Chris Grossman

Christopher Howard Grossman

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 215 lb.

• School University of California
• High School Monte Vista High School

• Born February 3, 1981 in Palo Alto, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Chris Grossman has played professionally in the USA and Italy.

Grossman hit .254/.319/.373 as a redshirt freshman at the University of California then fell to .208/.231/.354 as a sophomore, backing up John Baker at catcher both years. His junior year (2003), he improved to .341/.391/.531 with 45 RBI in 52 games with a team-high 72 hits, 16 doubles and 112 total bases. He fell off a bit as a senior, at .306/.398/.440.

Undrafted, he signed with the independent Sioux City Explorers for 2005 and batted a solid .314/.374/.393 but lost Northern League All-Star catcher honors to Kelley Gulledge. In 2006, he hit .305/.371/.521 with 30 doubles, 14 home runs and 61 runs in 96 games for the Explorers. He tied for 4th in the American Association in two-baggers, was 6th in dingers and was named the All-Star catcher.

Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, he got his lone season in Organized Baseball. He did well with the Swing of the Quad Cities (.277/.339/.416 in 65 G) and Palm Beach Cardinals (.319/.382/.391 in 21 G), but was 26 years old, too old to be a prospect. St. Louis let him go and he returned to the independent leagues with Sioux City in 2008 but fell to .248/.378/.365. He did draw 63 walks in 90 games, the 4th-best total in the AA.

Moving on to the Brockton Rox, Grossman posted a .296/.365/.412 line in 2009. In 2010, he hit .313/.370/.495 but made a career-high (to that point) 16 errors behind the plate. He led the Canadian-American Association with 11 sacrifice flies and tied for second with 24 doubles, one behind leader Matt Nandin. He was named the All-Star catcher. In 2011, he cut his error total to 6 but his batting line fell to .259/.337/.370 for Brockton.

For 2012, Grossman signed with Italy's Grosseto club. On Opening Day, he hit cleanup and played catcher. He singled off Miguel Pinango in his first at-bat and went 4 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBI to lead Grosseto, but it was not enough in a 10-7 loss.

Sources

• University of California
• The Baseball Cube
• Mister Baseball