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Chosen by the Rangers within the Seventeenth spherical of the 2007 draft, Moreland was within the massive leagues simply over three years later, making a powerful impression with a .255/.364/.469 slash and 9 homers in 173 plate appearances as a rookie. That robust exhibiting set the stage for a torrid postseason effort wherein a then 24-year-old Moreland batted .348/.400/.500 with a homer and 4 doubles, serving to Texas advance to the World Sequence, the place they fell to the Giants in a 4-1 sequence loss.
From that time forth, Moreland was entrenched as an enormous leaguer. He logged common time in every of the subsequent 11 seasons, serving as a slick-fielding, righty-mashing slugger in the midst of the order for the Rangers, Pink Sox and — extra briefly — Padres and Athletics. Alongside the best way, Moreland gained a Gold Glove for his work at first base with the Rangers and secured an All-Star nod with the Pink Sox, who signed him as a free agent previous to the 2017 season and twice re-signed him in free company — first for 2 years (2018-19) after which to a different one-year deal (2020).
The 2018 season was an enormous one for Moreland not solely attributable to his All-Star choice but additionally from an enormous image standpoint. Whereas Moreland’s Rangers fell shy in consecutive World Sequence appearances in 2010-11, he reached the Fall Basic for a 3rd time with the ’18 Pink Sox and this time captured the championship that had twice eluded him.
As with the 2010 Rangers, Moreland performed an enormous position within the Pink Sox’ postseason success that 12 months, slashing .294/.368/.529 in 19 plate appearances. That included a pinch-hit, three-run bomb at Dodger Stadium within the seventh inning of Recreation 4 of the World Sequence — a blast that jumpstarted a late-inning rally which noticed Boston rating 9 runs en path to a comeback victory.
The Pink Sox traded Moreland to the Padres for a pair of prospects in the course of the shortened 2020 season. He scuffled via a small pattern of 73 plate appearances earlier than once more heating up within the postseason, the place he went 4-for-8 with a double. Moreland inked a one-year cope with Oakland that offseason however was restricted to 82 video games by ribcage and wrist accidents.
That proved to be the ultimate season of Moreland’s taking part in profession, and whereas it might not have ended with a flourish, it’s straightforward to look again and see a profitable profession — significantly for a Seventeenth-round choose.
Moreland retires as a lifetime .251/.318/.446 hitter within the common season. He slugged 186 dwelling runs, 219 doubles and 9 triples alongside the best way, whereas piling up 1,020 hits, 527 runs scored and 618 runs batted in. As beforehand talked about, he gained a Gold Glove and was named to the American League All-Star workforce. Between his stable arbitration numbers and a quartet of free-agent contracts, Moreland made about $36M in wage over the course of his 12 seasons within the majors.
Whereas many gamers go nearly all of their profession with out sniffing the postseason, Moreland’s groups reached the playoffs in an unbelievable eight of his 12 massive league seasons. He added on one other 150 plate appearances over 52 postseason video games, batting .259/.329/.422 throughout that point.
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