Jim Edmonds

Jim Edmonds
Edmonds batting for the Cardinals
San Diego Padres – No. 15
Center fielder
Bats: Left Throws: Left
debut
September 9, 1993, for the California Angels
Career statistics (through 2007)
Batting average	.287
Doubles	395
Home runs	362
Runs batted in	1,121
Slugging percentage	.531
Teams
California/Anaheim Angels (1993-1999) St. Louis Cardinals (2000-2007) San Diego Padres (2008-present)
Career highlights and awards
8 Gold Gloves (1997-2005) Four-time All-Star (1995, 2000, 2003, 2005) Silver Slugger (2004)

James Patrick Edmonds (born June 27, 1970 in Fullerton, California) is a left-handed center fielder for the San Diego Padres. Edmonds has also played for the California/Anaheim Angels and the St. Louis Cardinals. Cardinals fans affectionately know him as Jimmy Baseball, Jimmy Ballgame, "Lassie" and as "Hollywood."

Edmonds is currently signed with the Padres through the end of the 2008 season. Former Cardinal general manager Walt Jocketty had said that the team would like to have Edmonds finish his career in St. Louis. However, Jocketty's successor John Mozeliak traded Edmonds to San Diego on December 14, 2007, roughly two months after assuming the role of General Manager.

Early in his Major League career the California Angels selected him in the seventh round of the 1988 draft. 2008 will be his 16th season in the Majors. Edmonds was traded from Anaheim to St. Louis for second baseman Adam Kennedy and pitcher Kent Bottenfield shortly before the beginning of the 2000 season. Jim Edmonds' fielding ability has earned him recognition from Major League coaches and managers, who voted him a Rawlings Gold Glove winner eight times in nine seasons from 1998 to 2005.

Playing style

A patient but sometimes erratic hitter, Jim is among the top players in the NL in pitches seen per plate appearance, although it is not rare for him to swing at the first pitch of an at-bat, hitting 12 first pitch homers in the 2004 season. Unlike most left-handed batters, Edmonds has good power hitting to the opposite field, and hits reasonably well against left-handed pitchers with a lifetime batting average of .255 against lefties. He has a career On-base plus slugging of .910 and slugging percentage of .531. Though he can be a menace to opposing pitching staffs, Edmonds can be contained by pitchers who feature good high fastballs and change ups low in the strike zone. He is often criticized for his consistently high strikeout totals on a yearly basis. One of the best defensive center fielders in baseball history, Edmonds has proven to have a flair for the dramatic, often coming up with his best plays in crucial situations late in games. Although he is known to have a propensity to slow down his route to the ball in order to make a diving play.

Throughout his career, Edmonds has played first base in stretches, usually as a result of injury to a starting first basemen, but sometimes simply to provide rest to regular position players, or give another outfielder playing time. With Albert Pujols suffering an oblique injury in June of the 2006 season, Edmonds made six starts at first. For a secondary position, Edmonds handles the glove extremely well at first base, with no career errors at the position in over 350 innings of work. Edmonds' natural left-handed throwing arm aids him at first.

He has hit 30 or more home runs in five seasons, while maintaining a .287 career batting average, and has knocked in over 1,100 runs in his career. He has also received eight Gold Glove Awards in his career at center field, most of them coming as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Two of Edmonds' most spectacular defensive plays came while on the Cardinals and the Angels. In June 1997, while playing center field for the Anaheim Angels, Edmonds ran straight back towards the center field wall of Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and dove outstretched for a fly ball over his head, making the catch on the warning track. His other memorable catch came when on the St. Louis Cardinals on July 16, 2004, while covering center field against Red's batter Jason LaRue. LaRue hit a deep shot to center field that surely would have been enough to be a home run. However, Edmonds had other plans. On a dead run, he scaled the wall, reached his entire right arm over the fence, and caught the ball. Edmonds was shocked himself to find the ball sitting inside his glove, not to mention the fans, or even LaRue, who walked back to the dugout with his mouth agape.

A defining moment of Edmonds' career came in the 2004 National League Championship Series, in which Edmonds hit an extra-inning home run to win Game 6. In Game 7, Edmonds made a spectacular defensive play in center, helping the Cardinals win the pennant. On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Edmonds was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation. In 2006, Edmonds helped the St. Louis Cardinals win their first World Series title since 1982 while contributing 4 RBIs.

Edmonds, along with Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen, earned the nickname MV3 for their phenomenal 2004 seasons.

Edmonds was on the cover of MLB Slugfest 2004, an anything-goes baseball game.

On December 15, 2007, he was traded to the San Diego Padres for David Freese. As part of the deal, the Cardinals also agreed to pay part of Edmonds' 2008 salary. Edmonds' 241 home runs with the Cardinals are the fourth-most in franchise history.

Edmonds strained his right-calf during a Spring Training game on March 7, 2008 and will miss the next 3 weeks. Edmonds is scheduled to have an MRI exam on the calf in San Diego. <ref http://sports.yahoo.com>

See also

• List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• Gold Glove Award
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Jim Edmonds' photo gallery
• Jim Edmonds page at stlcardinals.scout.com