Shawn Gilbert

Albert Shawn Gilbert Jr. (born March 12, 1965 in Camden, New Jersey) is a former Major League Baseball player. He attended Agua Fria Union High School in Avondale, Arizona. After high school, he attended Fresno State and Arizona State University.

Gilbert was drafted four times by for three different teams-the Dodgers, Reds and Twins. It wasn't until their second try that the Twins were able to finally sign him in 1987.

The 5'9", 185 pound Gilbert was not too imposing (some sources say he was as small as 170 pounds), but he held his own in the minors by using his small stature to swipe 40 or more bases in 3 out of 4 seasons between 1988 and 1991. He also hit .372 in 43 at-bats with Visalia in 1988.

Gilbert, who batted and threw right-handed, made his major league debut June 2, 1997. Over the next few years, he bounced between the majors and minors. He ended up swiping only 2 bases in 51 total major league games and hitting .149.

An interesting fact about Gilbert's major league career is in 51 games, he only had 47 at-bats and he scored more runs than had actual hits. Rarely for someone to appear in 50 or more career games does anyone have more runs than hits and more games than at-bats. Two other examples of this are Charles Gipson and Glen Barker.

His last major league game was July 2, 2000, with the Dodgers.

He ended up retiring from professional baseball in 2003 at the age of 38 after playing for the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in 2001, then in the Dodgers and Pirates farm systems in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Willie Banks, David West and Jarvis Brown had been teammates of Gilbert for four seasons, longer than any other teammates.

Gilbert currently lives in Long Beach, California and is an assistant baseball coach at Long Beach State.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Long Beach State bio