Octavio Augie Ojeda (born
December 20, 1974, in Los
Angeles
, California
) is a Mexican
American infielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball.
He
attended the University of Tennessee
, throws right-handed,
and is a switch hitter.
Career
Baltimore Orioles
Ojeda was drafted in the 13th round of the draft by the
Baltimore Orioles, but he did not play for
the Orioles organization until due to his participation in the
1996 Summer Olympics. He shot
through the Orioles system in 1997, playing for the Single-A
Frederick Keys, Double-A
Bowie Baysox, and Triple-A
Rochester Red Wings. In total, he had a
.344
batting average and also showed
good plate discipline with 57
walks
compared to only 39
strikeouts. In , Ojeda
played mostly for Double-A Bowie and his batting average slumped to
.264, though he again showed good plate discipline, with 39 walks
and 31 strikeouts. In , he played 134 games for Bowie and 1 game
for Rochester. He batted .267 and had a career-high 10
home runs and 60
RBIs.
On
December 14, 1999, he was traded to
the Chicago Cubs for Richard Negrette.
Chicago Cubs
Ojeda batted .280 in 113 games for Triple-A
Iowa in . He spent most of June in the majors,
making his debut on
June 4 and also was
called up after rosters expanded in September, overall in the
majors, Ojeda batted .221. He spent all of in the majors, where he
batted only .201 in 144
at bats. He began in
the majors, but was sent down in June after batting only .186. He
again found success in Triple-A, batting .299 and again walking
more than he struck out. In , Ojeda batted .251 in Triple-A and
spent August and September with Chicago. On
November 24, 2003, he was claimed off waivers by
the
Minnesota Twins.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins released Ojeda on
December 21,
but re-signed him two days later. He spent the next two seasons
with the Twins organization. In Triple-A in , he batted just .245,
but hit .339 in the majors from August to the end of the season.
was the first time in five seasons he did not appear in the majors;
he struggled in Triple-A with a .224 batting average. He became a
free agent after the season.
Chicago Cubs
On
January 3, , Ojeda signed with the Cubs
again. He was the starting
shortstop for
Iowa, but hit just .248. He made his first
pitching appearance in 2006, pitching 1 inning,
giving up 1
hit and 1 walk, but not
allowing a
run. He was granted free
agency at the end of the season.
Arizona Diamondbacks
On
February 5, , he signed with the
Arizona Diamondbacks and was a non-roster invitee for
spring training, but started the season with
Triple-A
Tucson for his first
season in Arizona's organization. Ojeda hit .323 with Tucson to
earn a major league call up in June, where he spent the rest of the
season. He batted .274 in the majors and also pitched 1 inning. On
August 14, D-Backs
starter Byung-Hyun Kim got only 1 out with 17
pitches, and gave up 4 runs. With the
bullpen weary, Ojeda had to make an emergency
appearance on the mound. He pitched a perfect 8th inning becoming
only the third D-Backs position player to ever pitch in a game.
Ojeda batted .286 in 21 postseason at-bats for the D-Backs in the
NLDS and
NLCS, as the Rockies
beat them in the NLCS. He started on the major league squad as a
utility infielder.
He
currently resides in Chandler, Arizona
.
On
September 1, 2009, a ParkZone Sukhoi Su-26m ultra-micro indoor/outdoor radio
controlled model airplane flown by an unknown pilot delayed the top
of the sixth inning of a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Diamondbacks
at Dodger
Stadium
. The plane eventually crashed near the
Diamondbacks' dugout; Ojeda picked up the model and destroyed it so
that play could resume. The stunt was a costly one as far as the
owner was concerned since the model retails for US$99.99.
References
-
http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090125&content_id=3770858&vkey=wbc&team=
- "Willis ends long winless skid as Marlins beat
Arizona 14-5". August 14, 2007, Associated Press.
Retrieved on August 18, 2008.
-
http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090902&content_id=6744262&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la
Mirror of Dodgers story at Pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com
- http://www.parkzone.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=PKZ3580
Official ParkZone page for the Sukhoi Su-26m; compare the factory
photo to that on the above site
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search