| Angel Echevarria | |
|---|---|
| Outfielder | |
| Born: May 25, 1971 Bridgeport, Connecticut |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| July 15, 1996 for the Colorado Rockies | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 29, 2002 for the Chicago Cubs | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .280 |
| Home runs | 21 |
| Runs batted in | 90 |
| Teams | |
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Angel Santos Echevarria (born May 25, 1971 in Bridgeport, Connecticut) is a retired American professional baseball player who played outfield in the Major Leagues from 1996-2002. He also played in the Japanese Pacific League, from 2003-2004.
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Echevarria was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in 1992. He spent four years in the minors before making his major league debut in June, 1996. He went back and forth between the majors and the minors from 1997–1998, but played in 102 games in 1999, hitting 11 home runs with a .293 batting average.
Echevarria was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in July, 2000, and he played a full season with the Brewers in 2001. Most of his appearances came as a pinch hitter, and he occasionally started in the outfield or at first base.
He signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs in 2002, and continued his role as a pinch hitter, playing in 50 games with 3 home runs and a .306 batting average. The Cubs released Echevarria at the end of the season, and he signed with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japanese Professional Leagues.
Echevarria's height and batting stance made it difficult for him to hit pitches in the Japanese Professional Leagues, and he was often seen flailing wildly at low breaking pitches during pre-season games. However, he managed to make adjustments, and ended 2003 with 31 home runs, 81 RBIs, with a .275 batting average. He was also hit by 12 pitches in 2003; the most in the league. Echevarria's 31 home runs were the most on the team, (tied with Michihiro Ogasawara) prompting the Fighters to sign him for the next season.
In 2004, the Fighters signed two more non-Japanese position players; Fernando Seguignol and Sherman Obando, and Echevarria was dropped lower in the batting order as Seguignol became the team's leading power hitter, and Obando re-emerged as a reliable hitter. Echevarria was unable to hit left-handed pitching in 2004, and was cut at the end of the season when it was clear opposing teams had already figured him out. Echevarria returned to the Chicago Cubs in 2005, but was released in May of the same year.
On July 12, 2002, in a game of the Chicago Cubs vs. the Florida Marlins, Angel Echevarria pinch hit for Jeff Fassero in the bottom of the 16th inning with runners on 1st and 2nd in a 4-4 ball game. In the crowd, Johnny "Wisconsin" Thornton was celebrating his 16th birthday and cheering wildly as Echevarria had signed a baseball for Thornton on the last day of the season in Milwaukee the year before. Marlins pitcher Carl Pavano delivered the sixth pitch of the at-bat that Echevarria promptly fouled away. The next moment will forever live in history as Thornton turned to his family attending the game with him and said, "All right, this is the 7th pitch (representing July the 7th month), it is my 16th birthday (representing the current inning), and Angel Echevarria who signed a baseball for me is wearing the number 12 (representing the current date). Echevarria is ending the game right here". Carl Pavano wound up his delivery as Thornton and all who heard Thornton's bold words took a deep breath. Echevarria proceeded to hit a towering liner to the Marlins center fielder Preston Wilson. Wilson stretched back and snatched the ball out of the air... only to drop it as he slammed into ivy stems that cover the hard brick wall of Wrigley. As the ball slowly rolled out of his glove and onto the warning track of America's most historic field, Corey Patterson crossed home plate to end the game.