Steve Lombardozzi (lombast02)

Stephen Lombardozzi Jr.

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lbs.
• School St. Petersburg College
• High School Atholton High School
• Debut September 6, 2011
• Final Game May 12, 2017
• Born September 20, 1988 in Fulton, MD USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Steve Lombardozzi is the son of former second baseman Steve Lombardozzi and is the nephew of former minor league infielder Chris Lombardozzi.

A second baseman in his own right, he started his career with the Washington Nationals, after being selected in the 19th round of the 2008 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Paul Tinnell and made his pro debut that summer. In 2009, he hit .296 as the full-time second baseman for the Hagerstown Suns of the Class A South Atlantic League. He spent most of the 2010 season with the Carolina League's Potomac Nationals before being promoted to AA ball and playing for the Harrisburg Senators. He hit a combined .294/.371/.431 in 137 games, with 35 doubles and 11 triples while playing second base. In 2011, he spent the first half of the season with Harrisburg, hitting .309 in 65 games, then was promoted to AAA Syracuse, where he hit .310 in 69 games. Combined between the two levels, his batting line was .309/.360/.430, he scored 86 runs, hit 25 doubles and stole 30 bases. He was named the Nationals' Minor League Player of the Year.

Lombardozzi got his first taste of the majors in a September call-up by the Nationals in 2011. His first major league hit, a single off the New York Mets' R.A. Dickey in the 7th inning of a game at Citi Field on September 12th drove in Brian Bixler with the winning run in a 3-2 Nats win. He had started his major league career 0 for 15. He finished his first major league stint with a batting line of .194/.219/.226 in 13 games. In 2012, he spent the entire season in Washington, getting playing time at second base, third base and left field. He hit .273/.317/.354 in 126 games, with 3 homers and 26 RBIs. He was named the second baseman on the 2012 Topps All-Star Rookie Team, then went 1 for 3 in the Division Series where the Nats were upset by the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2013, he continued to split his time between second base and left field, getting an opportunity to replace Danny Espinosa as Washington's starter at second base, after Espinosa lost the job because of an excessive number of strikeouts. He played 118 games, getting 290 at-bats, and hit .259/.278/.338. While he didn't strike out much, he did not get on base either and his OPS+ of 69 indicated that he was more cut-out to be a utility player than a regular; indeed, top prospect Anthony Rendon was called up and moved from 3B to 2B, locking up the position for the second half of the season. On December 2nd, the Nationals sent Steve to the Detroit Tigers along with Ps Ian Krol and Robbie Ray, in return for P Doug Fister.

Lombardozzi was expecting to find a job as a utility player with the Tigers in 2014, but plans changed when projected SS José Iglesias was lost for the season during spring training. The Tigers needed another infielder with a decent bat who could play shortstop, a position at which Steve had played only 2 games in the majors. Thus on March 24th, he was sent to the Baltimore Orioles in return for veteran Alex Gonzalez. The Orioles were solid at shortstop with J.J. Hardy, but needed a back-up at second and third base, following the departure of 2B Brian Roberts via free agency and injury issues with 3B Manny Machado. However, he ended playing only 20 games for Baltimore in 2014, hitting .288 in 73 at-bats. He spent most of the year in AAA with the Norfolk Tides, where he hit .270 with no homers and 30 RBIs in 78 games as a utility player. On February 3, 2015, his contract was purchased from the Orioles by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Steve spent most of 2015 in the minor leagues, hitting .282/.347/.324 in 97 games for the Indianapolis Indians of the International League. He was a true utility player, logging between 15 and 25 games at four different positions: 2B, 3B, LF and RF. He also played 12 games for Pittsburgh but did not collect a hit in 10 at-bats, with all of his appearances coming either as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner. After signing with the Chicago White Sox for 2016, he was released at the end of spring training and ended up in independent ball, playing for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. He hit a scorching .367 in 40 games and was back in the Nationals organization starting in June, playing 62 games for the Syracuse Chiefs and hitting .253. In 2017, he signed with the Miami Marlins and began the season with the New Orleans Baby Cakes, where he was hitting .250 in 28 games when a rash of injuries prompted his call-up to Miami on May 10th. He was slated to be a back-up in the infield, but when J.T. Riddle in warm-up drills that day, he was inserted in the starting line-up at second base against the St. Louis Cardinals, with Dee Gordon sliding over to shortstop. He went 0 for 5 in his first big league game in almost two years.

Notable Achievements

• 2012 Topps All-Star Rookie Team

Related Sites

• Steve Lombardozzi on mlb.com