I have six cards of Erick Almonte. This one is from 2001 Bowman Heritage.
Playing career: Erick Almonte was the fill-in shortstop when Blue Jays catcher Ken Huckaby decided to sit on Derek Jeter’s shoulder on Opening Day 2003, knocking him out for a month. In exactly 100 at bats that year, Almonte hit .260 with 1 HR and 11 RBI. In the field, he made 12 errors in 31 games, for an Eduardo Nunez-like .906 fielding percentage. That was his last major league service until this year, when he resurfaced with the Milwaukee Brewers, going 3 for 29, including a home run, in sixteen games.
Interesting facts: Brother of former major leaguer Hector Almonte. In April became the first player ever to go on the seven-day disabled list for concussions.
Where he is now: Since coming off the disabled list he has been playing at AAA Nashville, where he is hitting .300 with 6 HR and 39 RBI. Earlier today he hit a double against Memphis.
My memories: I remember the Jeter injury more than Almonte’s filling in for him. The Yankees actually did just fine with Almonte in the lineup instead of Jeter, more of a testament to how deep those Yankee teams were than any complement to Almonte.
Google Autocomplete results: He is sixth when you type Erick, between Erick Sermon, a rapper, and Erick Aybar, the Angels shortstop. There do not appear to be any other prominent Erick Almontes.
Coming up next: The next profile will be Hector Almonte.
I never saw Erick Almonte play in the major leagues, but I do remember him as a Long Island Ducks player in the Atlantic League. He had one of the laziest autographs I've ever seen - a printed "E A"
ReplyDeleteStay safe through the hurricane.