Erubiel Durazo

Erubiel Durazo Cardenas...attended Tucson's Amphitheater High School and Pima Community College...returned to his native Mexico undrafted, signing to play for the Monterrey Sultans in the Mexican League, earning both summer and winter Rookie of the Year honors...signed by the Diamondbacks at the urging of Derek Bryant, then the director of player personnel for Hermosillo and formerly a manager in Arizona's minor league system...wife's name is Martha.

2005

Appeared in just 41 games for the A's before going on the disabled list retroactive to May 25 with left elbow tendinitis...missed the remainder of the season after having Tommy John surgery on his elbow on July 22...the procedure was performed by Dr. Lewis Yocum...this was his seventh career stint on the DL but his first since joining the A's in 2003...batted .237 with four home runs and 16 RBIs in 41 games with the A's...all of those figures were the lowest of his Major League career...his batting average included a .350 (14-for-40) mark against left-handed pitching, compared to .196 (22-for-112) against right-handers...hit .340 against right-handers in 2004 compared to .278 against left-handers...hit .290 (20-for-69) with three of his four home runs in Oakland, compared to .193 (16-for-83) on the road...batted .388 (19-for-49) during day games and .165 (17-for-103) at night, after hitting .356 at night compared to .259 during the day in 2004...made a total of 39 starts, including 38 at designated hitter and one at first base...hit .238 (35-for-147) in 39 games at DH overall...has appeared in 292 games at DH as an Athletic, which is third most in Oakland history...also went 2-for-2 with an RBI as a pinch hitter...batted .303 (10-for-33) in 10 games when hitting fifth in the order and .218 (26-for-119) in all other spots in the order...went 6-for-39 (.154) with four RBIs over his first 11 games...hit .328 (19-for-58) with all four of his home runs and 10 of his 16 RBIs over the 16-game span from April 18 to May 4...finished up his campaign by going 11-for-55 (.200) with two RBIs over his final 14 games...made his third straight Opening Day start at designated hitter, tying Geronimo Berroa's record for Opening Day starts by an Oakland DH...had a season-opening streak of 11 games and 40 at bats without an extra-base hit before doubling twice on April 18 at Texas...snapped a career high 30-game, 111-at-bat homerless streak, dating back to Sept. 12, 2004, when he homered off Eddie Guardado on April 20 at Seattle...had a season-best six-game hitting streak from April 25 to May 1 (10-for-22, .455)...finished the month of April with a .250 batting average, snapping a streak of five consecutive months with a .300 batting average or better...made his only start of the season at first base on May 22 at San Francisco...went 0-for-4 in a start at designated hitter on May 24 at Tampa Bay, his final appearance of the season...was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 27, retroactive to May 25...was transferred to the 60-day DL on Sept. 1.

1997

Played for Monterrey in the Mexican Pacific League and hit .282 with eight home runs and 61 RBI in 110 games.

1998

Spent his second consecutive season with Monterrey and hit .350 with 19 home runs and 98 RBI in 119 games...finished ninth in the league in batting.

1999

Hit a combined .404 in 94 games at Double-A El Paso and Triple-A Tucson before he was called up by Arizona on July 25...had three hits in his first Major League start on July 28 in San Diego, collecting his first hit off of Brian Boehringer...hit .350 (21 for 60) through his first 22 games with five home runs and nine RBI...his first big league homer was in Philadelphia on August 7, a 446-foot shot to center off of Curt Schilling...from August 18 to September 14, he hit 10 home runs over a 22-game span...his first career multi-homer game gave Arizona a 5-4 win in Atlanta on September 4, taking John Smoltz deep twice...had his lone pinch-hit homer, a two-run blast in Milwaukee off Rafael Roque on September 9...appeared in a pair of games vs. the Mets in the NLDS, starting at first base in games 1 and 3...homered in his second postseason at bat, a solo blast in the opening game at Bank One Ballpark off of New York's Masato Yoshii....defensively, he appeared in 44 Major League games at first base, handling all 344 chances without an error...was tabbed the team Rookie of the Year by the Arizona Chapter of the BBWAA...his first taste of pro baseball in the U.S. was with El Paso and he hit .403 in 64 games with 14 homers and 55 RBI...was promoted to Tucson on June 19 where he hit .407 in 30 games with 10 homers and 28 RBI...his combined minor league average of .404 totaled enough plate appearances to qualify him as the first player to hit .400 in the minors since Aaron Pointer (.401) of the Houston (Colt 45's) Astro organization in 1961...also led all minor league players with a .703 slugging percentage...he twice earned Organizational Player of the Month honors, hitting .489 with 10 homers and 33 RBI for El Paso in May and a combined .387 performance with nine home runs and 23 RBI with El Paso and Tucson in June.

