Andre Ethier
Los Angeles Dodgers – No. 16
Right fielder
Born: (1982-04-10) April 10, 1982 (age 31) Phoenix, Arizona
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
May 2, 2006 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Career statistics (through May 20, 2013)
Batting average	.289
Hits	1,060
Home runs	133
Runs batted in	550
Runs	511
Teams
Los Angeles Dodgers (2006–present)
Career highlights and awards
Silver Slugger Award (2009) 2× All-Star (2010–2011) Gold Glove Award (2011)

Andre Everett Ethier (/ˈiːθiər/; born April 10, 1982), is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 2009, Ethier hit six walk off hits (including four walk off home runs), which was the most by any player in the Major Leagues since 1974.^[1] His four walk-off home runs tied the Major League record for most in a season.^[2] He earned the nickname Captain Clutch by Dodgers fans due to his late inning heroics.

Early life[edit]

Junior College career[edit]

Ethier transferred to Chandler-Gilbert Community College after playing with Arizona State University in the fall of 2000. The coaching staff at ASU told him that they thought he did not have Division I talent, and that he would do better to play junior college ball. At CGCC, Ethier recorded 94 hits as one of the top junior college players in Arizona, batting .468 with 32 doubles. He was named team MVP. During the summer of 2001, he played with the Keene Swamp Bats in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. In 2010, Ethier was inducted into the NECBL Hall of Fame.

Arizona State[edit]

Ethier re-enrolled at ASU in the fall of 2001 and played there until the end of his junior year in 2003 with an ASU career batting average of .371, 113 runs, 27 doubles, 7 triples, 14 home runs and 118 runs batted in. His collegiate career ended in the midst of a 23-game hitting streak. He was a two-time Pacific-10 Conference All-Star in 2002–03.

During the summer of 2002, Ethier played with the Rochester Honkers of the Northwoods League, one of the country's premier summer collegiate baseball leagues. Ethier tied for the team lead in home runs(4), batted .264, led the team with 34 RBIs and won a Northwoods League Silver Glove for his defensive play in right field.

While at ASU he was teammate and good friends with current Boston Red Sox second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, and current Texas Rangers second baseman, Ian Kinsler.

Professional career[edit]

MLB Draft and minor leagues[edit]

Ethier was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 37th round of the 2001 amateur draft. Opting to attend ASU instead, he was drafted in the second round of the 2003 amateur draft, again by the Oakland Athletics. He signed with the Athletics on July 1, 2003.

Oakland assigned him to the Single-A Vancouver Canadians and later to the Kane County Cougars for the 2003 season. His minor-league career continued in 2004 with the Modesto Athletics, where he hit .313, and in 2005 with the Midland RockHounds Double-A team, where he hit .319 with 18 homers and was selected as the Texas League Most Valuable Player, Oakland Athletics Minor League Player of the Year, Texas League All-Star Outfielder and Texas League All-Star Game MVP. He also played four games in 2005 with the Sacramento Rivercats Triple-A team. [1]

On December 13, 2005, Ethier was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez.

Major league career[edit]

2006 season[edit]

Ethier hit a double and drew a walk in his Major League Baseball debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 2, 2006, against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his home state of Arizona and hit his first home run the next night against Dewon Brazelton of the San Diego Padres.

Ethier in 2008

On May 19, 2006, Ethier had a breakout game, going 5 for 5 with four runs scored as he raised his batting average from .222 to .317. He remained hot throughout the summer and was named National League Player of the Week for the week ending July 9, 2006. Ethier batted very well for much of the season with his average peaking at .354 before a late slump dropped it to .308 at season's end.^[3] An early front-runner for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, he finished fifth in voting.^[4] He used the song Alive by P.O.D. as his batting song his rookie year.

2007 season[edit]

Ethier entered the 2007 Season expecting to split time with Matt Kemp, and Luis Gonzalez in the outfield, but Ethier got a lot of playing time early due to an injury to Kemp. Ethier enjoyed a solid sophomore campaign, playing in 153 games while batting .284, with 13 home runs, and 64 RBIs.

