Manuel navigated personal adversity during the 2020 season…he and his family were inside a rental car that caught fire, needing a bystander’s help to safely escape before the car exploded… his father, Enmanuel, passed away in August after a bout with COVID-19…his father was a close friend and mentor, and the two spoke often before and after games…in his second game back from the bereavement list, he notched 4 hits and drove in what would be the winning run...Manuel and Willy Adames formed a close bond in their first season as teammates; rooming together, cooking and helping each other stay ready during the shutdown…Adames helped Manuel overcome the challenges he faced personally and professionally...He made one of the postseason’s top grabs last year, crashing over the right field railing at Petco Park during Game 2 of the ALCS…he also belted a 3-run homer earlier in the game…when asked which was his favorite, he said, “Definitely the home run. The home run didn’t hurt.”…soon after, the catch was commemorated with an officially-licensed T-shirt...He twice made headlines late in his rookie season for his large pieces of bubble gum…in an August game against the Phillies, his gum fell out of his mouth and caused a brief delay when the batter and pitcher noticed it on the center field grass…just over a month later, he managed to keep his gum in his mouth but casually blew a bubble while tracking down a fly ball...Manuel began riding horses at a young age…he was afforded the opportunity to do so as his late father worked on a farm…he still finds time to ride his own horse named Pencoté…he described it as his “favorite thing to do” to the San Diego Union-Tribune...Manuel has nine brothers and two sisters…three of his brothers signed minor league deals in the states before him: Emilio (Dodgers), “Junior” (Indians) and Pedro (Athletics)...Manuel and his wife, Rachell, married on Christmas Eve 2016…they have two sons, Diamond (3) and Matthew (1).
2020
Acquired from the Padres early in spring training…appeared in 47 games and made 37 starts (18-CF, 10-RF, 9-LF)…after a slow start, hit .321/.374/.411 (36-for-112) in 36 games (28 starts) from Aug 10 through season’s end...Was on the bereavement list from Aug 4-6 following the death of his father, Enmanuel… placed on the COVID-19 Related IL on Aug 7 for intake screening and reinstated on Aug 9...Tied for 2nd in the AL with 12 SB behind KC Adalberto Mondesi (24)…had 10 SB in 14 games from Aug 25–Sep 15, tied for most in the majors...Was the only Ray with a bunt hit and had five of them, tied for 4th in the majors...Hit .294 (25-for-85) in 27 games on the road and .233 (14-for-60) in 20 games at home...Hit .556 (15-for-27) in 7 games (6 starts) against the Red Sox, with multiple hits in his first 5 starts…was the third player in club history with multiple hits in five straight starts against them, joining Aubrey Huff (6) from Aug 3-12, 2004 and Carl Crawford (5) from May 2-10, 2009. Made his fourth consecutive Opening Day roster…started on Opening Day in left field, after his first three came in center field (with SD)...On Aug 10 at BOS, his 4 hits passed his total from his first 11 games (9 starts) combined (3)… became the first visiting player with 4 hits (or more) in his Fenway Park debut since BAL Jonathan Schoop in 2014...Added a second 4-hit game in the series finale on Aug 13 at BOS…totaled 10 hits in the 4-game series at Fenway Park, tied for the 2nd-most by a Ray in a single series behind Carl Crawford (11) from Aug 6-9, 2007 at DET...On Aug 25 vs. BAL, his 2nd-inning homer was his first since Sep 11, 2019, vs. CHC (with SD), going 107 AB in between…was the second of back-to-back homers with Hunter Renfroe.