2000

Had a right wrist injury in spring training that haunted him all year...was disabled from May 30 to June 24 due to a surgical procedure, returned for three games then went back on the DL on June 29...hit .225 (9 for 40) after returning and was optioned to Triple-A on August 1...hit .387 in 10 games at Tucson and was recalled on August 11, but appeared in just five games after his recall before succumbing to another wrist operation on August 24...both surgical procedures were performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan...had a two-homer game to spoil San Diego's home opener on April 10, knocking in four...had a 10-game hitting streak from April 23-May 7, hitting .412 (14 for 34)...played for Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific League during the winter...went to the Caribbean World Series, where his club lost in the finals to the Dominican Republic yet he was named series MVP, hitting .455 (10 for 22) with a double, three homers and six RBI in six games.

2001

Started and finished strong, but a concussion and sore back contributed to a mid-season slide that included a stint on the disabled list, his second straight season interrupted by injury...hit his first of his five pinch homers on April 5 off the Dodgers' Andy Ashby...just 10 days later on April 15 in Colorado he delivered a two-run, ninth inning pinch blast off of Jose Jimenez that sent the game to extra innings...on April 17 he hit his third homer in seven pinch at bats with a solo shot in St. Louis off of Bobby Bonilla...delivered his fourth pinch homer in his first nine at bats on April 26 at home off of Atlanta's Matt Whiteside...then hit his fifth and what proved to be his final pinch homer of the regular season on May 20 in Wrigley Field off Tom Gordon...delivered an 18th inning double to end the longest game in Arizona history, a five hour and 53 minute, 1-0 victory on May 29 at San Francisco...was involved in a collision with Terry Shumpert who was covering home plate as part of a rundown play on June 24 at Colorado...suffered a Grade 2 concussion that sidelined him for a week...was placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 17 with a lower back strain and did not return until September 1...his pinch-hit double on June 3 was the last pinch-hit he registered until September 25, going 0 for 20 between pinch-hits...made a pair of starts in right field in the early going on April 16 in St. Louis and May 7 against Cincinnati...was used sparingly in the early portion of the postseason as he had made only two pinch-hit appearances entering Game 5 of the NLCS...pinch-hit after Mark Grace strained his right hamstring and hit a two-out, two-run homer off Tom Glavine to snap a 1- 1 tie and lead the Diamondbacks to the National League crown...went 4 for 11 with a double and a RBI in the World Series against New York, including 4 for 10 in three starts at designated hitter in Game 3, 4 and 5...played for Hermosillo during the winter in the Mexican Pacific League, hitting .328 with 2 homers and 12 RBI in 19 games for the Orange Growers.

