Tyler Saladino
Tyler Artolo Saladino (born July 20, 1989 in San Diego, California) is a former Birmingham Barons player and currently an infielder for the Chicago White Sox.
Saladino was born and raised in San Diego, and is the nephew of skateboarding legend Doug "Pineapple" Saladino. After graduating from University City High School he attended Palomar College in San Marcos for two years, and was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 36th round of the 2008 amateur draft. He did not sign, though, and instead transferred to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma to finish his degree.
The White Sox drafted Saladino in the 7th round of the 2010 draft and assigned him to the Rookie-level Bristol White Sox. In July he was promoted to the single-A Kannapolis Intimidators of the South Atlantic League. He batted .309 with 40 runs on 51 hits through 47 appearances there. Saladino spent the 2011 season with the A+ Carolina League's Winston-Salem Dash, hitting .270 with 75 runs and 107 hits in 397 at-bats. He also played in the Arizona Fall League that year and was promoted to Birmingham in 2012.
In April 2012 National Public Radio correspondent David Greene began a series of six interviews with Saladino that aired on "Morning Edition" from 2012 to 2015, detailing his quest to reach the Major Leagues.
As a member of the 2012 Barons, Saladino hit .237 with 71 runs and 99 hits in 418 at bats. He made a name for himself as a base-runner with 38 steals. At mid-season he was briefly promoted to the AAA Charlotte Knights, but returned after two weeks. Saladino played the entire 2013 season in a Barons uniform. He hit .229 with 49 runs and 97 hits in 424 at-bats. He stole another 28 bases, but also grounded into 15 double-plays during the season.
Saladino began the 2014 season in Charlotte and improved his batting average to .367, but injured his arm in July and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery. He returned to the Knights' roster in 2015 and was hitting .332 with 25 stolen bases in the first 52 games before he was called up.
Saladino made his debut in the Major Leagues on July 10, 2015 and hit an RBI triple in his second start to launch a seven game hitting streak. He played mostly at third base for the White Sox and batted .225 with 33 runs on 53 hits in 236 at-bats. In 2016 he was used more often at shortstop. Through 43 games he improved his average to .250 with 15 runs on 28 hits in 112 at-bats.
References
- Padilla, Doug (September 17, 2015) "Tyler Saladino's connection to the skateboarding world." ESPN.com
- "Tyler Saladino" (July 20, 2016) Wikipedia - accessed July 20, 2016
External links
- Tyler Saladino at baseball-reference.com
- "Major League Dreams" at npr.org
- Tyler Saladino on Twitter.com