Ramón Santiago
| Ramón Santiago | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Cincinnati Reds | |
| Infielder | |
|
Born: August 31, 1979 Las Matas de Farfán, Dominican Republic | |
| Bats: Switch | Throws: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| May 17, 2002 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Career statistics (through 2013 season) | |
| Batting average | .243 |
| Home runs | 28 |
| Runs batted in | 197 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Ramón DeJesus Santiago Dominguez (born August 31, 1979) is a Dominican Republic professional baseball infielder for the Cincinnati Reds. He has spent most of his major league career at shortstop, but has also played a significant amount of time at second base, and occasionally third base. Santiago played for the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2003, the Seattle Mariners from 2004 to 2005, and again with the Tigers starting in 2006.
Career
Detroit Tigers (2002–2003)
Santiago made his major league debut for the Tigers in 2002. Used mainly as a backup, he was still named to the 2002 Topps All-Star Rookie Roster. During his rookie season, Santiago hit first-inning lead-off home runs on consecutive days (June 3, 2002[1] and June 4, 2002[2]). In the June 3 game, he hit a second home run in the seventh inning. In 2003, Santiago assumed the starting shortstop role for the Tigers.
Seattle Mariners (2004–2005)
Santiago struggled and was traded, along with Juan Gonzalez, to Seattle in exchange for Carlos Guillén.
During Santiago's two seasons with the Mariners, he played in only 27 games, spending most of his time in the minor leagues for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. While playing for the Rainiers, Santiago was selected as the team's MVP[3] and Best Glove in 2005. He was also selected as the 2005 Top Second Baseman for the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.[4] However, Santiago was released following the 2005 season.
Second stint with the Detroit Tigers (2006–2013)
After playing in the Seattle organization in 2004 and 2005, Santiago was released and re-signed by the Tigers as a free agent for the 2006 season.
Santiago played in 43 regular-season games and started in 18 games for the American League Champion Tigers in 2006. He played shortstop, second base and third base and did not make an error in 2052⁄3 innings of play. Santiago started at shortstop in Game 1 and Game 2 of the 2006 World Series.
Santiago played for the Cibao Gigantes in the Dominican Winter League in 2009 and 2010. He led the team to a second-place finish in the Dominican Winter League Championships in 2010 and was asked to play shortstop for the Escogido Leones on Team Dominicana in the 2010 Caribbean World Series, which the Dominican won as Santiago hit .316 at the plate.
During the Tigers run to the 2011 American League Central Division championship, Santiago played in 101 games, mostly at second base, and hit .260. His season highlights included a walk-off home run on August 30, which gave the Tigers a 2–1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the bottom of the 10th inning. He also drove in the winning run with a walk-off triple in a June 13 game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
On November 30, 2011, the Tigers re-signed Santiago to a two-year extension, which kept him on the team through the 2013 season.[5]
With the return of Omar Infante in July 2012, Santiago lost his every day second base position. He still played some games as a pinch hitter and as a late-inning defensive replacement. He also started at second and shortstop when needed. In a July 2013 game versus the Toronto Blue Jays, Colby Rasmus slid into second base, slide-tackling Omar Infante. Infante was injured and placed on the disabled list. Santiago was called into the game and finished it out, and played several more games at second base until Infante returned.
References
- ↑ "June 3, 2002 Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers Play by Play and Box Score". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
- ↑ "June 4, 2002 Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers Play by Play and Box Score". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved August 9, 2008.
- ↑ "Santiago signs with Tigers in Minors". Retrieved September 9, 2011.
- ↑ "About Ramon". Retrieved September 9, 2011.
- ↑ Tigers re-sign Santiago to a two-year contract MLB.com November 30, 2011
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)