Ehire Adrianza

From BR Bullpen

EhireAdrianza2.jpg

Ehire Enrique Adrianza Palma

  • Bats Both, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 1", Weight 155 lb.

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Biographical Information[edit]

Ehire Adrianza is a seven year big league vet. He is a nephew of Ozzie Guillen and cousin of Ozney Guillen and Oney Guillen.

Adrianza was signed by scout Ciro Villalobos for the San Francisco Giants in April 2006. He hit .156/.311/.189 in his pro debut with the DSL Giants, making 18 errors in 44 games. Back with the club in 2007, he improved to .241/.325/.351 with 23 steals in 39 tries and 44 runs in 66 games. He also cut his error total to 13. He was 1 for 5 for the Tiburones de La Guaira in the semifinals of the 2007-2008 Venezuelan Winter League, having never played there in the regular season. The switch-hitter came stateside in 2008, which he split between the AZL Giants (.255/.349/.382 in 15 games), Fresno Grizzlies (3 for 6, a double, 2 walks) and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (2 for 5, 3 run scored). In 2009, he batted .258/.333/.327 for the Augusta Green Jackets, with 30 errors at shortstop. Baseball America rated him San Francisco's 8th best prospect going into the 2010 season. In the winter, he was 1 for 8 for the Tiburones.

Adrianza hit .256/.333/.348 with 70 runs and 33 steals (in 48 tries) for the 2010 San Jose Giants while improving his fielding percentage to .972. Baseball America listed him the 13th best prospect in the California League, between Rex Brothers and Marc Krauss. He was 4th in the league in steals (behind Jay Austin, Tyson Auer and Francisco Peguero) and tied Juan Perez for third in times caught stealing. Ehire missed much of 2011 with a hand injury; when healthy, he played 38 games for Augusta (.231/.315/.378) and 56 for San Jose (.300/.375/.470). He followed with a .234/.282/.338 winter for La Guaira. In the summer of 2012, Adrianza hit poorly (.220/.289/.310) for the Richmond Flying Squirrels; he did steal 16 bases in 20 tries while fielding .969 at shortstop. He had a better winter (.276/.379/.391) for the Tiburones. He opened 2013 with Richmond (.240/.331/.312 in 73 gamess) then moved up to the Fresno Grizzlies (.310/.409/.441 in 45 games). He stole 17 bases in 25 tries and had six triples.

Ehire made his major league debut as a pinch-runner in the bottom of the 11th inning of a 2-2 tie against the Arizona Diamondbacks, running for Hector Sanchez. He advanced on a grounder by Gregor Blanco, then scored the game-winning run on a single by Angel Pagan. He saw action in four seasons as a utility man in San Francisco, never appearing in more than 53 games in any one season, and batted .220/.292/.313 in 154 games. Prior to the 2017 season, Ehire was designated for assignment by the Giants and claimed by the Milwaukee Brewers. His stint with the Brew Crew lasted a robust two days, where he was DFAed again and claimed by the Minnesota Twins. He became a versatile utility man with the move to Minneapolis, seeing time at four infield positions and the outfield while batting .260/.321/.391 from 2017 to 2019. On September 29, 2019, with the Twins having clinched the AL Central title, manager Rocco Baldelli handed the reins of being skipper off to Ehire. The Royals topped Minnesota, 5-4, on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Brett Phillips.

In 2020, he fell to .191 while appearing in 44 of the Twins' 60 games during the pandemic-shortened season, his OPS+ being a platry 57. He was not used in the postseason for the second straight year. After the season, he signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves and bounced back to hit .247 in 109 games. He was the team's main pinch-hitter while seeing time at third base and in the outfield. The Braves won a division title and this time he did appear in the postseason, seeing action in all three rounds as the Braves won thier first title since 1995, defeating the Houston Astros in the World Series. He went a combined 1 for 10 in the three series, exclusively as a pinch-hitter, his only hit being a double off Walker Buehler of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS on October 23rd. He was batting for pitcher Ian Anderson in the bottom of the 4th inning with two outs and Travis d'Arnaud on first base. D'Arnaud moved to third on the hit and both runners scored when Eddie Rosario followed with a three-run homer that put Atlanta ahead, 4-1, a lead they would never relinquish.

He was on the move again before the 2022 season, signing with the Washington Nationals at the conclusion of the 2021-2022 lockout. He only made his season's debut on June 7th, after missing the first two months with a left quad strain, an injury incured in spring training. On June 29th, he was at the center of a strange play in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was playing third base that day, and the Pirates had runners on second and third base with one out in the 5th inning when Ke'Bryan Hayes lined a ball to 1B Josh Bell. Both runners were going on the hit, and Bell quickly relayed the ball to him. He tagged out Hoy Park, who had come over from second base, apparently ending the inning. However, by that time, Jack Suwinski, who had started on third base, had crossed home plate. Ehire stepped on third base, but failed to inform the umpires that he was appealing that Suwinski had left the base early, and thus Washington was unable to record the necessary fourth out that would have negated the run. The run would also have been erased had he touched base after receiving the ball from Bell, instead of tagging Park. However, he was caught out for not knowing the obscure rule (which few players know, to be fair) and Pittsburgh took a 4-3 lead on their way to an 8-7 win. On August 1]]st, he was traded back to the Braves, in return for OF Trey Harris; he was hitting .179 in 31 games with the Nats.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Sources[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Mark Bowman: "Adrianza vying for roster spot ... and a future GM role", mlb.com, February 22, 2023. [1]
  • Justice delos Santos and Jessica Camerato: "Bucs score because Nats didn't get ... a fourth out?", mlb.com, June 29, 2022. [2]

Related Sites[edit]