Chone Figgins

Chone Figgins
Seattle Mariners — No. 9
Third Baseman
Born: January 22, 1978 (1978-01-22) (age 33) Leary, Georgia
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 25, 2002 for the Anaheim Angels
Career statistics (through 2011 Season)
Batting average	.280
Home runs	33
Runs batted in	391
Hits	1,255
Stolen bases	333
Teams
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim[1] (2002–2009) Seattle Mariners (2010–present)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (2002) 1x All-Star selection (2009)

Desmond DeChone "Chone" Figgins ( /ˈʃɒn/; born January 22, 1978 in Leary, Georgia) is an American Major League Baseball third baseman for the Seattle Mariners. Figgins is a utility player, playing all positions except catcher, pitcher, and first base.

Career

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

A fourth-round draft pick by the Rockies in the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft, Figgins played baseball at North Brandon Little League in Brandon, Florida. He attended Brandon High School where he was a third-team High School All-American as a senior. He was acquired by the Angels in a trade in 2001 for Kimera Bartee.

Figgins made his major league debut in 2002 for the World Series-winning Angels, used mostly as a pinch runner. His first full season in the majors was 2004. His breakout year came in 2005, when he was moved to leadoff hitter after original leadoff hitter David Eckstein signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. He used his speed to steal a major league-high 62 bases, the second-most in Angels history. That year, he played two positions in the same game 24 times. He was named team co-MVP of the 2005 season for the Angels, along with Bartolo Colón.

Prior to the 2006 season, the Angels signed Figgins to a three-year, $10.5-million deal. He had been eligible for salary arbitration.^[2]

Figgins became the sixth Angel to hit for the cycle on September 16, 2006, in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Against the Oakland Athletics on September 29, 2006, Figgins hit his first career inside-the-park home run at Angel Stadium.

Along with third base, Figgins also plays shortstop, second base, and all three outfield positions. Although he was initially considered for the center field job in 2006, the Angels decided to move Darin Erstad back to the position. Figgins became the starter at third base.^[3] With Erstad on the disabled list for much of the season, however, Figgins saw more time in center field.

Figgins stealing a base for the Angels in 2007.

On March 21, 2007, in a spring training game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Figgins suffered two broken fingers on his throwing hand while attempting to field a ground ball hit by Conor Jackson. He began the season on the disabled list and was out for five to six weeks.^[4]

In June 2007, Figgins recorded an Angels team-record 53 hits in a month, breaking the record set by Darin Erstad in April 2000. With six hits on June 18, 2007, against the Houston Astros, including a walk-off triple, Figgins matched the American League record for most hits in a nine-inning game. On July 15, 2007, Figgins stole his 187th base as an Angel, breaking the 20-year-old club record previously held by Gary Pettis, in attendance that day as a coach for the visiting Texas Rangers.

In 2009, Figgins was selected to his first All-Star Game. American League manager Joe Maddon, a former bench coach with the Angels, selected Figgins to fill the roster spot vacated by injured Tampa Bay Rays third-baseman Evan Longoria.^[5]

Although Figgins stole 42 bases in 2009, he was caught 17 times – tied for the most in the majors.^[6]

2009 free agency

Following the close of the 2009 season, Figgins became a free agent. Figgins was expected to sign a $50 million deal and was considered the most desirable third baseman on the market, drawing interest from Philadelphia, the Mets and both Chicago teams.^[7] ESPN wrote "Figgins probably ranks as the third baseman most likely to be in demand, especially given his versatility."^[8]

Seattle Mariners

On December 4, 2009, it was reported that Figgins and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a four-year contract worth approximately $36 million with a vesting option for 2014 that could increase the value to $45 million over five years.^[9] The deal was finalized on December 8 .^[10]

During spring training for the 2010 season, Figgins was converted to second base, moving teammate Jose Lopez to third.

Figgins had his worst year to date in 2010, batting just .259, though he did match his previous season stolen base total of 42. Following the season, Figgins converted back to third base, due to the departure of former teammate Jose Lopez. Figgins is currently off to a slow start again in 2011, batting just .185 with 9 errors, also having been caught stealing 6 times as of July 6th. He has mostly been replaced as the everyday 3B by Adam Kennedy.

See also

• Hitting for the cycle
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions

References

1. ^ Originally the Anaheim Angels
2. ^ Scarr, Mike. Angels lock up Figgins, Rivera, MLB.com, January 14, 2006
3. ^ Scarr, Mike. Angels shifting Erstad back to center, MLB.com, January 11, 2006
4. ^ Harris, Beth. Despite 0-for-22 slump, Angels leadoff hitter Chone Figgins is prepped for playoffs, Associated Press, October 1, 2007
5. ^ Singer, Tom. Injured finger sidelines Longoria; Rangers' Young to start; Angels' Figgins added to roster
6. ^ "MLB Player Batting Stats – 2009," ESPN, accessed October 8, 2009
7. ^ Shaikin, Bill (2009-11-20). "For Angels, Jason Bay, John Lackey and Chone Figgins are all in play". latimes.com. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-shaikin-dodgers20-2009nov20,0,2237535.story. Retrieved 2009-11-26. 
8. ^ Edes, Gordon (November 29, 2009). "There's one problem with trading Lowell: Teams have other safer, cheaper options at third base". espn.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/columns/story?id=4694384. 
9. ^ Bell, Gregg. AP source: M’s, 3B Figgins have $36M, 4-yr deal
10. ^ Associated Press (December 8, 2009). "Figgins, Mariners finalize $36 million, four-year deal". si.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/12/08/mariners.figgins.ap/index.html. 

External links

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

Preceded by Carl Crawford

American League Stolen Base Champion 2005

Succeeded by Carl Crawford

Persondata
Name	Figgins, Chone
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 22, 1978
Place of birth	Leary, Georgia
Date of death
Place of death