Matt Tuiasosopo
Matt Tuiasosopo | ||
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Runs batted in | 45 | |
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As coach
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Matthew Petelu Tuiasosopo (born May 10, 1986) is an American former professional baseball utility player and the current third base coach for the Atlanta Braves. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers and Atlanta Braves.
Early life
Tuiasosopo played for the Woodinville West Little League at the 1998 Little League Western Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, California. Woodinville West lost to Cypress Federal in a championship game that lasted 7 innings. This is the farthest WWLL has made it into the Little League All Star Tournament.[citation needed]
Tuiasosopo signed a professional
Early minor league career
The
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Matt_Tuiasosopo_2007_%28cropped%29.jpg/180px-Matt_Tuiasosopo_2007_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In 2005, he was with Seattle's Low-A affiliate, the
In 2006, he split time between the Mariners' High-A Inland Empire 66ers and Double-A San Antonio Missions affiliates. He batted a combined .248 with two home runs and 44 RBI. He played with the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League that fall. He hit .306 with one home run with 34 RBIs, 31 runs scored and five stolen bases in 59 games with Inland Empire but only batted .185 with one home run, 16 runs scored and 10 RBIs with San Antonio.
Tuiasosopo spent the 2007 season with the Double-A
At the end of the 2007 campaign Tuiasosopo was rated as the Mariners No. 10 prospect by Baseball America. He was named to the Minor League News Fab 50 again in 2007.[2]
Promotion to the major leagues
Until September 2008 he was playing with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. On September 5, 2008, he collected his first major league hit, a double, against pitcher Andy Pettitte of the New York Yankees while playing for the Seattle Mariners. He finished the 2008 season batting .281 with Tacoma and .159 with the Mariners.
He made the 2009 Opening Day roster for the Mariners. On July 4, 2009 Tuiasosopo made his first rehab start with the
On September 13 Tuiasosopo was called up to Seattle after the Rainiers lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Sacramento River Cats.[5] He said this about the playoff experience:
We all knew that if we were in the running, all of us would be here in the playoffs, because we know how important that it was, The organization thinks it's important winning in the Minor Leagues, so we knew that we were going to be around and we just wanted to keep winning. We wanted to see if we could get that ring. That was important to all of us in that room there.
On September 27, during the pre-game show on
Tuiasosopo played in 50 games in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners during the 2010 season. He played his first major league games at shortstop, first base, and in the outfield.
Tuiasosopo spent the 2011 season with the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers. Tuiasosopo signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets on January 27, 2012, and spent the season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Tuiasosopo signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers on December 6, 2012.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/20130601-0223_Matt_Tuiasosopo2.jpg/220px-20130601-0223_Matt_Tuiasosopo2.jpg)
On March 26, 2013, citing an impressive spring that saw Tuiasosopo hit .327 with four home runs and 10 RBIs, Tigers manager Jim Leyland announced that Tuiasosopo had made the major league team.[9] After a good start to the season, Tuiasosopo landed on the 15-day disabled list (DL) on June 21.[10] He returned from the DL on July 5.[11] On the season, Matt appeared in 81 games for the Tigers, hitting .244 with 7 home runs and 30 RBIs.
Return to the minor leagues
In November 2013, Tuiasosopo was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks. On March 20, 2014, Tuiasosopo was again claimed off waivers, this time by the Toronto Blue Jays.[12] He was assigned outright to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons on March 28, 2014.[13] On June 12, the Blue Jays traded Tuiasosopo to the Chicago White Sox for cash considerations.[14]
On December 16, 2014, Tuiasosopo signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles.[15] He was released in March 2015[16] and signed with the Chicago White Sox on April 3, 2015.[17]
On November 24, 2015, Tuiasosopo signed a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves.[18]
In May 2016, Tuiasosopo was promoted to the major leagues by the Braves, making his debut on May 4. He was designated for assignment on May 9.[19] On October 21, Tuiasosospo re–signed with the Braves on a minor league contract.