2004

Hit a team leading .321 which ranked fifth in the American League and was the fifth best single season batting average in Oakland history...it was the best mark of his career over a full season...he also had career highs in hits (164), doubles (35), home runs (22), RBI (88), stolen bases (3), total bases (267) and on-base percentage (.396)...the on-base percentage ranked seventh in the AL...in addition to batting, he also led the A's in RBI and slugging percentage (.523)...the RBI were the fewest by an A's team leader since Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi had 81 in 1997...batted .328 (162 for 494) with 22 home runs and 88 RBI as the A's designated hitter...the batting average was the fifth best mark by a designated hitter in AL history (minimum 500 plate appearances)...the average led AL designated hitters in 2004 and set an Oakland record for batting average by a designated hitter, topping the mark of .298 set by Harold Baines in 1991 and matched by Matt Stairs in 1998...ranked third among AL designated hitters in home runs and RBI...has now played 253 games at designated hitter with the A's which is fourth most in Oakland history...hit .356 (116 for 326) at night compared to .259 (48 for 185) during the day...ranked second in the AL in batting average at night...batted .340 (120 for 353) against right-handed pitchers with 17 of his 22 home runs and .278 (44 for 158) against left-handers...ranked fifth in the AL in average against right-handers...has hit 73 of his 90 career home runs against right handed pitching...hit .325 (86 for 265) on the road and .317 (78 for 246) at home and his road batting average was fifth best in the AL...made 76 starts in the six spot in the batting order where he hit .359 (111 for 309) with 19 of his 22 home runs and 67 of his 88 RBI...since 1974, no Major Leaguer has had a better batting average from the six spot in the order with at least 250 plate appearances...led all Major Leaguers in 2004 in home runs and RBI from the six spot...hit .306 (129 for 422) against a pitcher the first two times he saw him in a game and .393 (35 for 89) after that...started 125 games at designated hitter, three at first base and was 3 for 12 (.250) as a pinch-hitter...hit .550 (11 for 20) against Kansas City and now has a .413 (26 for 63) career average against the Royals, his best against any AL team...batted .266 in the month of April but then hit .300 or better in each of the next five months, batting .340 in May, .343 in June, .300 in July, .355 in August and .315 in September...went 0 for 4 in October...the last A's player to hit .300 or better in five months (excluding October) in one season was Jason Giambi in 2001...has a career average above .300 in two months: .311 (76 for 244) in April and .307 (95 for 309) in September...batted .228 (13 for 57) over the A's first 17 games but then hit .362 (54 for 149) over a 40-game stretch from April 29 to June 21 to lift his average to a then season high .325...then went 34 for 129 (.264) over a 37-game stretch from June 22 to August 7 which dropped his average to .301...then hit .358 (63 for 176) over his final 48 games to finish the year at .321...his average never dipped below .300 after June 7...had no RBI in his first 10 games, giving him a 15-game streak without an RBI dating back to 2003...had his first of two multi-homer games in 2004 on April 30 when he homered twice at Tampa Bay...then hit his second career grand slam the next day on May 1 against the Devil Rays...that gave him back-to-back four RBI games and he had five home runs and 15 RBI in nine games against Tampa Bay for the season...had a career high 11-game hitting streak from April 29 to May 11 (19 for 49, .388) and had four home runs and 14 RBI during the streak...had his first of three four-hit games on May 27 at Boston...also had four hits on August 18 at Baltimore and September 18 at Seattle and now has five career four-hit games...shared AL Player of the Week honors with teammate Scott Hatteberg for the week of June 7 to 13 after hitting .526 (10 for 19) with nine runs, two doubles, two home runs, seven RBI and three walks in five games...hit the fifth pinch-hit grand slam in Oakland history on July 10 at Cleveland (Reggie Jackson, 9/5/70; Wayne Gross, 9/14/79; Jeff Burroughs 5/18/82; Matt Stairs, 6/24/98)...it was his third career slam and his seventh career pinch homer...the home run snapped a 23-game, 64-at bat homerless streak and he finished the game with his first of two five RBI games in 2004...13 of his 22 home runs came with runners on base (10 two-run, one three-run and two slams)...had his second career three-homer game on August 18 at Baltimore...other came on May 17, 2002 while playing for Arizona against Philadelphia, making him the 11th player in Major League history with a three-homer game in each league...it was the 13th three-homer game in Oakland history and the 25th in franchise history...drove in all five of the A's runs in the 5-4 win, marking the 29th time in Major League history a players three home runs accounted for all his teams runs, the first time by an Athletic...the A's were 14-5 in games in which he homered...it was his ninth career multi-homer game and his fourth career game of five or more RBI...had his second 11-game hitting streak of the season from August 13 to 24 (19 for 41, .463) and also had four home runs and 14 RBI during that streak...had six home runs and 17 RBI over a 10-game span from August 18 to 28...his average peaked at .327 on August 28...homered in the second inning on September 12 against Cleveland to account for the only run in the A's 1-0 victory...became the 11th player in Oakland history to homer in a 1-0 win, the first since Jermaine Dye on August 16, 2002 against Chicago...hit his 100th career double on September 19 at Seattle.