POSTSEASON: Hit .276/.344/.552 (16-for-58) with 5 HR and 11 RBI in 19 games (18 starts)… since RBI became an official stat (1920), he and NYY Giancarlo Stanton in 2020 are the only players with at least 10 RBI in the regular season to match or exceed their total in the postseason...In Game 1 of the Wild Card Series vs. TOR, hit a 2-run homer off A.J. Cole in the 7th inning and joined Evan Longoria in Game 1 of the 2008 ALDS vs. CWS as the only Rays to homer in their first career postseason game…became the third Rays hitter all-time with multiple hits in his first career postseason game, joining Longoria and Akinori Iwamura in 2008...In Game 2 of the ALCS vs. HOU, hit a 3-run homer in the 1st inning…crashed over the right field railing to make an inning-ending catch in the 2nd on a foul ball by George Springer...In Game 6 of the ALCS vs. HOU, became the first player in major league history to have a multi-HR game in the postseason after hitting 1 HR (or fewer) during the regular season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau…it was the sixth multi-HR game in Rays postseason history...In the 4th inning of Game 5 vs. LAD, attempted the 14th straight steal of home in World Series history…was the first attempt since STL Lonnie Smith was caught in Game 6 of the 1982 World Series vs. MIL and only the fifth attempt since 1922…he came within inches of completing the first successful straight steal of home in a World Series game since BRO Jackie Robinson in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series at NYY.
2019
Appeared in 151 games and made 98 starts, all in center field, in his third full season at the major league level…established career highs in games, runs (59), walks (38) and stolen bases (20) while his 12 HR were one shy of tying a career high...Ranked 2nd among NL center fielders with a .992 fielding pct., trailing MIL Lorenzo Cain (.994)…ranked 7th among major league outfielders in StatCast's "Outs Above Average" metric (11) and 4th in its metric measuring best outfielder "jumps" at +1.6 feet above average...His 20 SB ranked 9th in the NL…was successful on 20 of 24 attempts, 6th-best rate in the NL...Hit .330/.420/.466 (34-for-103) against lefties, 7th in the NL in avg. and 6th in on-base pct. (min. 100 AB)…in comparison, hit only .200/.260/ .359 (59-for-295) against right-handed pitchers...Was on the paternity list from April 19-20 for the birth of his second son, Matthew...On Aug 3 at LAD, hit the first pinch-hit homer of his career in the 8th inning off Walker Buehler...Played for the Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League for a sixth consecutive year.
2018
Margot (pronounced: mahr-GO) led all SD outfielders in games played (141), starts (123), innings played (1111.0), fielding percentage (.990), total chances (291) and putouts (286)...Missed nine games on the 10-day DL with bruised ribs from 4/11-20...Collected multi-hit efforts in a career-high-tying four consecutive games from 6/20-23 for the second time in his career...Collected a career-high five hits on 7/8 at ARI, surpassing his previous career high of three hits (14 times)…it matched Freddy Galvis' five hits on 6/15 at ATL for the club's single-game high in 2018…prior to Margot's and Galvis' five-hit games, the last Padre to do so was Jon Jay on 6/2/16 vs. SEA...Hit safely in a career-high 10 consecutive games from 7/13-29, slashing .378/.425/.595 with 10 runs scored over the stretch... Slashed .301/.349/.444 in 44 day games and .219/.264/.355 in 97 night games...Slashed .271/.312/.390 in 73 away games and .217/.269/.376 in 68 home games...Hit .304 (56-for-184) with runners on base, .313 (30-for-96) with RISP and .282 (11-for-39) with RISP/2 out...In Padres wins, he hit .324 (59-for-182), while hitting .197 (58- for-295) in losses.
