Evan Longoria
Evan Michael Longoria, nicknamed "Longo", is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants, and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Longoria played college baseball for the Long Beach State Dirtbags, winning the CSN Bay Area Cape Cod League MVP and Big West Conference Co-Player of the Year. He was selected by the Rays in the first round as the third overall pick in the 2006 MLB draft. After two seasons in the minors, he made his major league debut for the Rays in, and was named to the American League team for the 2008 MLB All Star Game. Longoria was also named the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year. He made the All-Star team three times, being selected from 2008 to 2010. Longoria appeared in two World Series, first with the Rays during his rookie season in 2008, and later with the Diamondbacks during his final season in 2023. The 15-season gap between Longoria's two World Series appearances is the longest for a position player in MLB history. He had one of the biggest hits in Rays' history when he hit a 12th-inning walk-off home run in the last game of the 2011 season, snapping a tie with the Boston Red Sox in the race for the American League wild card spot, and sending his team into the postseason.
Longoria was known for his acrobatic defense, having won three Gold Glove Awards at third base, in 2009, 2010, and 2017. Longoria owns many Rays franchise records, including the career records for games played, runs, doubles, home runs, runs batted in, walks, and Wins Above Replacement, and is thus often considered the best player in the franchise's history.
Early life
Longoria was born on October 7, 1985, in Downey, California. His father is of Mexican descent, and his mother is of Ukrainian descent. He attended St. Raymond Catholic School in Downey, California, which did not have a baseball team. He graduated from Saint John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California. He was a two-year letterman in baseball, and as a senior was a first team All-League selection. Longoria did not receive any scholarship offers to play college baseball.The University of Southern California was the only program to consider him, but eventually backed out of recruiting him. At and, many baseball recruiters felt Longoria was too slim by NCAA Division I baseball standards. As a result, he attended Rio Hondo Community College during his freshman season, before Long Beach State offered him a scholarship.
College career
After high school, Longoria attended Rio Hondo Community College, where he played shortstop. In his freshman season, Longoria earned first-team All-State honors and was offered a scholarship by Long Beach State University. He transferred to Long Beach for his sophomore year and hit.320, earning All-Conference honors. Because Long Beach State already had an established shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, Longoria played third base.Following a successful MVP summer in 2005 in the Cape Cod League with the Chatham A's where he played second base, Longoria shared the Big West Conference Player of the Year honors during his junior year at Long Beach State. When he first started attending Long Beach State University, he majored in kinesiology. However, he switched to the department of criminal justice because it was somewhat less time-consuming and, therefore, would not interfere with the baseball schedule as much.
In just two years, Longoria transformed his thin stature into a 6-foot-2 and 210-pounds by the end of his LBSU tenure.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
Longoria was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays as the third overall pick in the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. Longoria was called the "best pure hitter" among college players in the 2006 draft class by Baseball America. He was the highest draft selection in school history. Tampa Bay gave him a $3 million signing bonus.After signing with the Rays, Longoria tore through his first assignments in the minor leagues. In 2006, after just eight games with the short season Single-A Hudson Valley Renegades, Longoria was promoted to the Visalia Oaks and impressed the organization with his quick success, hitting.327/.402/.618 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs in 28 games. This earned him a promotion to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, where he hit.267/.266/.486 with six home runs through the end of the season, and hit.345 in the postseason, including a walk-off two-run home run in the Southern League Division Playoffs to put Montgomery into the championship. He was the 2007 Most Valuable Player with the Biscuits as well as a postseason all-star. On top of that he won a player of the week award. He was widely considered the top third base prospect in the minors and one of the top prospects at any position.
Longoria followed up his successful debut with another stellar year in. Starting the year with Montgomery, Longoria hit.307/.403/.528 with 21 home runs and 76s RBI in 105 games for the Biscuits before a late-season promotion to the Triple-A Durham Bulls. In 31 games with the Bulls, he hit.269/.398/.490 with five home runs and 19 RBIs, but also had 29 strikeouts. He finished 2007 with a combined average of.299/.402/.520, 26 home runs, 95 RBIs, 110 strikeouts, and 73 walks for an OBP of.402.
