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Jim Edmonds

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Jim Edmonds

Position Center Field
Team St. Louis Cardinals
Years of Experience 13 years
Age 36
Height 6-1
Weight 190 lb.
Bats Left
Throws Left
College N/A
2006 Salary $11,979,548
Place of Birth Fullerton, California
Selection 7th round of the 1988 amateur draft.
Drafted by California Angels
Major League Debut September 9, 1993

James Patrick "Jim" Edmonds (born June 27, 1970 in Fullerton, California) is a Major League Baseball center fielder and left-handed batter who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Early career

The California Angels selected him in the 7th round of the 1988 draft. He is in his 14th season in the majors, having spent time with the Angels (later known as the Anaheim Angels) and currently the St. Louis Cardinals. Edmonds was traded from Anaheim to St. Louis for second baseman Adam Kennedy and pitcher Kent Bottenfield shortly before the beginning of the 2000 season.

Playing style

A patient but sometimes erratic hitter, Jim is among the top players in the NL in pitches seen per plate appearance, although it is not rare for him to swing at a first pitch, hitting 12 first pitch homers in the 2004 season.[1] Unlike most left-handed batters, Edmonds has good power hitting to the opposite field, and hits reasonably well against left-handed pitchers. He has a career on base percentage of .384 and slugging percentage of .543. Though he is a menace to many opposing pitching staffs, Edmonds can be contained by pitchers who feature good high fastballs and change ups low in the strike zone. He is often criticized for his consistently high strike out totals on a yearly basis. One of the best defensive center fielders in baseball today, Edmonds has proven to have a flair for the dramatic, often coming up with his best plays in crucial situations late in games.

Throughout his career, Edmonds has played first base in stretches, usually as a result of injury to a starting first basemen, but sometimes simply to provide rest to regular position players, or give another outfielder playing time. With Albert Pujols suffering an oblique injury in the early months of the 2006 season, Edmonds has become the starting first basemen for the Cardinals for the duration of Pujols' injury. For a secondary position, Edmonds handles the glove extremely well at first base, with no career errors at the position in over 350 innings of work. Coincidentally or not, Edmonds also seems to hit better in his time at first base, and during Pujols' absence, the Cardinals have been jump-started by Edmonds' production at the position after slumping early in the year.

He has hit 30 or more home runs in five seasons, while maintaining a .291 career batting average, and has knocked in over 1,000 career RBIs. He has also received eight Gold Glove awards in his career at center field, most of them coming as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

A defining moment of Edmonds' career came in the 2004 National League Championship Series, in which Edmonds hit an extra-inning home run to win Game 6 and set up a Game 7 win.

Teams

  • California/Anaheim Angels (1993-1999)
  • St. Louis Cardinals (2000-Current)

Stats (through 2005)

  • HR - 336
  • RBI - 1029
  • AVG - .290

Notes and references

  1. ^ [1] Edmonds' scouting report
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