Shawn Riggans

Shawn Riggans
Catcher
Born: (1980-07-25) July 25, 1980
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 5, 2006, for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Last MLB appearance
October 4, 2009, for the Tampa Bay Rays
MLB statistics
Batting average .202
Home runs 7
Runs batted in 28
Teams

Shawn Willis Riggans (born July 25, 1980) is a former professional baseball catcher.

Career

Shawn Riggans was born on July 25, 1980 in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. He is a former catcher who played professional baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays, experiencing several stints with the major league club each year from 2006 to 2009. In 2010 he signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets organization before being released. Upon his release he played for the New Jersey Jackals of the Independent Can-Am League in 2010 before signing another minor league contract this time with the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2011. He did not appear in any games with the big league club and was granted free agency at the end of the year, effectively ending his career as a professional ballplayer. Riggans’ greatest accomplishment as a major leaguer was in serving as Dioner Navarro’s backup catcher during the storied 2008 Tampa Bay Rays season that saw the Rays go from losing 96 games and finishing dead last in the AL East in 2007 to roaring to an AL Pennant in 2008. Riggans contributed significantly to the team’s success by working with and developing a young Rays pitching staff that was instrumental in fueling the surprise season. Although he was on the Rays postseason roster throughout the playoffs, he remained Navarro’s backup and did not appear in any playoff games. Often categorized as a “late bloomer” Shawn Riggans took a unique and hard-fought path to the major leagues. Undersized in his youth, Riggans struggled initially while playing at St. Thomas Aquinas High School and found himself mired in a reserve role despite his young age. “I wasn’t that big; I graduated high school at 5-7 maybe 150 lbs.” Riggans said. “I didn’t have the size but I had the ability. I just couldn’t use it much because I was never on the field. With a program like that, they’re going to play the guys who can help them win, not just because they see that eventually one day you’re doing something good. I wasn’t the guy and it wasn’t my time.”[1] A lack of size and playing time were only the first hurdles Riggans had to clear before he could reach the big leagues. Although he soon went through a growth spurt and shot up to 6-2, 190 pounds; he attempted to walk on to his college team at Florida International University and was initially rejected. No stranger to perseverance, Riggans pressed on. After starring in an intersquad game; banging out two hits at the plate and throwing out two baserunners behind it, his coach changed his mind. “The next day he told me that I’d earned a red-shirt spot on the roster,” Riggans sums up his accomplishment by saying “I felt like I’d climbed a mountain.”[2] After transferring to Indian River Community College, Riggans continued to work hard and earned himself playing time; allowing himself to hone and improve his skills and gaining enough visibility to get drafted out of the small school by the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 24th Round of the 2000 MLB draft (706th overall). Riggans’ work was far from over, and he faced a great and tragic challenge in his first year in the Rays’ organization in 2001; when his mother Patricia Riggans, who was in need of a liver transplant, passed away. “It’s been tough, but she’s a big driving force and she’s always with me and definitely is looking down on me tonight,” Riggans said about his mother. “I say a prayer to her every day during the national anthem. I wish she could be here, but I know she’s in a better place and not suffering.”[3] Drawing from the memory of his mother, and leaning on a superior work ethic, Riggans hit .345 with 8 home runs in only 15 games for the Princeton (Virginia) Devil Rays (Tampa Bay’s rookie ball affiliate). He then preceded to win the distinction of Rays minor league defensive catcher of the year award four times;[4] spending six years in the minors before his lifelong dream of playing in the major leagues was finally realized on September 5, 2006. Rays Manager Joe Maddon pinch hit Riggans for Rocco Baldelli in the 9th inning of a game against the Minnesota Twins. Riggans ripped a pitch into center field, dropping it in in front of the defender for a base hit in his first at-bat. Shawn’s father, John, who was there in attendance could not help but think of Shawn’s late mother as he watched the sinking line drive find green turf in center field. “Shawn’s mom never missed a game, and she didn’t miss this game either, I promise you. When the outfielder was running down that ball, she tripped him up, I guarantee you.”[5] Riggans’ hit was his first taste of success in the major leagues; he spent significant time with the big league club, turning in his best season in 2008, hitting safely 30 times in 135 tries while also connecting on 6 home runs. Riggans’ biggest season coincided with the biggest season in Tampa Bay baseball history and earned him a coveted spot on the Rays postseason roster. The Rays delivered a memorable performance that October (their first ever playoff appearance), relying on strong pitching and timely hitting from Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and others to dispatch the Chicago White Sox 3 games to 1 in the American League Division Series and advance to the American League Championship Series against the division rival Boston Red Sox. The ALCS was an especially trying series for the Rays, but they prevailed against the Red Sox, with rookie pitcher David Price delivering a memorable relief appearance that clinched the decisive game 7 and led the Rays to their first ever World Series. Although the Rays did not succeed in winning the World Series (They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 1) their story of fighting hard and prevailing against all odds along the way is one of the most memorable baseball stories of the decade. The story of Shawn Riggans is a similar one. In his career he overcame undersize, benching at the high school level, rejection at the college level, personal loss and tragedy, and the grueling journey of playing for years in the minors before finally reaching the major leagues. Former Rays Manager Joe Maddon said himself about Riggans “He’s a wonderful fella. He’s going to be good. You don’t have to play in high school to be good here.”[6] And despite his unusual path, and the significant obstacles that were in his way, Riggans overcame all to achieve success in baseball at its highest level.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/Rays/Distant_dream_real_fo.shtml
  2. ↑ http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/Rays/Distant_dream_real_fo.shtml
  3. ↑ http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/Rays/Distant_dream_real_fo.shtml
  4. ↑ https://patrickfloodblog.com/2010/03/04/ten-things-you-didnt-know-about-shawn/
  5. ↑ http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/Rays/Distant_dream_real_fo.shtml
  6. ↑ http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/08/Rays/Distant_dream_real_fo.shtml

External links


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