2008 season[edit]

Ethier beat out Juan Pierre to become the Dodgers starting left fielder for the start of the 2008 season. When the Dodgers acquired outfielder Manny Ramirez, he moved to his more natural position of right field, with Kemp playing center field. In the regular season, Ethier played in 141 games, had 525 at bats, scored 90 runs, had 160 hits, hit an average .305 batting avg. with 20 Homers and 77 RBIs.

2009 season[edit]

In 2009, Ethier hit .272 with a career best 31 home runs and 106 RBIs. He was a key contributor for the Dodgers that season, with six walk off hits (including four walk off home runs), the most by any player in the Major Leagues since 1974.^[5] His four walk-off home runs tied the Major League record for most in a season.^[6] On June 26, 2009, Ethier hit three home runs in a game against the Seattle Mariners, driving in a career-high six runs. He won the Silver Slugger Award and finished 6th in MVP voting at the conclusion of the season.

2010 season[edit]

Ethier got off to a strong start to the 2010 season, leading the National League in home runs, RBI and batting average, but he broke his pinky finger on his right hand during batting practice on May 15, and was placed on the 15-day disabled list three days later.^[7] On July 4, Ethier was selected to start on the National League All Star team with more than 2.7 million votes. He slumped down the stretch, finishing with a .292 batting average, 23 home runs and 82 RBI in 139 games.

2011 season[edit]

Ethier set a new MLB record for April with a 23-game hitting streak on April 26 against the Florida Marlins, breaking the old record set by Joe Torre.^[8] On April 30 Ethier extended this same streak to 27 games, moving past two former Dodgers to stand alone in second place in the franchise's history of hitting streaks and tie the Dodgers record for the most hits in April.^[9] The streak eventually reached 30 games, second most in Dodger franchise history, before it ended on May 7 against the New York Mets. Ethier was a Final Vote candidate for the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game but finished second to Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies. However, Victorino was injured and unable to participate so Ethier was selected to replace him on the All-Star roster.^[10]

Ethier became the subject of some controversy in the second half of the season. Los Angeles Times columinst TJ Simers wrote an article that quoted Ethier as saying his production was down in 2011 because of a knee injury that he had been battling all season, and implying that the Dodgers were forcing him to play despite his injury.^[11] Manager Don Mattingly called himself "blindsided" by the story and responded that he would never make a player play hurt.^[12] After a meeting with Mattingly and GM Ned Colletti, Ethier backed off on his comments and said it was his choice to play hurt.^[13]

After the September 7 game, Ethier decided to shut down for the season in order to consult doctors on the problems with his knee, with the hope of getting healthy in time for spring training.^[14] Ethier appeared in 135 games with the Dodgers in 2011, hitting .291 with 11 home runs and 62 RBI.

Despite his injury, Andre Ethier won his first Gold Glove Award on November 1, 2011.

2012 season[edit]

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier at a 2013 spring training game against the Seattle Mariners in Peoria, Arizona.

Ethier on June 12 signed a five year contract extension with the Dodgers. The deal was for $85 million through 2017 with a $17.5 million vesting option for 2018.^[15]

On August 25, Ethier got his tenth straight base hit, breaking the L.A. Dodger record set by Ron Cey in 1977 and tying the franchise record set by Ed Konetchy in 1919.^[16] On September 4 against the San Diego Padres, Ethier collected his 1,000th career hit on a solo homer in the 2nd inning.^[17]

He played in 149 games in 2012, hitting .284 with 20 homers and 89 RBI.

Personal life[edit]

Ethier's father is of French Canadian and Cherokee descent. His mother is Mexican American. Ethier is the older brother of Adam, Steven, Shaye and Devon Ethier.^[18] Andre is married to Maggie Germaine Ethier, a former ASU gymnast and sister of former Ohio State quarterback, Joe Germaine. They met at ASU and have two children together - Dreson and Retton.

His brother, Devon Ethier, played baseball at Gateway Community College and was drafted by the Dodgers in the 32nd round of the 2010 MLB Draft.^[19]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Andre Ethier

Baseball portal

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Andre Ethier's ASU Bio
• "Ethier Learns to Deal With Name Recognition"
• Minor League Splits and Situational Stats
• Dining with 'Dre