In October 2007, sportswriter Ken Rosenthal opined that Longoria "might be next season's Ryan Braun, making a rapid ascent to the majors." Some scouts in particular said that the way that the ball "explodes off his bat" reminded them of Braun. He was expected to start at third for Tampa Bay in 2008 with the move of Akinori Iwamura to second base, but ultimately failed to make the opening day roster and was optioned to Triple-A Durham. According to reports, the Rays elected to send him down to complete his development, citing his short 31-game stint in Durham and drawing comparisons to the seasons of two other highly heralded third-base prospects.
Tampa Bay Rays (2008–2017)
2008
On April 12, 2008, the Rays placed Willy Aybar on the disabled list and called up Longoria from Triple-A Durham to replace him on the major league roster and on the 40-man roster. Longoria made his major league debut that night going 1-for-3 with an RBI.Longoria hit his first career home run on April 14, against the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field. He had his first career two-homer game on May 24, and drove in six runs as the Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 11–4. Both of the homers came off the Orioles' Steve Trachsel, also a Long Beach State alumnus. On July 19, 2008, Longoria hit his first career grand slam off Toronto's Roy Halladay in the fifth inning as part of a 6–4 winning effort.
On April 18, the Rays signed him to a six-year, $17.5 million contract with options for 2014, 2015, and 2016. The first six years of the contract covered his arbitration years, with three more years added by team options. If the team exercised its one-year option for 2014, and then its two-year option for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the deal could be worth up to $44 million. There was a general consensus that this contract was among the most team-friendly, in terms of dollars per Wins Above Replacement, in Major League Baseball.
On July 10, Longoria won the 2008 All-Star game AL Final Fan vote over outfielder Jermaine Dye of the Chicago White Sox, outfielder José Guillén of the Kansas City Royals, first baseman Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, and second baseman Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles. Longoria went 1–4 in the game and hit a game-tying ground-rule double in the bottom of the eighth inning. He also participated in the Home Run Derby that year. He hit 3 home runs. On August 11, Longoria was placed on the disabled list with a fractured wrist.
On September 18, Longoria had his first three home run game against the Minnesota Twins at Tropicana Field. On September 20, Longoria caught the game-ending out, from Joe Mauer in foul territory as the Rays clinched their first playoff spot in team history.
On October 2, in the first postseason game for both Longoria and Tampa Bay, Longoria hit two home runs in his first two at-bats to help lead the Rays past the Chicago White Sox 6–4. Longoria was the first rookie and second player overall to homer in his first two postseason at bats. The first to do so was Longoria's hitting coach at Triple-A Durham, Gary Gaetti, who did it with the Minnesota Twins in 1987.
On October 14, 2008, Longoria set the rookie mark for most home runs hit in a postseason series, breaking Miguel Cabrera's record set in 2003. The Rays made it to the 2008 World Series but were defeated by the Philadelphia Phillies.
After the 2008 season, Longoria was honored with Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award for the American League, as well as the American League Rookie of the Year Award. He became the fourth third baseman to win the award. He also became the sixth player and the first since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 to win a Rookie of the Year Award unanimously. He was also named the third baseman on the Topps Rookie All-Star Team.
2009
In April, Longoria knocked in his 100th career RBI, in his 135th game. The only then-active players to get to 100 RBIs more quickly were Ryan Braun and Albert Pujols. At the end of April, Longoria became the first player in Rays franchise history to be named the AL Player of the Month. He had also won two of the four Player of the Week awards for the month of April. Longoria drove in 131 runs in his first 162 games in the majors, the third-highest total through May 2009 of any active player. Longoria was selected by the fans to start the 2009 MLB All Star Game on July 5, 2009. Due to a finger injury, he was kept out of the lineup.Longoria won the American League Gold Glove Award for his position on November 10. Two days later, he won a Silver Slugger Award.