Plácido Polanco

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plácido Polanco

Polanco while with the Phillies
Detroit Tigers — No. 14
Second baseman
Born: October 10, 1975 (1975-10-10) (age 32) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
July 3, 1998 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Selected MLB statistics (through May 20, 2008)
Batting average	.305
Home runs	74
Runs batted in	463
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (1998–2002) Philadelphia Phillies (2002–2005) Detroit Tigers (2005–present)
Highlights and awards
Silver Slugger Award winner (2007) Gold Glove Award winner (2007) All-Star selection (2007)

Plácido Enrique Polanco (pronounced: ˈplɑsiːdoː ɛnˈriːke poːˈlɑŋkoː) (born October 10, 1975) is a Dominican Major League Baseball player who has played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Detroit Tigers. He is primarily a second baseman, but occasionally plays shortstop and third base.

Drafted on June 2, 1994 by the Cardinals in the 19th round of the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft, Polanco was promoted to the major leagues in 1998. His first major league hit was a single off Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Brett Tomko on July 5, 1998. Earning the starting third base job in 2001, his low strikeout-walk ratio and extra-base hits numbers established Polanco as a contact hitter. His career at-bats per strikeout ratio (14.19) ranks second only to Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Juan Pierre among active players.

On July 29, 2002, Polanco, Mike Timlin, and Bud Smith were acquired by the Phillies for Scott Rolen, Doug Nickle and cash. Polanco was shifted to second base as David Bell was signed from free agency to play third base. He began to develop power while playing for the Phillies as he hit 14 and 17 home runs in the following two years, compared with just nine in 2002. He became a free agent following the 2004 season and was rumored to be returning to the Phillies.

The Phillies did sign Polanco for 2005, but sent him to the Tigers in June 2005 in a trade for veteran right-hander Ugueth Urbina and infielder Ramon Martinez, allowing the Phillies to play Chase Utley every day at second base. Polanco finished the 2005 season batting .338 with the Tigers, and also having a career year with regards to OPS, finishing the season at .847. In addition, he led the majors in lowest strikeout percentage (5.0%) for the season.[1]

Polanco was a key player in the 2006 Division and Championship series for the Tigers, being named Most Valuable Player of the ALCS. However, he did not record a single hit in the 2006 World Series, in which the Tigers lost to the Cardinals in 5 games.

Polanco is also a close friend of former teammate and current Cardinals First Baseman Albert Pujols, and is godfather to Pujols's son Ismael.

[edit] 2007 highlights

In 2007, Polanco set a new Major League record for 2nd basemen by playing in his 144th consecutive errorless game on August 13, in a 7-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Curt Flood currently holds the record for consecutive errorless games with 226, but he is a center fielder. Polanco appeared to have his streak snapped at 147 games when he was charged with an error in the first inning of the August 24 game vs. the New York Yankees^[1]. However, the next day, after conferring with the umpiring crew, the official scorer determined the error was instead charged to first baseman Marcus Thames^[2]. This extended the streak to 149 games. Polanco also broke the record for consecutive chances without an error by a second baseman July 31^[3]. He passed Luis Castillo's mark of 647. Polanco finished the 2007 season without making an error, thereby becoming the first everyday second baseman in MLB history to play an entire season without committing an error ^[4] This in addition to contributing to 101 double plays, earned Polanco his first Gold Glove Award.^[5]

In addition to his fielding feats, Polanco batted a career-high .341 in 2007, and reached a career high in hits with 200. He also had the lowest strikeout percentage in the major leagues (5.1%).^[6] For his efforts, he was given the Silver Slugger award at second base.

[edit] See also

• List of players from Dominican Republic in Major League Baseball

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube

[edit] References