First Baseman, Oakland Athletics
Age: 29
6th season
with Athletics
Bats – Left,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’3” Weight: 240
Prior to 2000:
A native
Californian from suburban Los Angeles, Giambi was a three-sport star at South
Hills High School in West Covina, including playing shortstop on the baseball
team. A sinewy line-drive hitter, he moved on to Long Beach State, turning down
an offer from the Milwaukee Brewers, who selected him in the 1989 amateur
draft. Shifted to third base as a freshman, Giambi batted .422. As a sophomore
he hit .407 and displayed an excellent batting eye by drawing 57 walks. In 1991
he was with the Team USA squad that lost to Puerto Rico in the semifinals of
the Pan-Am Games. Long Beach State won the Big West title in 1992 and Giambi hit
.363. Returning to Team USA in the summer, he was moved to first base. The team
came up empty in the Barcelona Olympics, but Giambi played well and signed with
the A’s, who took him in the second round of the ’92 amateur draft. Starting
out as a third baseman with Southern Oregon of the short-season Class A
Northwest League, he played in 13 games and batted .317 with three home runs
and 13 RBIs. Giambi moved on to Modesto of the advanced Class A California
League in 1993 and hit .291 with 12 home runs and 60 RBIs while being
intentionally walked a league-high seven times. Playing with teams at the Class
AA and AAA levels in 1994, he batted a combined .268 with 10 home runs and 68
RBIs. Called up to the A’s in 1995, where he backed up at first base and third,
and, while sent back to Class AAA in May, he returned to Oakland in July where
the hard-playing Giambi suffered various injuries on the way to appearing in 54
games at the major league level and batted .256 with 6 home runs and 25 RBIs.
He started strong in 1996 while sharing time at third base with Scott Brosius
and had a 19-game April hitting streak on his way to hitting .291 with 20 home
runs and 79 RBIs after he faded badly during the season’s second half. Hobbled
by injuries at the start of the 1997 season, Giambi took over at first base for
slugger Mark McGwire, after he was dealt at midseason. He ended up batting .293
with 20 home runs and 81 RBIs. Formerly a limited defensive player at third
base, Giambi initially had difficulties at first as well but maintained a
potent bat in 1998 as he hit .295 with 27 home runs and 110 RBIs. While also
developing into a team leader, he batted .315 in 1999 with 33 home runs and 123
RBIs in the center of a hard-hitting lineup.
2000 Season Summary
Appeared in 152
games
1B – 124, DH – 24,
PH – 4
[Bracketed
numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate
Appearances – 664
At Bats – 510
Runs – 108 [10,
tied with Tim Salmon & Bernie Williams]
Hits – 170
Doubles – 29
Triples – 1
Home Runs – 43 [2,
tied with Frank Thomas]
RBI – 137 [4,
tied with Carlos Delgado]
Bases on Balls
– 137 [1]
Int. BB – 6 [19,
tied with five others]
Strikeouts – 96
Stolen Bases – 2
Caught Stealing
– 0
Average - .333
[7, tied with Mike Sweeney]
OBP - .476 [1]
Slugging Pct. -
.647 [3]
Total Bases – 330
[8]
GDP – 9
Hit By Pitches
– 9 [9, tied with Herbert Perry & Mike Cameron]
Sac Hits – 0
Sac Flies – 8 [12,
tied with four others]
League-leading bases
on balls drawn were +14 ahead of runner-up Carlos Delgado
League-leading OBP
was +.006 ahead of runner-up Carlos Delgado
Midseason snapshot:
HR – 22, RBI – 78, AVG - .334, SLG – .624
---
Most hits, game
– 4 (in 4 AB) vs. San Diego 6/7, (in 4 AB) at Minnesota 6/14
Longest hitting
streak – 13 games
Most HR, game –
2 on five occasions
HR at home – 23
HR on road – 20
Multi-HR games
– 5
Most RBIs, game
– 7 vs. San Diego 6/7, at Tampa Bay 9/15
Pinch-hitting –
1 of 3 (.333) with 1 BB & 1 RBI
Fielding
Chances – 1226
Put Outs – 1161
Assists – 59
Errors – 6
DP – 114
Pct. - .995
Postseason
Batting: 5 G (ALDS vs. NY Yankees)
PA – 22, AB – 14,
R – 2, H – 4, 2B – 0,3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 1, BB – 7, IBB – 1, SO – 2, SB – 0,
CS – 0, AVG - .286, OBP - .500, SLG -.286, TB – 4, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 0, SF
– 1
Awards & Honors:
AL MVP: BBWAA
All-Star
(Started for AL at 1B)
Top 5 in AL MVP
Voting:
Jason Giambi,
Oak.: 317 pts. – 14 of 28 first place votes, 81% share
Frank Thomas,
ChiWS.: 285 pts. – 10 first place votes, 73% share
Alex Rodriguez,
Sea.: 218 pts. – 4 first place votes, 56%
share
Carlos Delgado,
Tor.: 206 pts. – 53% share
Pedro Martinez,
Bos.: 103 pts. – 26% share
---
A’s went 91-70
to finish first in the AL Western Division by a half game over the Seattle Mariners,
while leading the league in batter strikeouts (1159). Seven games behind the
Mariners on August 11, the A’s caught them on Sept. 23, and took sole
possession of first place heading into the last weekend in the midst of a 6-1
season-ending run. Although they played only 161 games, they did not need to
play a makeup game with Tampa Bay thanks to a tiebreaker advantage. Lost ALDS to the New
York Yankees, 3 games to 2.
