Dodgers sign Ethier to contract extension

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed All-Star outfielder Andre Ethier to a five-year contract extension that will ensure the clutch-hitter calls Los Angeles home until at least 2017. Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti made the announcement.  

Ethier currently leads the National League with 53 RBI and in his first six Major League seasons has won a National League Silver Slugger Award (2009) and a Rawlings Gold Glove (2011). In 915 career games, all with the Dodgers, the Arizona native has a .291 batting average, a .292 average with runners in scoring position, 119 homers and 499 RBI.   

“I’ve said it before, but this is the place I’ve wanted to be all along and I hope to finish my career in Los Angeles playing for these fans that I have developed such a special bond with,” said Ethier. “Now we just have to go out and finish our goal of winning a World Championship for this great city.”  

Since becoming an everyday player in 2008, Ethier ranks among the National League’s Top-20 in doubles (162, 3^rd), RBI (380, T-12^th), batting average (.289, 20^th), games (636, T-11^th), hits (681, 12^th), runs (352, T-17^th), walks (267, 17^th) and slugging percentage (.487, 19^th). The 30-year old slugger was named to the All-Star team in both 2010 and 2011 and joins Jackie Robinson as the only two Dodgers in franchise history to hit at least 10 home runs in each of their first six seasons. Those two are also the only pair in Dodger history to amass 30 doubles in five consecutive seasons (2007-11).

“We have a player in Andre who hits in the middle of the order, has won a Silver Slugger award and a Gold Glove and has been a two-time All-Star,” said Colletti. “He’s a gifted clutch hitter and alongside Matt Kemp, gives us one of the best one-two punches in the game. We look forward to watching him help the Dodgers for a long time to come.”

In 2009, Ethier established career highs with 31 homers, 106 RBI, 42 doubles and 162 hits while finishing sixth in the NL MVP vote. That season, in which the Dodgers made the National League Championship Series for the second straight year, Ethier led the Major Leagues with six walk-off hits and four walk-off homers. The four walk-off home runs in a season tied Jimmie Foxx (1940) and Roy Sievers (1957) for the big league record and earned him the Pepsi MLB Clutch Player of the Year. In 2012, Ethier collected his 12^th-career walk-off hit, which is already tied for second in Los Angeles Dodger history, two behind Dusty Baker.  

Last season, Ethier recorded a career-best 30-game hitting streak, which came within a game of tying the franchise record of 31, held by Willie Davis. Ethier did establish the longest hitting streak in the month of April in Major League history (26 games) and tied the Dodger franchise record for hits in April with 40.

After making his Major League debut on May 2, 2006, Ethier went on to hit .308 in 126 games, earning a nomination to the Topps’ Major League Rookie Team and finishing sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. 

Ethier was acquired by the club from Oakland for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez in the first trade Colletti ever made as the Dodger General Manager on Dec. 13, 2005. He was originally selected by the A’s in the second round of the 2003 First-Year Draft, following an All-Pac-10 career at Arizona State University. 

Off the field, Ethier has embraced the Los Angeles community as his own, making an annual visit to the Union Rescue Mission to feed the homeless with Dodger dogs in downtown Los Angeles, hosting several holiday shopping sprees at Best Buy for underserved youth and donating his time on countless hospital visits, caravan appearances and autographs for Dodger fans throughout Southern California.

Ethier and his wife Maggie make their in-season home in Los Angeles and have two sons, Dreson and Retton. His brother Devon was drafted by the Dodgers in 2010 and is currently playing for the Arizona Dodgers in the Rookie League.