Dave Magadan

David Joseph Magadan

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.
• School University of Alabama
• High School Jesuit High School (Tampa)
• Debut September 7, 1986
• Final Game September 26, 2001
• Born September 30, 1962 in Tampa, FL USA

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Biographical Information

Dave Magadan was a long-time major leaguer who hit for a good average, got lots of walks, and had little power.

Born in Florida, he won College Baseball's Golden Spikes Award in 1983 while at the University of Alabama. In the championship game of the 1983 College World Series, Magadan's University of Alabama team faced the University of Texas team of Calvin Schiraldi and Roger Clemens. Texas won, although Magadan put in a good performance that day. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Magadan signed as a 2nd round pick in the 1983 amateur draft with the New York Mets and scout Joe Mason. He spent four years in the minors, hitting over .300 each year with lots of walks but virtually no home runs.

Magadan broke in with the Mets in 1986 as a September call-up, making an immediate impression: he hit .444 in 10 games, with a .524 on-base percentage but no extra-base hits. The Mets won the 1986 World Series but Magadan did not appear in post-season play.

As a backup in 1987, he hit .318, and Magadan was in the big leagues to stay. He was with the Mets through 1992, and he usually hit for a decent average, with lots of walks and little power. In 1990, he hit .328, good for third in the National League.

In the only post-season appearance in his career, he had 3 at-bats in the championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988, but didn't get a hit.

In his last 9 seasons in the majors, he was more or less a journeyman. He usually hit over .270, and cleared .300 three more times (once with the Houston Astros in 1995 and twice with the Oakland Athletics, in 1997 and 1998). He was with the Florida Marlins in their inaugural year, 1993. He was with the Chicago Cubs in 1996, the year when Sammy Sosa hit 40 home runs in 124 games in an attempt to break Roger Maris' home run record before Sosa was injured. He was on the Athletics when Jason Giambi took over first base from Mark McGwire.

He ended his career playing three years with the San Diego Padres. His last year, 2001, was also the last year of 41-year-old Tony Gwynn, and 42-year-old Rickey Henderson was also on the team.

Magadan's career OBP, .390, puts him in the top 100 of all time.

After playing second base in college, he played 709 games at third base and 593 games at first base in the majors.

The most similar player, according to similarity scores, is Jim Eisenreich.

The cousin of Lou Piniella, Magadan was the San Diego Padres hitting coach from 2003 until he was fired in June 2006. In 2007, he joined the Boston Red Sox coaching staff. He remained with the team through the end of the 2012 season, then became the hitting coach of the Texas Rangers in 2013, staying until the end of the 2015 season. In 2016, he joined the Arizona Diamondbacks as hitting coach, staying until the end of the 2018 season. In 2019, he moved to the Colorado Rockies, again as hitting coach, staying until the end of the 2022 season.

Related Sites

• Dave Magadan at the SABR Bio Project