Josh Labandeira
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
|---|---|
| Tampa Bay Rays — No. 4 | |
| Shortstop | |
| Born: February 25, 1979 | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| September 17, 2004 for the Montreal Expos | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2007) |
|
| Batting average | .000 |
| Home runs | 0 |
| Runs batted in | 0 |
| Teams | |
John Joshua Labandeira (born February 25, 1979 in Tulare, California is a Major League Baseball player in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He is a shortstop/second baseman and bats and throws right-handed.
Labandeira attended Monache High School in Porterville, California and chose Fresno State University as the college he wished to attend. While at Fresno, he lettered in four different sports: wrestling, soccer, football and baseball. Labandeira majored in kinesiology. As a sophomore, he attended College of the Sequoias in Visalia (Bob Ojeda, Johnny Estrada, Jim Wohlford and Steve Stroughter all attended that college at one point or another as well).
In the 6th round of the 2001 amateur entry draft, Labandeira was drafted by the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) after posting superlative numbers in college, in 2001, he hit .367 while belting 15 home runs.
At 5'7" and 180 pounds, Labandeira is not too imposing out on the diamond, but even with his small stature he has some pop in his bat. In 2004, with the Harrisburg Senators for example, he hit 9 home runs in 534 at bats; not bad for his small size.
On September 17, 2004, Labandeira made his Major League debut at the age of 25. In seven games that year, he had a .000 batting average in 14 at-bats. He wore the number 1 during his tenure in the Major Leagues. He currently ranks 10th on the All-Time list of most career at-bats without a hit by a non-pitcher. The record of 23 is shared by Larry Littleton and Mike Potter.
He spent all of 2005 and 2006 playing for Harrisburg and Washington's Triple-A affiliate, the New Orleans Zephyrs. In 2007, Labandeira played for the Florida Marlins Triple-A affiliate, the Albuquerque Isotopes. He became a free agent at the end of the season. On April 22, 2008, he signed a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.
[edit] Honors and Awards
- In 2001, he was a Western Athletic Conference All-Star and the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
[edit] Other information
- In July 2005, Labandeira was suspended 15 games for violating the policies in the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
- Labandeira currently resides in Fresno, California.
- The longest Labandeira has been teammates with somebody is five years-minor leaguers Chris Schroder, Jason Stevenson, Shawn Norris, and David Maust all have been teammates with him for that long.
- Josh's cousin Jared Pimentel is the only other family member to compete in NCAA Division 1A athletics, a member of the San Jose State Spartan Football team from 2000-2003. Jared's Younger brother Brian played football at College of the Sequioas from 2002-2004, where Josh played JC baseball.
- Joshua was married in January of 2007 to college sweetheart, Rebecca Witt