2003

Was injury free for the first time in his last four seasons and responded by posting career highs in games (154), at bats (537), runs (92), hits (139), doubles (29), home runs (21), RBI (77) and walks (100)...however, his batting average (.259) and slugging percentage (.430) were the lowest of his career and he also had a career high and team leading 105 strikeouts...led the A's and tied for third in the American League in walks...also led the club with 12 intentional walks, which tied for fifth in the A.L., and on-base percentage (.374)...ranked 10th in the A.L. with an average of 3.99 pitches per plate appearance and has a career average of 3.97 pitches per plate appearance...saw most of his playing time at designated hitter where he made 118 starts but he also made 33 starts at first base...batted .252 (107 for 424) with 17 home runs and 56 RBI as the designated hitter...the home runs and RBI were the most by an A's designated hitter since John Jaha had 35 HR and 105 RBI in 1999...led A.L. designated hitters in runs (77), tied for the lead in doubles (25), ranked third in hits (107) and walks (77) and sixth in home runs and RBI...reversed a career trend as he batted .283 (49 for 173) against left handed pitching compared to .247 (90 for 364) against right handers...entered the season with a .206 career average against left handers and .293 against right handers...had just five career home runs off left handed pitching entering the season but hit seven this year...his batting average improved to .294 (35 for 119) with runners in scoring position...was 4 for 9 (.444) with the bases loaded and is now a .419 (13 for 31) career hitter with the bases full...started in every spot in the order from second through seventh and made his most starts batting fifth (58) and fourth (40)...batted .290 (40 for 138) when hitting clean-up...hit .297 (84 for 283) against a pitcher the first time he saw him in a game and .217 (55 for 254) after that...batted .296 (69 for 233) over his first 67 games through June 19 but hit .230 (70 for 304) over his final 87 games...had eight home runs and 36 RBI over his first 49 games through May 25 but then had just two home runs and 12 RBI over a 44 game stretch May 26 to July 21...then had the A's first two-homer game of the season on July 22 at Kansas City and had 11 home runs and 29 RBI over his final 61 games...had another two homer game on September 13 at Texas, giving him seven career multi-homer games...14 of his 21 home runs were solo shots and the other seven were two-run homers...five of his home runs came in the ninth inning...eight of his first 10 home runs came at home but nine of his last 11 came on the road...led the majors with 15 walks during spring training...got off to a fast start as he set an Oakland opening day record with five RBI on April 1 against Seattle, topping the mark of four (Eric Fox, 1993 and Terry Steinbach, 1994)...had 12 RBI over his first five games and finished April with 24 RBI, his most ever in a month...previous high was 17 in September, 1999...batted .307 (27 for 88) in April and now has a .328 (59 for 180) career average in the month, his best for any month of the season...homered on May 17 at Cleveland in a 4-2 A's loss, snapping a 17-game streak where his teams won when he homered...reached base safely via hit or walk in 31 consecutive games from May 23 to July 1...hit .315 (34 for 108) with 28 walks for a .460 on-base percentage over that span but had just three home runs and 11 RBI...had just one home run and five RBI in 22 games in June...batted .232 (22 for 95) in July and then hit .186 (18 for 97) in August, his lowest batting average in a full month in his career...batted .197 (36 for 183) over a 54-game span from July 4 to September 4...then went 25 for 78 (.321) with four home runs and 10 RBI over his final 21 games to finish the year at .259...six of those 10 RBI gave the A's the lead...had his second career four-hit game on September 23 against Texas...hit .305 (25 for 82) in September and now has a .305 (67 for 220) career average in the month.

