Tony Blanco
| Tony Blanco | |
|---|---|
 Blanco with the Chunichi Dragons | |
| First baseman | |
| Born: November 10, 1980 San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic | |
Bats: Right Throws: Right | |
| Professional debut | |
| NPB: April 3, 2009, for the Chunichi Dragons | |
| MLB: April 4, 2005, for the Washington Nationals | |
| NPB statistics (through 2016 season) | |
| Batting average | .272 |
| Home runs | 181 |
| Runs batted in | 542 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| NPB | |
Tony Enrique Blanco Cabrera (born November 10, 1980) is a Dominican professional baseball player. He is mainly a first baseman, third baseman and outfielder. Blanco plays for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has also played in Major League Baseball for the Washington Nationals and the Chunichi Dragons, Yokohama DeNA BayStars of NPB.
Career[]
Blanco began his career in the Boston Red Sox farm system as a third baseman. In 2002, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds as a player to be named later, completing an earlier trade that sent Todd Walker to Boston. As a top prospect in the Reds organization in 2003, Blanco made a name for himself[clarification needed] while playing for the Potomac Cannons of the Carolina League. Blanco was picked up by the Nationals as a Rule 5 Draft choice in 2005 and started the year playing for the Potomac Nationals. Blanco was invited to spring training for the big league club and quickly made it to the roster early in 2005, playing in 56 games. During 2005, his rookie season, he hit .177 with one home run and seven RBI.
In 2008, Blanco played for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers in the Colorado Rockies organization batting .323 with 23 home runs and 88 RBI. After the 2008 season, Blanco played in the Dominican Winter League for the Estrellas Orientales. He was then acquired by the Chunichi Dragons, who released their cleanup hitter Tyrone Woods due to his high wage, shortly after that.
His first year in NPB was very successful,[clarification needed] and he became known for his incredible power. Examples of his power include a grounded home run in Nagoya Dome(first in dome history), hitting the light unit above the advertisement board in Tokyo Dome, as well as hitting the top-level stand in the Nagoya and Osaka Domes. He finished his first season with an impressive 39 HR and 110 RBI, both leading in Central League, along with a .275 batting average. Other than the HR and RBI award, he was also rewarded as Central League Performance Award in Interleague game (11 HR and 24 RBI) and won the Home Run Derby before the All-star game (which he was also playing as Central League first baseman).
References[]
External links[]
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- 1980 births
- Living people
- Augusta GreenJackets players
- Chattanooga Lookouts players
- Chunichi Dragons players
- Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Japan
- Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States
- Dominican Summer League Red Sox players
- Gulf Coast Red Sox players
- Hagerstown Suns players
- Harrisburg Senators players
- Lowell Spinners players
- Major League Baseball left fielders
- Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic
- Major League Baseball third basemen
- New Orleans Zephyrs players
- Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen
- Orix Buffaloes players
- People from San Juan de la Maguana
- Sarasota Red Sox players
- Tulsa Drillers players
- Washington Nationals players
- Yokohama DeNA BayStars players