Gerald Robert Sands...Wife's name is Morgan...Is a 2005 graduate of Smithfield-Selma High School in Smithfield, NC (near Raleigh)... Established a school record 61 home runs while playing baseball at Catawaba College (NC) from 2006-08...Finished his college career ranked second in school history with 205 RBI...Earned First-Team NCAA II All-South Region honors in 2008 after batting .390 with 23 home runs and 80 RBI.
2015
Appeared in 50 games over two stints with the Indians … his contract was purchased from Class AAA Columbus on 4/10 … drove in four runs on 4/11 vs. Detroit. ... Was designated for assignment on 4/29 and outrighted to the minors on 5/3 … his contract was purchased a second time on 5/28 before being designated on 5/31 and outrighted on 6/6. ... His contract was purchased a third time on 7/31 and finished the season on the Indians major-league roster. ... Matched his career high with four RBI on 8/8 vs. Minnesota when he connected on a pinch-hit grand slam off Blaine Boyer in the fifth inning. ... Was designated for assignment a third time on 12/18 and claimed off waivers by the White Sox on 12/23. ... Was tied for sixth in the International League in walks (45) and seventh in home runs (14) at the time of his promotion to the Indians on 7/31. ... Hit .309 (17-55) vs. left-handers with the Clippers.
2014
Appeared in 12 games with Tampa Bay and 54 with Class AAA Durham before undergoing season-ending surgery. Started the season with the Bulls before his contract was purchased by the Rays on 6/1. ... Recorded a pinch-hit, game-winning RBI in the eighth inning on 6/15 at Houston and 6/16 vs. Baltimore. ... Became the first player to record a game-winning RBI as a pinch hitter in consecutive team games since Atlanta's Howard Battle on 9/7-8/99 vs. St. Louis and the first in American League since Oakland's Harold Baines from 9/21-22/90 vs. Detroit. ... Hit a game-ending, pinch homer off Brian Matusz on 6/16 vs. Baltimore, the first pinch-hit and walkoff homers of his career. ... Was placed on the disabled list on 6/23 with a strained tendon in his left wrist and underwent season-ending surgery in July.
2013
Appeared in 106 games with Class AAA Indianapolis, including 73 in right field, 15 in left, seven at first base and five as the designated hitter. ... Also played in three games with the GCL Pirates during a rehab assignment (strained left hamstring). ... Was designated for assignment on 12/18 and claimed by Tampa Bay off waivers on 12/23.
2012
Spent majority of season with Albuquerque (Dodgers' AAA), where he led the Pacific Coast League in RBI and ranked third in home runs;
his RBI total ranked seventh in all of Minor League Baseball...Recorded two triples on 5/3 vs. Oklahoma City...Homered twice on 5/13 at Salt Lake...Was hitting
.364 in May and .257 in 36 games overall when he was recalled by Los Angeles on 5/15...Made start that night in left field and went 1-for-4 vs Arizona...Went
4-for-20 (.200) with two doubles in eight games with the Dodgers before being optioned back to Albuquerque on 5/29...Hit two grand slams and knocked in
eight runs in the second game of a doubleheader at Nashville on 7/29...Was named PCL Player-of-the-Week for week of 7/23-30 after batting .389 (14-for-
36) with three homers and 12 RBI in nine games...Was recalled by Los Angeles on 8/6 and started in right field that night vs Colorado (went 0-for-3)...Was
optioned to Albuquerque on 8/8...Recorded a 21-game hitting streak at Triple-A from 7/27 to 8/20, which tied for the third-longest streak in the PCL...Batted
.467 (42-for-90) during the streak - tops in all of Minor League Baseball - raising his average from .260 to .306...Hit nine home runs over 15-game span from
7/28 to 8/15, the most among Triple-A batters in that time...Had a season-high five hits on 8/20 vs. New Orleans...Batted .343 (73-for-233) from 7/1 thru the
end of the season with Albuquerque...Collected 76 of his league-leading 107 RBI between 6/1 and 8/31....Made 60 appearances in left field, 44 at first base
and 24 in right field while playing at the Triple-A level...Was named to the Pacific Coast League post-season All-Star team...Ranked fourth among players in
post-season batting with a .381 (8-for-21) average and fourth with a .458 OBP...Was acquired by Boston on 10/4 as the player to be named later to complete
the Adrian Gonzalez deal...Was acquired by Pittsburgh on 12/26 as part of a six-player deal.