2002

Entered spring training with the opportunity to establish himself as an everyday big league first baseman, but injuries impeded his progress...fractured his right hamate bone in a March 20 exhibition game in Tucson which required surgical repair two days later by team hand specialist Dr. Don Sheridan...the injury kept him out of a big league uniform for six and one-half weeks, before joining the Diamondbacks on May 16...went 1 for 4 in his first game back...then he destroyed the club RBI record the next night against Philadelphia on May 17, going 4 for 5 with three home runs and nine RBI, three more RBI than any previous D'Back had driven in...matched the team mark for home runs in a game...the nine RBI were the most in a major league game since May 10, 1999, when Boston's Nomar Garciaparra knocked in 10 against Seattle...the three-homer affair for Durazo was the first of three consecutive games in which he went deep...in his first four games back in action, he was 7 for 15 with all seven hits going for extra bases (two doubles and five home runs)...the rollercoaster ride then began as he went into a 0 for 18 spell that lowered his season mark to .212 after play on June 1, but he immediately picked it back up by going 12 for 34 (.353) over his next nine games...once again his numbers declined, going just 3 for 25 (.120) over his next 12 games before succumbing to his second disabling injury of the year...went on the shelf on July 1 with a right oblique strain...returned to the lineup on July 27, homering in his first game back off of San Diego's Brian Lawrence to start a stretch in which he knocked in seven runs in his first four games back...after a 0 for 4 on August 1 in Montreal, he hit a pair of home runs to dead centerfield in the first game of a doubleheader on August 3 at New York...continued to provide key home runs while the Diamondbacks were in their stretch of going 13-2 from August 3-17 to pad the division lead...included were a pair of firsts among his game-winning blows...the first bfirstb was on August 9 at home when he hit a pair of solo homers to beat the Marlins, 2-1, with his second home run of the night the first walk-off shot of his career...just eight days later on August 17 in Wrigley Field, Durazo hit the first grand slam of his young career, taking Kyle Farnsworth into the basket in center to break a 2-2 tie in the ninth...the grand slam was his 15th home run in just 142 at bats on the year, a 9.5 per at bat ratio, but then his power numbers tailed off as the season wound down...he fell into a stretch in which he hit only one home run over his last 80 at bats, a solo shot off of San Diego's Brett Tomko on September 9...the Diamondbacks posted a 12-0 record in games in which he homered...appeared in two NLDS games against St. Louis and was 0 for 4 with a walk and a strikeout...hit .357 (20 for 56) with two home runs, 14 RBI, 14 walks and a .486 on-base percentage in 16 games with Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.