2017
Margot (pronounced: mahr-GO) made his first career Opening Day roster and led the club and all NL rookies in multihit games (39), singles (90) and triples (seven)…also led all NL rookies in stolen bases (17) and ranked third in at-bats (487), fifth in total bases (199) and sixth in runs (53), extra-base hits (38) and games played (126)... His seven triples tied for fifth-most in a single season by a Padres rookie and the most since Everth Cabrera hit eight in 2009... His 39 multi-hit efforts tied for the fifth-most by a Padres rookie and his 90 singles tied for the 11th most by a Padres rookie, the highest rookie marks since Yonder Alonso collected 42 multi-hit games and 102 singles in 2012... Hit his first two ML home runs in his first two at-bats in the Padres' home opener on 4/8 vs. SF…he became the third player in Padres history to hit his first two ML long balls in consecutive at-bats within the same game, joining Mark Parent (1988) and Yasmani Grandal (2012), per ELIAS….Margot became the fourth youngest player to have a multi-home run game for SD and the only Padres rookie to hit multiple home runs in a home opener…only one other Padre hit multiple home runs in a home opener (Carmelo Martinez, two home runs on 4/15/85 vs. SF)... Homered to lead off the game on 4/11 at COL, his second leadoff homer of the season…per ELIAS, no Padres player had ever had two-or-more leadoff homers within the team's first nine games of a season…the last rookie to hit two-or-more leadoff home runs in the team's first nine games was Lou Brock of the Chicago Cubs in 1962... Hit his third leadoff homer of the season on the first pitch on 5/13 at CWS, a night after teammate Matt Szczur hit a leadoff long ball of his own on the first pitch…it marked just the second time the Padres have ever hit a leadoff home run in two straight games…in 2005, Damian Jackson led off both games on 6/26 and 6/27 with a home run… the last MLB team to hit a first-pitch leadoff home run in two straight games was CHC in 2007 on 9/19 and 9/21 (Alfonso Soriano both games)... Placed on the 10-day DL on 5/27 (retro 5/25) and missed 28 games with a strained right calf...sent on a five-game rehab assignment with El Paso (AAA) before being reinstated on 6/27... Reinstated from the paternity leave list on 7/23 after the birth of his baby boy, Diamond Manuel Margot…recorded multi-hit efforts in each of his next four games, twice threatening to hit for the cycle... Hit his fourth leadoff home run on 7/27 vs. NYM, which finished the season ranked tied for ninth-most in the majors and tied for third-most in the NL…the four leadoff long balls were the second-most in a season in team history, behind only the five Will Venable hit in 2011... Earned NL Player of the Week honors for the week of 7/30 after going 12-for-24 (.500) with two doubles, a triple, three home runs, six runs scored and a steal…was the first Padre to earn the honor since Hunter Renfore closed the 2016 season with the award... Scored a career-high-tying three runs on 8/22 at STL (also, 6/28 at ATL) in the Padres' 12-4 victory... Collected a career-high four RBI on 9/8 at ARI in the club's 10-6 victory... Against left-handed pitching he hit .285 (35-for-123) with three home runs but 10 of his 13 home runs came off righties, hitting .255 (93-for-364)... With the bases loaded he was 4-for-5 (.800) with a double and nine RBI... Hit .261 (29-for-111) in April and .257 (19-for-74) in May before being placed on the 10-day DL with a strained right calf on 5/27 (retro 5/25), missing 28 games…reinstated on 6/27 and hit a combined .320 (33-for-103) for the remainder of June and through July…hit .231 (25-for-108) in August and .242 (22-for-91) in September... Following the season, played in seven games for Toros del Este of the Dominican Winter League and hit .467 (14- for-30) with two doubles, four RBI and four runs scored
2016
Margot (pronounced: MAHR-goh) spent the majority of the season with Triple-A El Paso and was named MVP of the Pacific Coast League playoffs during the Chihuahua's championship title run before making his Major League debut for San Diego...Recalled from Triple-Al El Paso on 9/21 vs. ARI and made his Major League debut as a pinch runner in the bottom of the eighth inning that same night...made his first Major League start the next day on 9/22 vs. SF and made eight starts total, with seven in center field and one in right field...Recorded his first Major League hit on 9/24 vs. SF with an RBI single in the seventh inning...Recorded his first multi-hit game with a career-high three hits as well as his first Major League stolen base on 9/25 vs. SF...Hit .304 (157-for-517) in 124 games for El Paso this season and led all Triple-A players in triples (12) and ranked tied for first with teammate Carlos Asuaje in runs scored (98) while hitting 21 doubles, six home runs and 55 RBI to go along with 30 stolen bases...Named MVP of the PCL playoffs...overall in the postseason for El Paso he hit .350 (14-for-40) with three doubles, three triples, a home run, two steals, eight runs scored with four RBI...Named to the PCL post-season All-Star team...Started in center field for World Team the second consecutive year in Major League Baseball's 2016 All-Star Futures Game at Petco Park, batting leadoff and going 1-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
