David Dellucci
| David Dellucci | |
|---|---|
| Left fielder | |
| Born: October 31, 1973 Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
|
| Batted: Left | Threw: Left |
| MLB debut | |
| June 3, 1997 for the Baltimore Orioles | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| July 22, 2009 for the Toronto Blue Jays | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .256 |
| Home runs | 101 |
| Runs batted in | 398 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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David Michael Dellucci (born October 31, 1973) is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder.
High School
Dellucci graduated from Catholic High in Baton Rouge in 1991. He earned the team's Most Valuable Player honors in both baseball and football, and All-State honors for baseball. During the winter of 2001, he was inducted into the Catholic High School Hall of Fame.
College
He played four seasons at the University of Mississippi, where he was an All-Southeastern Conference selection in both 1994 and 1995 and earned All-American status in 1995, setting 10 school records and winning the SEC batting title in hitting. He was named Athlete of the Year at Ole Miss in 1995. Dellucci was elected into the Ole Miss "M Club" Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named as one of the 50 Greatest Athletes in Ole Miss history.
Career
Dellucci was drafted in the 10th round by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1995 First-Year Player Draft. In 1997, Dellucci hit his first major league home run on June 25 in a road game against the Brewers. Selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 1998 MLB Expansion Draft, he played for Arizona from 1998 to 2003, including playing on the World Series-winning squad in 2001. He led the National League as a rookie in triples in the 1998 season. While hitting .394 in June, 1999 he was diagnosed with Keinboks disease. It was thought to be a career ending but he returned to make the team out of spring training in 2000. During the 2003 season, Dellucci was traded to the New York Yankees, along with pitcher Bret Prinz and catcher John Sprowl, in exchange for outfielder Raúl Mondesí. He finished the 2003 season with New York, and in 2004, signed with the Texas Rangers as a free agent. In 2005, with Texas, he had 29 homers and 65 RBI. In 2006, Dellucci was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitcher Robinson Tejeda and Minor League outfielder Jake Blalock.
Dellucci signed with the Cleveland Indians on December 6, 2006. On June 19, 2007, Dellucci severely tore his left hamstring tendon off the bone just under his left knee. He missed time early in Spring Training 2009 due to a surgically repaired thumb after smashing it in the tailgate of his trailer. He started the 2009 season on the disabled list with a strained left calf. While hitting .275 in 40 at bats, he was designated for assignment by the Indians on May 29, 2009, and after clearing waivers was released on June 1.
On June 10, 2009, Dellucci agreed to terms on a minor league contract with the Blue Jays. On July 3, the Blue Jays purchased Dellucci's contract from the Las Vegas 51's of the AAA Pacific Coast League. After a brief stint with the major league club in Toronto, he was designated for assignment on July 24, 2009.[1] He was released on July 31, 2009 by the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.[2]
Dellucci was named to the All Time Bluefield Orioles team.
Steroids
In May, 2006, Boston pitcher David Wells accused Dellucci of using steroids. "You see a little itty bitty guy hitting 30 home runs, like Dellucci, I guess. How many home runs did he hit last year? Twenty-nine? Has he ever done that in his career? The numbers have gone down tremendously since all this has come up," Wells told the Boston Globe. Several days later, Wells said his comment was taken out of context and Red Sox manager Terry Francona personally apologized to Dellucci. [3] In response, Dellucci said he was upset with Wells comments: "I'll say this: I've been tested. I've been tested this offseason. I've been tested a number of times last year. It's a huge slap in the face. I detest steroids just like everybody else." [4]
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External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
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