Eric Sogard

Eric Sogard

Sogard with the Oakland Athletics
Free agent
Second baseman
Born: (1986-05-22) May 22, 1986
Phoenix, Arizona
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 14, 2010, for the Oakland Athletics
MLB statistics
(through 2015 season)
Batting average .239
Home runs 8
Runs batted in 105
Teams

Eric Sidney Sogard (born May 22, 1986) is an American professional baseball second baseman who is a free agent. He previously played in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics. He attended Arizona State University and played college baseball for the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Early life

Sogard's father is Rudy Sogard. He was also a collegiate baseball player, and set the home run record for Depauw University in 1975 while playing third base.[1]

High school

He attended Thunderbird High School in Phoenix.

Sogard was the 2003 Arizona Republic's NW Valley H.S. Baseball Player of the Year, the Region Player of the Year, and 1st Team All State Shortstop. He repeated as All State Shortstop in 2004, and represented Arizona in the 2003 and 2004 Sunbelt Classic Baseball Series.

Sogard broke numerous Thunderbird school batting records, including highest batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. In addition, Sogard was a star midfielder on Thunderbird's 2002 State Runner-Up (21–2) Soccer Team.

College

Sogard received both academic and athletic scholarships from Arizona State University, and majored in Kinesiology at ASU. Until June 2007, Sogard played for the Arizona State Sun Devils, having been ranked as the number 7 high school prospect in Arizona in 2004. He played for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies scout teams in 2002 and 2003.[1]

In 2006, he had a slugging percentage of .625, third-best in the PAC-10, and an OPS of 1.057, fourth-best in the PAC-10.[2] In 2007 he was second in the PAC-10 in average (.394) and runs (74), and third in walks (39) and on base percentage (.488).[2]

Sogard was a two-time 'All American' as a Sun Devil in 2006 and 2007, and was '1st Team All-Pac-10' selection both years as well. He played many positions in 2006, but stayed at 2B for ASU in 2007.

Sogard finished with the 15th-highest career batting average in A.S.U. baseball history at .371. He is a member of the 'ASU All-Decade Team' of 2000–09. He was also the 2007 'Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year'.

In 2007, Sogard became one of only a few ASU players ever to hit .400 for an entire season, with at least 100 hits. He was among Pac-10 leaders in on base percentage as well in 2006 and 2007.

Career

Minors

With Lake Elsinore in 2008 he led the California League in doubles (42) and on base percentage (.394).[2] He was a Baseball America High Class A All Star, and a California League Mid-season and Post-season All Star, with Lake Elsinore.[3]

In 2009 he was a Texas League mid-season All Star with San Antonio.[3] In 2010 he was an MiLB.com Organization All Star with Oakland.[3] In 2011 he was a Pacific Coast League mid-season All Star with Sacramento.[3]

San Diego Padres

Sogard bunting for the Lake Elsinore Storm, High-A affiliates of the San Diego Padres, in 2008.

Sogard was the first Sun Devil to be selected in the 2007 Major League Draft, going in the second round, 81st overall, to the San Diego Padres.[4] In 2008, Sogard was selected for the Topps' Class-A All-Star Team.[5] In 2009, playing for the San Antonio Missions, Scout.com ranked him as one of the top hitting prospects in the Padres organization.[6] Sogard also was a 2009 AA Texas League Mid Season All Star at 2B/DH, and a 2011 AAA Pacific Coast League All Star at shortstop, with the highest fielding percentage in the league.

Oakland Athletics

On January 16, 2010, Sogard was traded along with Kevin Kouzmanoff to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham.[7] Sogard ended the 2010 season as one of Sacramento's more consistent players, earning a promotion to Oakland in September. On August 23, 2011, Sogard hit his first career home run off then-Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colón.

The A's entered spring training in the beginning of the 2013 season with a battle over the everyday second basemen job. Sogard was put into the competition along with the returning Scott Sizemore after missing an entire season, Jemile Weeks, Adam Rosales, Andy Parrino, and Jed Lowrie. Jed Lowrie was first put into the competition and promised an everyday job, but instead took over everyday shortstop due to the struggles and injury of Hiroyuki Nakajima. Sogard then won the second base battle as he was the opening day starting second basemen.

Sogard finished a close second in the contest, voted on by fans, to be named the "Face of MLB" in February 2014. Mets third baseman David Wright won.[8]

In April 2016, Sogard underwent surgery on his left knee.[9] He played in only two games for the Stockton Ports on rehab assignment.[10] He was sent outright to Triple-A after the 2016 season, and elected to become a free agent.[11]

Personal

Sogard's younger brother, Alex, is also a professional baseball player.[12]

Eric married his wife Kaycee in October 2011. They have one daughter, Saydee, born December 9, 2013, and one son, Knix, born October 17, 2015. [13]

References

  1. 1 2 thesundevils.cstv Archived June 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=eric-sogard
  3. 1 2 3 4 http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=519299#gameType=%27R%27
  4. ↑ pac-10.org
  5. ↑ "Three Storm players among Topps All-Stars". scout.com. November 27, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  6. ↑ Savage, Denis (March 9, 2009). "Tool Time: Top Hitters for Average". scout.com. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  7. ↑ "A's Acquire 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff from San Diego". Oakland.athletics.mlb.com. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  8. ↑ "A's Eric Sogard falls short in the Face of MLB". San Jose Mercury News. Bay Area News Group. February 28, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Eric Sogard of Oakland Athletics undergoes surgery to knee". ESPN.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  10. ↑ "Eric Sogard". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  11. ↑ Hall, Alex (October 7, 2016). "Oakland A's roster moves: Eric Sogard, Jarrod Parker, 4 others head to free agency". Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  12. ↑ "College World Series notebook: Sogard siblings giving Mom a hard time". East Valley Tribune. June 19, 2007. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  13. ↑ https://twitter.com/EricSogard/status/410162723012759552/photo/1
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