relegated Molina to the role of backup catcher. Still, Molina played in a career-high 78 games and had a career-best 225 at-bats in 2006.
[edit] New York Yankees (2007-present)
On July 21, 2007, Molina was traded to the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Jeff Kennard. He now serves as the backup catcher for Jorge Posada, after Wil Nieves was designated for assignment. At the time of the trade he had a .237 lifetime batting average, but had hit lefties much better (.269). He would go on to hit .318 for the Yankees with 1 home run.
On December 3, 2007 the Yankees signed Molina to a two-year deal.[1]
At the start of 2008, Jorge Posada had a sore shoulder and was out of the lineup for a few games. Jose served as the catcher in this time period and did well. When Jorge came back, Jose remained at catcher and Jorge became the Designated Hitter. In his first 8 games, he batted .345 with 6 doubles.
[edit] Defense
In the minors, Molina was rated as the best defensive catcher in the Pacific Coast League by Baseball America in 2002. In his years with the Cubs and Angels, Molina displayed better than average range as a catcher, and also played 9 games at first base. In 2004, he threw out 22 of 45 base stealers (48.89%), tops in the AL (minimum of 40 attempts). He also led AL catchers with five pickoffs in 2004, despite only 57 starts. In 2005 he caught more than half of those who attempted to steal against him, again the best percentage in the AL.[1]
[edit] 2007 Contract
- $1.35 million
- May earn $150,000 in incentives: $25,000 each for 80, 95, and 110 games played; $25,000 each for 250, 300, and 350 plate appearances
- 2007 salary may escalate, based on games played during 2006 season (increased to $1.45 million)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
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