Dave Magadan

Dave Magadan
Third baseman / First baseman
Born: September 30, 1962 (1962-09-30) (age 49) Tampa, Florida
Batted: Left	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 7, 1986 for the New York Mets
Last MLB appearance
September 26, 2001 for the San Diego Padres
Career statistics
Batting average	.288
Hits	1,197
Runs batted in	495
Teams
New York Mets (1986–1992) Florida Marlins (1993) Seattle Mariners (1993) Florida Marlins (1994) Houston Astros (1995) Chicago Cubs (1996) Oakland Athletics (1997–1998) San Diego Padres (1999–2001)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (2007) 1983 Golden Spikes Award

David Joseph Magadan (born September 30, 1962 in Tampa, Florida) is a former Major League Baseball first and third baseman and current Red Sox Hitting Coach. He is the cousin and godson of former manager, Lou Piniella.

Amateur playing career

Magadan is 6'4" tall, weighs 245 lbs, batted from the left side, and threw from the right. While a student at Jesuit High School of Tampa, Magadan was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the twelfth round of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft, but elected not to sign and remain in school. His status as a prospect improved after he led West Tampa Memorial Post No. 248 to a win against a team from Richmond, Virginia in the American Legion World Series and was named series Most Valuable Player. He also received the George W. Rulon American Legion Baseball Player of the Year award.^[1]

After high school, Magadan attended the University of Alabama, where, in 1983, his .525 batting average led the entire National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), while setting an SEC Southeastern Conference record, and is still the fifth best in NCAA history. After defeating Michigan and Arizona State University twice, Alabama lost to the University of Texas at Austin in the 1983 College World Series. Magadan was named the All-Tournament Team's first baseman. He also was selected as an AP All-American, was named the starting designated hitter on The Sporting News's college All-America team, received College Player of the Year honors from Baseball America and won USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award as the best amateur baseball player. His .439 career batting average is the SEC record and tenth best in NCAA history.

Minor leagues

Following his breakthrough season at Alabama, Magadan was selected by the New York Mets with the 32nd overall pick of the 1983 Major League Baseball Draft, early in the second round. He was assigned to the South Atlantic League's Columbia Mets, with whom he batted .336 with three home runs.

Magadan did not hit any home runs his next two seasons, and really didn't display much power as a prospect, but he consistently hit for a high batting average and displayed excellent plate discipline, with a low strikeout rate and twice as many walks as strikeouts. He advanced steadily through the system, and was a September call-up for the 1986 championship squad.

New York Mets

He made his major league debut on September 7, 1986 pinch hitting for Kevin Elster, and hitting a double in his first major league at-bat.^[2] He won the hearts of Mets fans in his first major league start on September 17, by hitting three singles, and reaching on an error in his four at-bats, and collecting two RBIs in the Mets' National League Eastern division clincher.^[3] For the season, Magadan went eight for eighteen for a .444 batting average.

Blocked at third base by Howard Johnson and at first by Keith Hernandez, Magadan still found his way into the lineup on a semi-regular basis in 1987 and 1988. He provided a quality bat in late-inning situations and a capable spot starter whenever a regular needed a day off. Manager Davey Johnson even went so far as to move Johnson to shortstop for 30 games a year, just to get Magadan more playing time.

Magadan became the Mets' regular first baseman in 1989 when injuries limited Hernandez to 75 games and a .233 batting average. Contrary to early reports of a mediocre glove, Magadan proved himself to be adequate at first, though certainly not in Hernandez' class. Hernandez's contract expired after the season, and rather than awarding the starting first base job to Magadan, the Mets acquired Mike Marshall from the Los Angeles Dodgers to play first in 1990.

Marshall batted only .239 for the Mets, and had lost his starting job to Magadan by the time he was dealt to the Boston Red Sox on July 27. Magadan batted .328, which ranked third in the league, and his .417 on-base percentage was good for second place. He also ranked eighth in walks and fifth in sacrifice flies, and even drew four points in MVP voting.

In 1992, the Mets signed Eddie Murray as a free agent, shifted Johnson to centerfield and moved Magadan across the diamond to third. Following the season, he signed as a free agent with the Florida Marlins.