Career:
1997-played for Monterrey in the Mexican Pacific League and hit .282 with eight home runs and 61 RBI in 110 games. 1998-spent his second consecutive season with Monterrey and hit .350 with 19 home runs and 98 RBI in 119 games...finished ninth in the league in batting. 1999-hit a combined .404 in 94 games at Double-A El Paso and Triple-A Tucson before he was called up by Arizona on July 25...had three hits in his first major league start on July 28 in San Diego, collecting his first hit off of Brian Boehringer...kept himself in the lineup with a .350 beginning, going 21 for 60 through his first 22 games with five home runs and nine RBI...his first big league homer was in Philadelphia on August 7, a 446-foot shot to center off of Curt Schilling...from August 18 to September 14, he hit 10 home runs over a 22-game span, encompassing 77 at bats for a ratio of 1 in every 7.7 at bats...his first career multi-homer game gave Arizona a 5-4 win in Atlanta on September 4, taking John Smoltz deep twice...finished the regular season hitting .400 (22 for 55) over his last 19 games, including his lone pinch-hit homer, a two-run blast in Milwaukee off Rafael Roque on September 9...appeared in a pair of games vs. the Mets in the NLDS, starting at first base in games #1 and #3...homered in his second post-season at bat, a solo blast in the opening game at Bank One Ballpark off of New York's Masato Yoshii....defensively, he appeared in 44 major league games at first base, handling all 344 chances without an error...was tabbed the team Rookie of the Year by the Arizona Chapter of the BBWAA...his first taste of pro baseball in the U.S. was with El Paso and he hit .403 in 64 games with 14 homers and 55 RBI...was promoted to Tucson on June 19 where he hit .407 (48 for 118) in 30 games with 10 homers and 28 RBI...his combined minor league average of .404 totaled enough plate appearances to qualify him as the first player to hit .400 in the minors since Aaron Pointer (.401) of the Houston (Colt 45's) Astro organization in 1961...also led all minor league players with a .703 slugging percentage...he twice earned Organizational Player of the Month honors, hitting .489 with 10 homers and 33 RBI for El Paso in May and a combined .387 performance with nine home runs and 23 RBI with El Paso and Tucson in June. 2000-had a right wrist injury in spring training that haunted him all year...he was disabled from May 30 to June 24 due to a surgical procedure, returned for three games then went back on the D.L. on June 29...hit .225 (9 for 40) after returning and was optioned to Triple-A on August 1...hit .387 in 10 games at Tucson and was recalled on August 11, but appeared in just five games after his recall before succumbing to another wrist operation on August 24...both surgical procedures were performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan...opened the year 2 for 17 (.118) but broke out of the slump with a two-homer game to spoil San Diego's home opener on April 10, knocking in four...he hit .412 (7 for 17) on the team's initial road trip through San Diego and San Francisco...had a career-high 10-game hitting streak from April 23-May 7, hitting .412 (14 for 34)...played for Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific League during the winter...went to the Caribbean World Series, where his club lost in the finals to the Dominican Republic yet he was named series MVP, hitting .455 (10 for 22) with a double, three homers and six RBI in six games. 2001-started and finished strong, but a concussion and sore back contributed to a mid-season slide that included a stint on the disabled list, his second straight season interrupted by injury...was optioned to Triple-A Tucson in the final days of spring training but was recalled to the big league club on Opening Day when Danny Klassen was disabled...didn't waste any time displaying his power, hitting the first of his five pinch homers on April 5 off the Dodgers' Andy Ashby...just 10 days later on April 15 in Colorado he delivered a two-run, ninth inning pinch blast off of Jose Jimenez that sent the game to extra innings, though the D'Backs eventually lost a 10-7 decision...on April 17 he hit his third homer in seven pinch at bats with a solo shot in St. Louis off of Bobby Bonilla...delivered his fourth pinch homer in his first nine at bats on April 26 at home off of Atlanta's Matt Whiteside...then hit his fifth and what proved to be his final pinch homer of the regular season on May 20 in Wrigley Field off Tom Gordon...delivered an 18th inning double to end the longest game in Arizona history, a five hour and 53 minute, 1-0 victory on May 29 at San Francisco...was involved in a collision with Terry Shumpert who was covering home plate as part of a rundown play on June 24 at Colorado...suffered a Grade 2 concussion that sidelined him for a week, but impacted his numbers for the remainder of the regular season...was placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 17 with a lower back strain and did not return until September 1...all told, his pinch hit double on June 3 was the last pinch hit he registered until September 25, going 0 for 20 between pinch hits...made a pair of starts in right field in the early going on April 16 in St. Louis and May 7 against Cincinnati...was used sparingly in the early portion of the post-season as he had made only two pinch hit appearances entering Game #5 of the NLCS...pinch hit after Mark Grace strained his right hamstring and hit a two-out, two-run homer off Tom Glavine to snap a 1-1 tie and lead the Diamondbacks to the National League crown...went 4 for 11 with a double and a RBI in the World Series against New York, including 4 for 10 in three starts at designated hitter in Game 3, 4 and 5...played for Hermosillo during the winter in the Mexican Pacific League, hitting .328 with 2 homers and 12 RBI in 19 games for the Orange Growers.