Tuiasosopo spent the entire 2017 season in the minors with the Gwinnett Braves of the Triple-A International League, playing in 114 games. On July 20, he made his first career pitching appearance in his 1,243rd minor league game, striking out two batters in a scoreless ninth inning against the Indianapolis Indians at Coolray Field.[20] He elected free agency following the season on November 6, 2017.[21]
On May 21, 2018, Tuiasosopo signed with the New Britain Bees of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.[22] He announced his retirement from professional baseball on August 20, 2018.
Coaching career
Tuiasosopo was named manager of the
Personal life
Tuiasosopo is the younger brother of Marques and Zach, and the son of Manu Tuiasosopo. His father and brothers played college football in the Pac-10 Conference; Manu at UCLA and his two older brothers at Washington in Seattle. Their older sister Leslie Gabriel played volleyball at Washington, and is currently the head coach for the Huskies.[26][failed verification]
Tuiasosopo's brother-in-law is Micah Owings.[27] He is a cousin of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, perpetrator of the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax.[28]
References
- ^ a b [1] Archived October 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [2] Archived August 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ http://www.thenewstribune.com/512/story/801601.html. Retrieved July 13, 2009.
{{cite web}}
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(help)[dead link] - ^ Matt Tuiasosopo homers twice in Rainiers victory Archived September 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machineseattletimes.nwsource.com
- ^ Mariners promote three from Triple-A mariners.com
- ^ Another taste of Majors for Tuiasosopo mariners.com
- ^ Blowers Sees the Future - Precisely - for Tuiasosopo Greg Johns, seattlepi.com, 29 September 2009
- ^ Call of the Year Shannon Drayer, mynorthwest.com, 28 September 2009.
- ^ Sipple, George (March 26, 2013). "Rick Porcello wins Tigers' No. 5 starter role; Matt Tuiasosopo makes team". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
- ^ Schmehl, James (2013-06-22). "Tigers place Matt Tuiasosopo on 15-day DL with rib-cage strain, recall outfielder Avisail Garcia". MLive.com. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
- ^ "July 2013 Transactions". MLB.com. Tigers.com. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
- ^ Kennedy, Brendan (March 23, 2014). "Blue Jays jobs still up for grabs a week before season opener". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- ^ "Matt Tuiasosopo outrighted to Buffalo". bluebirdbanter.com. March 29, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
- ^ "Sanchez to make Bisons debut Saturday". MILB.com. June 12, 2014.
- ^ Simon, Andrew (December 16, 2014). "Orioles sign three to Minor League deals". MLB.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- ^ Eddy, Matt (April 6, 2015). "Minor League Transactions: March 27-April 2". Baseball America. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- ^ "Scoreboard". Duluth News Tribune. April 3, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
- ^ Todd, Jeff (November 24, 2015). "Braves Sign David Carpenter, Nine Others To Minors Deals". mlbtraderumors.com. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
- ^ Bowman, Mark (May 9, 2016). "Beckham re-activated, Tuiasosopo optioned". MLB.com. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
- ^ "G-Braves Buried Early in Loss to Indians". MiLB.com. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
- ^ "Minor League Free Agents 2017". baseballamerica.com. 7 November 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ "Former Major Leaguer Tuiasosopo Signs with Bees". New Britain Bees. May 21, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
- ^ "2019 Rome Braves Field Staff Announced". MiLB.com. January 2, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
- ^ "Atlanta Braves Announce Gwinnett Coaching Staff for 2021".
- ^ "Braves fill three openings on their coaching staff". ESPN.com. Associated Press. December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
- ^ "Leslie Gabriel". University of Washington Athletics. September 19, 2014. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014.
- ^ Johns, Greg (March 19, 2011). "Tuiasosopo faces future in-law on diamond". MLB.com. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
- ^ Shelburne, Ramona (September 30, 2005). "He's got a name: Tuiasosopo serves as A.V. signal caller". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Archived from the original on March 27, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Matt Tuiasosopo on X