Ehíré Adríanza

Ehíré Enrique Adríanza Palma (/ˈeɪreɪ ˈɑːdriænzɑː/; born August 21, 1989) is a Venezuelan professional baseball shortstop for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He began his professional career in 2006, playing for the DSL Giants and hitting .156 in 122 at-bats. In 2007, he played again for the DSL Giants, improving his batting average to .241 in 249 at-bats, stealing 23 bases in 29 attempts.

He played in the United States for the first time in 2008, splitting the season between three teams – the AZL Giants (15 games), Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (one game) and the Fresno Grizzlies (two games). Overall, he hit a combined .288 in 66 at-bats.

After hitting .258 in 388 at-bats for the Augusta Greenjackets in 2009, Adrianza helped the San Jose Giants win the California League Championship in 2010. He hit .256 in 445 at-bats, stealing 33 bases in 48 attempts.^[1] He would remain in San Jose during the bulk of the 2011 season. In 2011, Ehire batted .300 with 3 home runs and 27 RBIs.

Adríanza made his MLB debut on September 8, 2013, against the Arizona Diamondbacks,^[2] and in doing so became the 300th Venezuelan to play in Major League Baseball.^[3] He entered the game as a pinch runner in the 11th inning and scored the winning run in a 3–2 victory.^[4]

Adríanza hit his first career home run on September 22, 2013 against the New York Yankees. He broke up a no-hit bid by Andy Pettitte in his final start at Yankee Stadium. He appeared in 105 games over the 2014-2015 campaigns with San Francisco, driving in 16 runs and taking the field primarily as a middle infielder.^[5] On April 9, 2016, Adríanza homered off Clayton Kershaw for his 2nd career home run. Adríanza and the Giant avoided salary arbitration on December 3, agreeing to a one-year, $600,000 contract.^[6]

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Ehire Adrianza on Twitter