Matt Macri

Matthew Michael Macri

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 215 lb.
• School University of Notre Dame
• High School Dowling Catholic High School
• Debut May 24, 2008
• Final Game September 19, 2008
• Born May 29, 1982 in Des Moines, IA USA

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Biographical Information

High School career

Matt Macri was a stellar multi-sport athlete in high school. He played basketball two years. In football, he was a quarterback for two nationally ranked teams and guided Dowling Catholic High School to its first state title, in 2000. He was named All-State and Mr. Football for Iowa. He threw for over 2,000 yards and ran for over 1,500 for as a senior.

In baseball, he was their first freshman starting position player in over 30 years. He hit .444 and slugged .855 during his high school career while going 6-1 on the mound with 7 saves, a 2.03 ERA and over a strikeout per inning. As a junior, he hit .462 with 16 home runs and a 1.025 slugging percentage and was chosen by the National High School Baseball Coaches Association as a third-team All-American. In the 2000 Junior Pan American Games, he hit .353 with 9 walks, 5 steals and 12 runs in 9 games to help the team win Bronze and was chosen as an All-Tournament player.

As a senior, he batted .465 with 9 home runs and 51 RBI and led the team to a state title. He was named Iowa's baseball and football Player of the Year and the Gatorade high school baseball player of the Year for Iowa.

The Minnesota Twins took Macri in the 17th round of the 2001 amateur draft but he had planned for college.

College career

Macri hit .206/.273/.294 in a very disappointing freshman campaign at the University of Notre Dame that was cut short by injury. He required Tommy John surgery, which was performed on April 10th.

Macri bounced back as a sophomore, batting .294/.386/.467 as Notre Dame's starting shortstop. He batted just .172 with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod League but his 7 home runs were second in that prestigious loop. Baseball America named him as the league's #19 prospect, one slot ahead of Luke Hochevar. In 2004, Macri led the #15 team in NCAA Division I in average (.367), runs (76), hits (87), doubles (15), triples (7) and home runs (14) while moving to third base. He had a .467 OBP and slugged .667. He led the Big East Conference in runs, hits and triples and made the All-Conference team at third. He tied Eric Patterson for 8th in NCAA Division I in runs scored. Baseball America, USA Today and Collegiate Baseball Magazine named him as a second-team All-American, trailing only Alex Gordon at third base. The Colorado Rockies picked Macri in the 5th round of the 2004 amateur draft, one round after Chris Iannetta and one round before Joe Koshansky. He was signed by scout Scott Corman and made his pro debut that summer.

Rockies system

Macri was assigned initially to the Tri-City Dust Devils. He hit .333/.410/.569 for them in 2004, leading the team in average, RBI (43, tied with Koshansky), OBP (tied) and slugging. He was third in the league in average behind Chris Carter and Brian Horwitz and 7 points behind Carter for the slugging lead. Matt was named to the Northwest League All-Star team at third base. Baseball America chose him as the NWL's #9 prospect, between Asdrubal Cabrera and Carter.

In 2005, Macri hit .283/.381/.443 in 64 games for the Modesto Nuts while battling wrist problems. The next year, he moved to second base but batted only .233/.294/.372 for the Tulsa Drillers before yet another left wrist injury ended his season in mid-July.

Macri was healthy again in 2007. He hit .298/.349/.502 in 79 games for the Drillers and was 6 for 9 with 2 doubles and a homer for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. The Rockies dealt him to the Minnesota Twins for Ramon Ortiz and he finished the year with the Rochester Red Wings, batting .213/.260/.426 in 14 games.

Macri opened 2008 with Rochester and hit .263/.324/.434 with nine home runs in his first 29 games. When Adam Everett was injured, he got called up to the majors. He debuted in a 19-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers on May 24th. Hitting 8th and playing third, he was the bright spot for Minnesota, going 2 for 3 with a walk, steal, run and RBI. He singled off Nate Robertson in his first major league at-bat, stole second and came home on an Alexi Casilla homer. Macri was 3 for 7 with a walk, double and steal to begin his big league career. He was sent down to Rochester to make space on the roster for Scott Baker. Matt was on a plane to return to Rochester when Nick Punto went on the disabled list; he was taken off the plane to remain with the Twins. Minnesota got a waiver from Major League Baseball for the required ten-day minor league stay after being demoted so that Macri could re-join the team right away.

Sources

• 2008 Twins Media Guide
• 2003-2008 Baseball Almanacs
• Notre Dame player bio
• The Baseball Cube