Vasili Spanos

Vasili George Spanos

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 225 lb.
• School Indiana University Bloomington
• High School Oak Park & River Forest High School

• Born February 25, 1981 in Melrose Park, IL USA

BR Minor page

Biographical Information

Vasili Spanos played 6 seasons in the minor leagues, from 2003 to 2008. One of the best baseball players in Indiana Hoosier history, he played for Greece in the 2004 Olympics, as both of his parents immigrated from Greece (his mother in 1947, his father George in 1951), giving him citizenship.

Spanos batted .291/.424/.568 as a sophomore. He hit .385 as a junior in 2002, 7th in the Big Ten Conference. His 16 home runs tied Bobby Malek for the conference lead. He had a .509 OBP and slugged .782. He was named to the All-Conference team at third base. As a senior in 2003, he continued to dominate the Conference, producing at a .412/.513/.703 rate. He led the Big Ten in average, 20th in NCAA Division I. He was 9th in NCAA Division I in OBP. He was the All-Conference third baseman yet again. The Oakland A's selected the OPS machine in the 11th round of the 2003 amateur draft. Spanos hit .365 in his college career and slugged .673, second-highest in Indiana history. He tied for third in University of Indiana history with 43 homers, was 6th with 228 hits, 5th in doubles (51) and tied for third in RBI (185).

Vasili debuted as a pro with the 2003 AZL Athletics, going 5 for 18 with a walk. In 2004, he hit .311/.419/.505 for the Kane County Cougars with 80 RBI in 97 games. The 23-year-old was 6th in the Midwest League in average and 26 points behind OBP leader Daric Barton. He took some time off to play for the Greek Olympic squad, going 0 for 9 with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts in the Athens Games. He backed up Clay Bellinger and Peter Maestrales at third (Bellinger also played short).

Spanos split 2005 between the Stockton Ports (.310/.429/.509, 15 HR and 84 RBI) and Midland Rockhounds (.235/.322/.396). In 2006, he batted .308/.405/.440 for Midland. He was 4th in the Texas League in OBP (.05 behind leader Alex Gordon), tied Josh Anderson for 8th in average and led wit h25 times hit by pitch.

Returning to Midland in 2007, Spanos regressed to a .276/.326/.431 batting line. Oakland let him go the next spring and he signed with the Florida Marlins. Assigned to the Jupiter Hammerheads, he is hitting .278/.365/.456 after his first 48 games of 2008.

Sources

• 2008 A's Media Guide
• University of Indiana website
• 2003-2008 Baseball Almanacs
• Defunct IBAF site
• History of Baseball in Greece
• MILB.com
• The Baseball Cube