Mark Ellis (baseball)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Oakland Athletics — No. 14 | |
| Second baseman | |
| Born: June 6, 1977 Rapid City, South Dakota |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| April 9, 2002 for the Oakland Athletics | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through June 4, 2008) |
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| Batting average | .269 |
| Home runs | 63 |
| Runs batted in | 285 |
| Teams | |
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Mark William Ellis (born June 6, 1977 in Rapid City, South Dakota) is a Major League Baseball second baseman, currently playing for the Oakland Athletics.
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[edit] Early Career
Ellis attended the University of Florida and was a ninth-round selection by the Kansas City Royals in the 1999 amateur draft. He was acquired by the A's along with outfielder Johnny Damon and pitcher Cory Lidle in a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Ben Grieve, shortstop Angel Berroa, and catcher A.J. Hinch.[1]
[edit] Major League Career
Ellis made his major-league debut in 2002, batting .272 in 98 games. He followed by hitting .248 the following season, but missed the entire 2004 season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder resulting from a collision with shortstop Bobby Crosby in a spring training game against the Chicago Cubs.[2] In 2005, he returned to the Athletics and had a successful season, leading the team in batting average (.316), on base percentage (.384), and slugging average (.477) as the team's regular second baseman.
On May 14, 2006, Ellis was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat as part of the Mother's Day Strikeout Challenge benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure.[3] He has a career batting average of .257 and holds the major league record for the most career home runs by a player born in South Dakota (39, through the end of the 2006 season).[4] In 2006, Ellis broke Bret Boone's single-season American League record for a second baseman with a .99685 fielding percentage,[5] although the Gold Glove Award went to the Royals' Mark Grudzielanek.
Ellis missed most of the A's 2006 post-season due to a hand injury suffered during Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Minnesota Twins.[6]
On June 4, 2007, Mark became only the sixth player in Oakland Athletics history to hit for the cycle. On July 23, 2007, he had his first career multi-home run game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
On August 5, 2007, he tied the A's team record for consecutive error-less games by a second baseman at 70 games.
On March 25, 2008, in the MLB season opener in Tokyo, Japan, Ellis hit a solo home run off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the first inning of a game the Red Sox would eventually win 6-5.
[edit] Personal Life
Ellis is currently married with one child, a baby boy named Briggs who was born in the same week that he'd hit for the cycle.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Mark Ellis Statistics: Transactions. Sports Reference, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ Nelson, Steve (April 10, 2004). Ellis out for the season. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ MLB.com (May 9, 2006). "Major League Baseball, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation team up for "Strikeout Challenge" Mother's Day promotion". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ Players Born in South Dakota. Sports Reference, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ 2007 Oakland Athletics Media Guide (PDF), MLB Advanced Media, p. 69. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ Quinn, Ryan (October 5, 2006). Notes: A's defense takes a hit. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
[edit] External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
