Damon Berryhill
| Damon Berryhill | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Damon Berryhill in 1988 | |||
| Catcher | |||
|
Born: December 3, 1963 South Laguna, California | |||
| |||
| MLB debut | |||
| September 5, 1987, for the Chicago Cubs | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 28, 1997, for the San Francisco Giants | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .240 | ||
| Home runs | 47 | ||
| Runs batted in | 257 | ||
| Teams | |||
Damon Scott Berryhill (born December 3, 1963) is a former Major League Baseball catcher who played ten seasons for the Chicago Cubs, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, the Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants from 1987 to 1997. He threw right and was a switch hitter.
Berryhill went to high school at Laguna Beach High School, and went to college at Orange Coast Community College.[1]
Career
Chicago Cubs
He was originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 13th round of the January 1983 amateur draft, but did not sign with them. He played another year at Orange Coast and was drafted in 1984 by the Chicago Cubs with the 4th pick of the January 1984 amateur draft.[2] He signed with the Cubs on June 2 and began his professional career.
Berryhill began his minor league career in 1984 with the Quad City Cubs, and played 62 games with them.[1] The following season, he played for the Winston-Salem Spirits, Chicago's high A-class affiliate.[1] He continued to move up the ranks in the following seasons, playing for the Pittsfield Cubs in 1986 and the Iowa Cubs in 1987.[1] He was named to the American Association All-Star team for Iowa after batting .287 and hitting 18 home runs.[3]
Berryhill was called up to the major leagues at the end of the 1987 minor league season, and made his major league debut on September 5 against the Cincinnati Reds. He had one hit in two at-bats in his debut, with his first hit a single to center field off of Rob Murphy in the bottom of the ninth.
He was selected to the 1988 Topps All-Star Rookie Roster as he hit .295 in 95 games for the Cubs that season.
He was the most commonly used starting catcher for the division-winning 1989 Cubs. In 5 seasons with the Cubs, he played in 277 games and hit .239 as he was primarily a backup catcher in 1990–91.
Atlanta Braves
Berryhill was traded to the Atlanta Braves on September 29, 1991 along with pitcher Mike Bielecki in exchange for pitchers Yorkis Perez and Turk Wendell.
He hit a game-winning three-run home run for the Braves in Game 1 of the 1992 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. He played in 217 games for the Braves through 1993, batting .236.
1994–98
He signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox on February 1, 1994 and played in 82 games with the Red Sox during the 1994 season. He hit .263.
Berryhill signed with the Cincinnati Reds on November 4, 1994, playing in 34 games and batting .183 before being sustaining an elbow injury. He was released on February 26, 1996, and he sat out the 1996 season while recovering from elbow surgery.
He signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants on January 6, 1997. As a backup catcher for the Giants, he played in 73 games in 1996 and hit .257.
He subsequently signed a minor league contract with the Oakland Athletics on November 22, 1997 and he played in 21 games for the AAA Edmonton Trappers, where he batted .257 before he was released.
Coaching career
He was a coach for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in 2002 and minor league catching coordinator for the Texas Rangers in 2006.
In 2008 he managed the Bakersfield Blaze of the California League. In 2009–13 he was the manager of the Ogden Raptors. He was named the manager of the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Pacific Coast League for 2014. The Dodgers changed AAA affiliates in 2015 and he became the manager of the Oklahoma City Dodgers.[4] He led the AAA Dodgers to a division title and was selected as PCL Manager of the Year.[5] Despite that, the Dodgers chose not to renew his contract at the end of the season.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Damon Berryhill Statistics". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
- ↑ "Damon Berryhill Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
- ↑ van Dyck, Dave (1987-08-29). "Cubs Bits". Chicago Sun-Times. p. 101.
- ↑ Weisman, Jon (January 12, 2015). "Dodgers announce 2015 minor-league coaching staff". Dodgers.com. Retrieved January 12, 2015.
- ↑ Oklahoma City Dodgers (September 4, 2015). "Damon Berryhill Named PCL Manager of the Year". milb.com. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
- ↑ Hoornstra, J.P. (September 16, 2015). "Nine minor league coaches, including Double-A and Triple-A managers, will not return in 2016". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
| Preceded by Matt Nokes |
Topps Rookie All-Star Catcher 1988 |
Succeeded by Bob Geren |
| Preceded by Lorenzo Bundy |
Albuquerque Isotopes Manager 2014 |
Succeeded by Glenallen Hill |