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Cristian Guzmán

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Cristian Guzmán
Guzmán with the Washington Nationals
Shortstop
Born: (1978-03-21) March 21, 1978 (age 46)
Bani, Dominican Republic
Batted: Switch
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 6, 1999, for the Minnesota Twins
Last MLB appearance
September 8, 2010, for the Texas Rangers
MLB statistics
Batting average.271
Home runs62
Runs batted in467
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Cristian Antonio Guzmán (born March 21, 1978) is a Dominican former professional baseball shortstop in Major League Baseball.

Professional career

Minnesota Twins

Guzmán was acquired by the Minnesota Twins in 1998 from the New York Yankees organization as part of the Chuck Knoblauch trade.

In 2001, Guzmán was named to the AL All-Star team and posted career bests with 10 home runs and a .302 batting average. He was a key part of the Twins teams that won three consecutive American League Central titles from 2002–2004. While a Twin, he led the American League in triples in 2000 (20), 2001 (14) and 2003 (14). His total of 20 in 2000 was only the tenth time a player had reached that number in the last 70 years.[1]

Washington Nationals

After becoming a free agent, Guzmán signed a $16.8 million, four-year contract with the Washington Nationals for the 2005 season but then proceeded to have the worst year of his career. As the full-time shortstop, he was batting .192 at the end of August, but rallied in September, hitting .325, which helped bring his average up to .219.[2]

Three days after the disastrous 2005 season, Guzmán had eye surgery,[3] which he credited as a prime reason for his resurgence in the following years.[4]

Guzmán was sidelined for the entire 2006 campaign with a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery, but returned in 2007 as the Nationals' starting shortstop following the trade of second baseman José Vidro to the Seattle Mariners and the move of Felipe López to second base. However, he injured his hamstring on the first day of the regular season. He was on the disabled list until May 7, 2007. Batting leadoff, he was hitting .329 (second on the team), and despite missing almost half of the season through late June, was third in the league with six triples. On June 24, however, Guzmán was injured while tagging out a would-be base-stealer, and had surgery the next day to repair a torn thumb ligament, sidelining him for the rest of the 2007 season.[5]

On March 30, 2008, Guzmán got the first hit in the history of Nationals Park, a broken bat single to right off Atlanta Braves starter Tim Hudson. He followed with the first run in the history of the park, after an RBI double by Nick Johnson. He made the NL All-Star team as the Nationals' lone representative in 2008. He ended up playing third base in the All-Star Game, and made some crucial fielding plays at that position, even though he had previously only played shortstop as a major leaguer. On August 28, 2008, Guzmán hit for the cycle against the Los Angeles Dodgers; only the second cycle in Nationals history. Guzman signed a two-year contract extension to stay with the Nats.

He finished the 2008 season as 4th the league in hits and batting average.[6] By the All-Star break in 2009, he was fourth among active players for triples.[7]

He had the lowest fielding percentage of any starting major league shortstop in 2009 (.962).[8]

Texas Rangers

On July 31, 2010, the Texas Rangers acquired Guzmán from the Nationals for two minor leaguers, Tanner Roark and Ryan Tatusko.[9] Guzman played his first game as a Ranger on August 1 against the Angels in L.A. and went 0–3 with a walk.

2011

Although Guzmán received spring training invitations from two teams, he was forced to miss at least the first half of the season to deal with unspecified family issues.[10]

Cleveland Indians

Guzmán signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians on February 21, 2012. After suffering a strained hamstring during spring training, he was released by the Indians on March 28.[11]

Personal life

He now resides in New Jersey with his three kids Cristian Jr., Cris Anthony, Crisangelie and wife Maria.

See also

References

  1. ^ Joseph A. Reaves (June 23, 2007). "Triple's always something special". The Arizona Republic.
  2. ^ Thomas Boswell (June 27, 2007). "Hot Hand Felled By a Bum Thumb". Washington Post. p. E01.
  3. ^ "After eye surgery, Nationals shortstop sees a brighter year: 'This is the new Guzie'". AP. February 21, 2006.
  4. ^ Barry Svrluga (May 4, 2008). "Guzmán Reemerges in '08: Shortstop Hits a Homer, Drives in 6 Runs in Victory Over Pirates: Nationals 9, Pirates 8". Washington Post. p. D08.
  5. ^ Barry Svrluga (June 26, 2007). "Guzman's Injury Likely Ends Season". Washington Post. p. E01.
  6. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guzmacr01.shtml
  7. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/3B_active.shtml
  8. ^ "MLB Player Fielding Stats – As ss – 2009" ESPN, accessed October 6, 2009
  9. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100730&content_id=12809524&vkey=tradedeadline2010&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
  10. ^ "Cristian Guzman to miss at least first half of season". March 5, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  11. ^ "Cristian Guzman, Fred Lewis out". ESPN.com. March 28, 2012.
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