Jeremy Hazelbaker

Jeremy Hazelbaker
St. Louis Cardinals – No. 41
Outfielder
Born: (1987-08-14) August 14, 1987 Muncie, Indiana
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 3, 2016, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics (through May 19, 2016)
Batting average	.281
Home runs	7
Runs batted in	18
Stolen bases	3
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (2016–present)

Jeremy Philip Hazelbaker (born August 14, 1987) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his major league debut on April 3, 2016. He had previous played in the minor leagues in the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations.

Professional playing career

Draft and Boston Red Sox organization

Hazelbaker was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round of the 2009 MLB Draft out of Ball State University. He opened 2009 with the Lowell Spinners, before being promoted to the Greenville Drive (2009–10), Salem Red Sox (2011), Portland Sea Dogs (2011–12) and Pawtucket Red Sox (2012). He batted a combined .259/.345/.434 with 49 home runs and 157 stolen bases in 409 games.

Hazelbaker returned to Pawtucket in 2013. He posted a .257/.313/3.74 line with 11 homers and 54 RBIs in 121 games, including 62 runs scored, 37 stolen bases and 26 extra bases.

Los Angeles Dodgers organization

On October 23, 2013, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Alex Castellanos. He was assigned to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts. In 2014, he was selected to the mid-season Southern League All-Star game. In 87 games with the Lookouts (and another 22 with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes, he hit .244. He was assigned to the AA Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League to start the 2015 season. He hit .245 in 14 games and was released on May 1, 2015.

St. Louis Cardinals organization

A few days later he signed a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals and was assigned to the AA Springfield Cardinals. With the Memphis Redbirds of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), he was named PCL Player of the Week after leading the league in total bases, extra base hits and RBI.

On March 31, 2016, the Cardinals announced Hazelbaker had made the major league roster; he made his major league debut on April 3 as a pinch hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates after 751 games in the minor leagues. His first MLB hit was a double on April 5 and first home run was the next day; both hits were against the Pirates. On April 8, Hazelbaker's second major league home run became part of a unique event in major league history. Playing the Atlanta Braves, he, Aledmys Díaz, and Greg Garcia established a new MLB record by each hitting a pinch hit home run, becoming the first to hit three pinch hit home runs in one game for the same team. The previous record of two pinch hit home runs by the same team in the same game had previously occurred on 57 occasions, most recently in 2011. The Cardinals won this contest, 7–4. That home run also gave him two in his first four career games, joining Joe Cunningham (1954) as the only Cardinals to accomplish the feat. His first career four-hit game, including his first career triple, came in a 10–1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on April 11.

See also

• St. Louis Cardinals all-time roster

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)