Aftermath of 2000:
In 2001, Giambi
had another outstanding season, batting .342 with a league-best .477 on-base
percentage fueled by his AL-high 129 walks. He further topped the circuit with
47 doubles and a .660 slugging percentage to go along with 38 home runs and 120
RBIs. He placed second in league MVP voting and in the off-season signed a
seven-year, $120 million free agent contract with the New York Yankees. In a
solid 2002 season with his new club, Giambi hit .314 with 41 home runs and 122
RBIs. In 2003, dealing with a sore knee and other health issues, his average
dropped to .250 with 41 home runs and 107 RBIs. He led the AL with 129 walks
and 140 batter strikeouts as well. In the ALCS triumph over the Red Sox he hit
three home runs, including two in the decisive seventh game. Illness and
injuries limited Giambi to 80 games in 2004 and he batted .208 with 12 home
runs and 40 RBIs. Revelations about steroid use swirled around him and were
blamed for his physical deterioration. Concentrating on conditioning and
splitting time between DH and first base in 2005, Giambi rebounded to .271 with
32 home runs and 87 RBIs and topped the AL with 108 walks drawn and a .440
on-base percentage. In 2006 he hit .253 with 37 home runs and 113 RBIs. Dogged
by a foot injury in 2007, he had a down year, dropping to .236 in 83 games with
14 home runs and 39 RBIs. In his last year with the Yankees in 2008, Giambi
batted .247 with 32 home runs and 96 RBIs. As a free agent in the offseason he
returned to Oakland, where he spent the first half of the 2009 season and
underperformed at .193 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs when he was released in
August. Signed by the Colorado Rockies, he hit .292 the rest of the way.
Returning to the Rockies as a reserve in 2010, he appeared in 87 games and hit
.244 with 6 home runs and 35 RBIs. Invited back in 2011 at age 40, he batted
.260 with 13 home runs (including three in one game against the Phillies) and
32 RBIs. He spent one more inconsequential season with Colorado in 2012 before
moving on to the Cleveland Indians for 2013 and ’14, his last two seasons.
Overall, for his major league career, Giambi batted .277 with 2010 hits that
included 405 doubles, 9 triples, and 440 home runs. He further scored 1227 runs
and compiled 1441 RBIs and drew 1366 walks, a category in which he led the
American League four times. His lifetime OBP was .399, and he topped the AL
three times. With Oakland he batted .300 with 1100 hits, 241 doubles, 7
triples, 198 home runs, 715 RBIs, 640 runs scored, 636 walks drawn, and a .406
OBP. Appearing in 45 postseason games, he hit .290 with 7 home runs and 19
RBIs. A five-time All-Star, Giambi finished in the top 10 in league MVP voting
four times. A player who was tarnished by the steroid controversy, he managed
to become a respected elder figure in the clubhouse by the time he reached
Colorado. His brother Jeremy was a major league outfielder/first baseman with
four teams. The siblings were teammates with the A’s in 2000 and 2001.
--
MVP Profiles feature players in the National or
American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award
(1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present)
as Most Valuable Player.
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