Florida Marlins

Magadan was in the starting line-up for the Marlins for their inaugural season opener, going one for four in the Marlins' 6-3 victory over the Dodgers.^[4] On June 27, 1993, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners for Henry Cotto and Jeff Darwin. After the season, he was traded back to the Marlins even up for Darwin and cash. Magadan batted .275 backing up third and first for the Marlins in 1994. At the end of the season, he signed as a free agent with the Houston Astros.

Houston Astros

Magadan found himself once again with a starting job in Houston, batting .313 as their regular third baseman. Still, the Astros chose not to resign Magadan at the end of the 1995 season, choosing instead to acquire Sean Berry from the Montreal Expos to play third.

Oakland A's

Magadan signed with the Chicago Cubs in 1996. Injuries and a gold glove first baseman (Mark Grace) limited him to pinch hitting duties, and he batted only .254 used sparingly by manager Jim Riggleman. He signed a one year deal with the Oakland Athletics at the end of the season, and made 328 plate appearances in 1997, splitting his time fairly evenly between first, third and designated hitter. He batted .303 with four home runs, and resigned with the A's at the end of the season. While Magadan received far less playing time in 1998, he still emerged with a .321 batting average.

San Diego Padres

Magadan signed with the San Diego Padres in 1999 to back up first and third base. He made his first career appearance as a short for the Padres in 2000, and in 2001, he made his only appearance at second base.

Seasons	Games	AB	PA	Runs	Hits	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	HBP	Avg.	Slg.	OBP
16	1582	4159	4963	516	1197	218	13	42	495	11	718	546	12	.288	.377	.390

Magadan had a career .994 fielding percentage at first base and .951 at third.

Coaching career

After his retirement as a player, Magadan was hired by the Padres as their minor league hitting instructor in 2002, and served as their major league batting coach from 2003 to 2006. On June 15, 2006, with the Padres batting .252 as a team (last in the National League), Magadan was fired by Padres GM Kevin Towers and replaced by former Padres hitting coach Merv Rettenmund. Their .322 in on base percentage and .391 slugging percentage was second to last to the Chicago Cubs.^[5]

On October 20, 2006, Magadan was named hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox.^[6] In his first season on the job, Magadan's Red Sox would go on to see great improvements in batting average (.269 to .279), slugging percentage (.435 to .444) and on base percentage (.351 to .362), and led the American League with 689 walks. In 2007, Boston would finally end their arch rival New York Yankees' nine year run as American League Eastern division champions, and went on to sweep the Colorado Rockies in the 2007 World Series. The BoSox batted .333 in the World Series.

The Red Sox were among the league leaders in all batting categories again in 2008, leading the major leagues with a .358 on-base percentage and 646 walks, and ranking second in the American League in batting average (.280), runs (845), doubles (353), RBIs (807) and total bases (2,503), and finishing third in slugging percentage (.447).

Magadan was suspended for one game on June 26, 2009 for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Bob Davidson June 24.^[7] While still making the post season as a wild card, the Red Sox saw a substantial dip in all categories in 2009, and were eliminated in the first round of the play offs against the Los Angeles Angels.

Preceded by Augie Schmidt New Orleans University	Golden Spikes Award 1983	Succeeded by Oddibe McDowell Arizona State
Preceded by Ron Jackson	Red Sox Hitting Coach 2007-present	Succeeded by current

References

1. ^ "American Legion Baseball Scholarships & Awards". http://www.baseball.legion.org/awards.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-31. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "New York Mets 6, San Diego Padres 5". 1986-09-07. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198609072.shtml. 
3. ^ "New York Mets 4, Chicago Cubs 2". 1986-09-17. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198609170.shtml. 
4. ^ "Florida Marlins 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 3". 1993-04-05. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO199304050.shtml. 
5. ^ "Padres tab Rettenmund hitting coach. Magadan replaced in effort to boost inconsistent offense". http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060615&content_id=1507851&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd. Retrieved 2006-06-30. 
6. ^ "Red Sox Manager & Coaches". http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/team/coach_staff_bio.jsp?c_id=bos&coachorstaffid=118132. Retrieved 2009-06-30. 
7. ^ "Magadan suspended following ejection". http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4290317. Retrieved 2009-06-31. 

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Persondata
Name	Magadan, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 30, 1962
Place of birth	Tampa, Florida
Date of death
Place of death