Richie Sexson
From Academic Kids
Sexson1.jpg
Sexson2.jpg
Richmond Lockwood Sexson (born December 29, 1974 in Portland, Oregon) is an American baseball player who currently plays for the Seattle Mariners.
High School Career
At Prairie High School in Brush Prairie, Washington, Richie Sexson was an All-State performer in baseball, basketball, and football. He also set the school record for the most RBIs in a career.
Baseball Career
Richie, at the age of 18, was drafted in 1993 by the Cleveland Indians in the 24th round of the baseball amateur draft. He did not play his first game of Major League Baseball baseball until 1997, though, when he appeared briefly in 5 games for the Indians, collecting 11 at-bats, with 3 hits, 1 run and was struck out 2 times. He then appeared in 49 games the following year, collecting 174 at-bats, 54 hits, 28 runs, and scored 14 doubles and 1 triple while being struck out 42 times and walked 6 times.
Richie had a breakout year the next year, in 1999, playing 134 games while collecting 479 at-bats, 122 hits, 72 runs and 31 home runs. On top of that, he also scored 17 doubles and 7 triples while being struck out 117 times and being walked 34 times.
In 2000, Richie played 91 games for the Indians before being told he was being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, with a player to be named later, for Bob Wickman, Steve Woodard, Jason Bere, which then prompted the Indians to send Marco Scutaro to the Brewers at a later date to complete the trade. Richie played 57 games for the Brewers that year.
In 2001, Richie played in 158 games for the Brewers, hitting 45 home runs, which is still the Brewers record for single-season home runs by a Brewers player, although he also set the single-season record that year for strikeouts by a Brewer player with 178.
In 2002, though, Sexson's numbers went down. He hit 29 home runs, appeared in 157 games, and had only 102 RBIs, while on an average year he would have about 120 to 125.
Richie fought back in 2003, and again blasted 45 home runs to tie his own record, hit 124 RBIs, and collected 165 hits in all 162 games while hitting 28 doubles and 2 triples. Sexson played in every inning of all 162 games during the season.
Richie was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in December of 2003 in exchange for 6 players and a minor leaguer named Jorge De La Rosa. This trade proved to be disastrous for the Diamondbacks but beneficial to the rebuilding Brewers, as Sexson missed most of the 2004 season after twice suffering a reverse subluxation of his left shoulder while attempting to check his swing. Prior to the 2005 season, Sexson signed a four-year contract with the Seattle Mariners worth $50 million.
External links
- Richie Sexson's career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sexsori01.shtml)
- ESPN.com: Richie Sexson (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5931)
