Melvin Mora
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Melvin Mora (born February 2, 1972 in Agua Negra, Yaracuy State, Venezuela) is a Major League Baseball player. He bats and throws right-handed.
After enduring years of uncertainty as a utility player, Mora finally had a position to call his own. He started at third base for the Baltimore Orioles on opening day in 2004, and if all goes as planned, will stay there for at least the next two seasons.
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Career
Mora was signed out of Venezuela in 1991. After spending seven years in the Astros minors system, he signed as a free agent with the Mets in 1998 and made his majors debut in the 1999 season. In 145 games from 1999-2000, Mora hit .245 (61-for-246) with six home runs and 31 RBI. With the ability to play all three outfield positions, shortstop, second base and third, Mora was a valuable man to have around. In 138 games played he committed only eight errors (7 in the shortstop) in 223 total chances. Then, he was traded to Baltimore at the midseason. The things were not different for Mora in his new team. Between 2000 and 2002, he was used in 359 games at shortstop (137), center field (129), left field (74), second base (14) and right field (5). In the same period, he hit .249 with 36 home runs and 176 RBI.
MLB-VE-Mora_2_batting.jpg
In 2003, Mora played five different positions for the Orioles over 11 games during the first month of the season. Then, injuries to four outfielders left him an opportunity to play at leftfield. Mora responded with the best stretch of his career. He reached base in 32 straight games while using a 23-game hitting streak to become the American League batting leader. Mora maintained the lead from June 9 to the final day before the All-Star break. That earned him his first All-Star selection; he appeared as a pinch runner and played the outfield for an inning. Unfortunately, Mora missed all of August with a bruised wrist and sat out the final two weeks of the season with a partially torn ligament in his left knee. Still, he finished with a .317 average, 15 home runs, 48 RBI, and a .418 on-base percentage in 96 games.
Upon arriving at 2004 spring training, Mora learned he no longer had to concern himself with changing three gloves on a daily basis. He started as the regular Orioles' third baseman and enjoyed his most productive season in the majors. Mora hit a career-high .340, finishing second in the AL batting race to Ichiro Suzuki's .372 mark; led the league hitters in on base percentage (.419); ranked 5th in slugging average (.562) and OPS (.981); 6th in runs (111), doubles (41) and times on base (264); 8th in hits (187), and 9th in total bases (264). His 27 home runs and 104 RBI were also career-highs, while leading his team in batting average, runs, on base percentage, slugging average and OPS. At third base, he improved and became more consistent as the season wore on.
In a six-year career, Mora is a .280 hitter with 76 home runs and 312 RBI in 711 games.
Life facts
- Melvin Mora's baseball career also seems governed by something greater than himself.
- When he was seven years old, his father died in his arms in their house in Venezuela, murdered by men looking for someone else.
- A Venezuelan baseball coach come along when Mora was a teenager and convince him to play baseball, even though Mora had never played before and was already an accomplished soccer player since age 14.
MLB-VE-Mora_3_babies.jpg
- Mora had to toil in the minor leagues for seven years before the Mets finally made him a major leaguer in 1999. Then, he was traded to the Orioles in the middle of the following season. Meanwhile, the Mets faced the Yankees in the 2000 World Series without him.
- On July 28, 2001, Mora found his blessings multiplied by five when his wife Gisel gave birth to quintuplets at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. The babies, three girls and two boys, were named Jada Priscilla, Rebekah Alesha, Genesis Raquel, Christian Emmanuel, and Matthew David.
Quote
- Melvin Mora is ready to turn more heads after hitting .340 at a position rarely known for high batting averages. Tom Singer, at Around the Horn: Corner infielders [1] (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20050112&content_id=930222&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp)
See also
External links
- ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6239) - profile and daily updates
- Baseball Reference (http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/morame01.shtml) - career statistics and analysis
- USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/orioles/2004-06-17-cover-mora_x.htm) Orioles' Mora a Nš 1 dad
- Johns Hopkins Hospital Dome (http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/dome/0209/picture_this.cfm) - Mora Quintuples