2011
Arrived in the Majors in just
his fourth professional season,
making his big league debut in
April and batting .253 with 15
doubles, four homers and 26 RBI
in 61 games over two stints with
the Dodgers...Appeared in 41 games (34
starts) in left field, 22 games (16
starts) in right field and six games
(three starts) at first base...Batted .367 (22-for-60) with
three of his four home runs
against left-handed pitchers...Hit the first home run of his career on May 21 at Chicago-AL with a solo shot off Mark
Buehrle...followed it up with his first grand slam three days later off Houston's J.A.
Happ on May 24 at Minute Maid Park...it was just the sixth grand slam by a Dodger
rookie since 1974 and the first since James Loney's on Sept. 28, 2006 at Colorado...Called up to the big leagues on April 18 and made his Major League debut that
night against the Braves, starting in left field and doubling in his first at-bat against Tim
Hudson...added a sacrifice fly in his second at-bat for the first RBI of his career...went
1-for-3 in the game...Batted just .200 (25-for-125) with 10 doubles, two homers and 17 RBI in 41 games
during his first stint with Los Angeles and was optioned back to Albuquerque on June 9...Hit .313 (10-for-32) with two homers and five RBI in 22 Spring Training games as a non-roster invitee in his first big league camp...Recalled on Sept. 6 for a second stint with the Dodgers and hit .342 (25-for-73) with five doubles, two homers and
nine RBI in 20 games down the stretch...Batted .431 (22-for-51) with five doubles, two homers and eight RBI during his career-long 14-game hitting streak
from Sept. 12-26, which tied for the fifth-longest hitting streak by a Los Angeles Dodger rookie...Ranked fourth in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League with 29 home runs and had the fifth-highest slugging percentage
on the circuit with a .586 mark in 94 games with Triple-A Albuquerque...led the Isotopes with 88 RBI and batted
.278 with 21 doubles and three triples...His 29 home runs tied with Angelo Songco for the most by a Dodger minor leaguer and also ranked third in the
organization in RBI and fourth in slugging percentage...Called up to the big leagues on April 18 after hitting .400 with five homers and 17 RBI in his first 10 games of the
season at Triple-A...opened the season with a nine-game hitting streak and homered in four straight games from April
9-12...had an .875 slugging percentage.
2010
Named the Dodgers' Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year, selected to Baseball America's Minor League All-Star Team and
honored by Sporting News as an outfielder on their All-Minor League Team after tying for third in all of Minor League Baseball with 35 home
runs in a combined 137 games with Single-A Great Lakes and Double-A Chattanooga...also honored as a Low Class-A All-Star by Baseball
America...Batted a combined .301, drove in 93 runs and posted a .586 slugging percentage...Garnered league Player of the Week honors four times (April 8-18, April 19-25 and May 3-9 with Great Lakes, June 21-27 with
Chattanooga)...Named to the Midwest League All-Star game and won the game's Top Star MVP Award with a two-run homer to spark the East Division to a
6-2 win on June 22...was leading the Midwest League with 37 extra-base hits, 18 home runs and a .646 slugging percentage at the time of
his promotion to Chattanooga on June 24...also ranked among the league leaders in batting average (.333, 3rd), runs (48, T-2nd), hits (81,
2nd), RBI (46, 2nd) and on-base percentage (.432, 2nd) in 69 games...following the season, rated by Baseball America as the 18th-best
prospect in the Midwest League...Won the Dodger Pride Award for Great Lakes for both of the first two months of the season, batting .382 (29-for-76) with eight home runs
and 22 RBI in 21 April games and hitting .336 (36-for-107) with seven homers and 15 RBI in 30 May games...Led the Lookouts with 17 home runs and a .529 slugging percentage despite only playing in 68 games with the club...following the season,
rated by Baseball America as the 18th-best prospect in the Southern League...Tied for the Southern League lead with seven home runs in 25 July games to win the Dodger Pride Award...Batted .317 (27-for-85) in the seventh inning and later while with Chattanooga
2009
Hit a combined .315 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI in 73 games for Rookie-advanced Ogden and Single-A Great
Lakes...Began the season with Ogden and batted .350 with 14 home runs and 39 RBI...Would have tied for third in the Pioneer League with a .350 batting average if he had enough at-bats to qualify...Named to the Topps Short Season/Rookie All-Star Team and the Pioneer League All-Star Team, ranking fourth in the
league with 14 homers in 41 games...Batted .260 with five home runs and 19 RBI at Great Lakes in 32 games.
2008
Made his professional debut with the Rookie-level GCL Dodgers and batted .205 with 10 home runs with 33 RBI in
46 games...Tied for second in the Gulf Coast League in home runs and tied for third in RBI.
