| Cole Figueroa | |
|---|---|
| Tampa Bay Rays | |
| Second baseman | |
| Born: (1987-06-30) June 30, 1987 (age 25) Tallahassee, Florida |
|
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
Stephen Coleman Figueroa (born June 30, 1987) is a professional baseball player in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. He was the starting shortstop for University of Florida during his college career, and was drafted by San Diego Padres in the sixth round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.
Figueroa is the son of Cindy and Bien Figueroa. His father Bien Figueroa is a former major leaguer with the St. Louis Cardinals. He played for Lincoln High School, where he helped take the team to the District 4A Championship. Figueroa played college baseball at The University of Florida for coach Kevin O'Sullivan while majoring in Sports Management.
Figueroa's college achievements included All SEC Freshman Team the SEC all-academic team. Figueroa was also named freshman All-American by rivals.com, Louisville Slugger, and Baseball America. He was selected to the Dick Howser Trophy watch list.
In 2008, Figueroa was named to the All-SEC academic team. He was named a Golden Spikes Award finalist along with being named to the midseason watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award. Figueroa led the Gators that year in average, home runs, RBI, Slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Figueroa also played two season in the Prestiges Cape Cod League, 2007 (Harwich) where he was named an all star and 2008 (Orleans) Figueroa was drafted in the 6th round in the 2008 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres. Figueroa signed an over slot 400,000 dollar contract with the Padres on July 5, 2008.
The Padres traded Figueroa to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for SS Jason Bartlett along with Brandon Gomes, Cesar Ramos and Adam Russell on December 17, 2010.
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)
Read more about this topic: Tampa Bay Rays Minor League Players
Famous quotes containing the word cole:
“You know, Frank, I’m beginning to get a new perspective on this crawling little animal known as man. Why a dog or a cat or a bird is cleverer than any human. They sense me immediately. But these shrewd detectives of yours—. Take away one of man’s senses and you render him helpless.”
—Lester Cole (1904–1985)