Young shortstop Aaron Holbert started his pro career in June 1990 as a first-round draft pick of the Cardinals. Taken primarily for his defensive capabilities, his high school coach Bill Powell then assessed his abilities to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"There's no way you can say Aaron is a 'can't miss' for the big leagues, because I've seen a lot of can't miss players that do miss," Powell told The Post-Dispatch. "But I'd be really surprised if Aaron didn't make it."
Holbert did make it to the majors, just not the way most had envisioned. Holbert made it twice, for a single game in 1996 and then for 22 more nearly a decade after that.
In all, Holbert would play professionally for 17 seasons and make the majors for 23 total games.
Holbert's career began that year in 1990, taken by the Cardinals 18th overall out of Jordan High School in California. His brother Ray Holbert also played professionally.
Holbert started with the Cardinals at rookie Johnson City. He saw 54 games and hit just .172, slowed by a sore shoulder.
He then moved to single-A Springfield in 1991 and single-A Savannah in 1992. He hit .267 in 119 games at Savannah.
He made AA Arkansas in 1994, then AAA Louisville in 1995. He hit .257 in 112 games at Louisville.
Then, to start 1996, he made St. Louis. He got in one game and went 0 for 3.
"The first couple pitches I was fine," Holbert told The Post-Dispatch of his first at bat. "Then, about the third or fourth pitch, my legs started shaking."
Holbert then returned to the minors. He stayed with the Cardinals through 1997. He then saw the Mariners, Rays, Red Sox, Marlins, Blue Jays and Pittsburgh systems before arriving with the Reds for 2004. He spent that time almost exclusively at AAA.
Then, in August 2005, he made it back to the majors, with Cincinnati.
"It has been a long road," Holbert told The Dayton Daily News then, according to The Seattle Times. "I'm glad I didn't listen to skeptics and didn’t give in to my feelings a few times. My wife pushed me and made sure I held true to my dream."
In all, Holbert got into 22 more major league games in 2005, rounding out his big league career.
Holbert then turned to coaching and managing. He served as hitting coach for rookie Billings in 2006, then first managed at single-A Lake County in 2008. He's last recorded as managing at high-A Tampa in 2019.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 10, 1990: Defense Is In The Cards With Young Shortstop
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 15, 1996: La Russa's Next Test: A Friend
- Seattle Times, Aug. 21, 2005: Holbert Bides time in minors, finally gets back up to majors
Made the Majors:1,419-32.1-X
Never Made Majors:3,005-67.9%
No comments:
Post a Comment