Tommy Manzella

Thomas Samuel Manzella, Jr. (born April 16, 1983) is an American former professional baseball shortstop.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros.

Manzella was born in Chalmette, Louisiana and attended Archbishop Hannan High School, and was a three-year starting shortstop.

He earned All-District 8-4A, All-St.

Bernard Parish and academic all-state honors each year.

He hit .360 with 3 home runs and 24 RBIs during his senior season.

He was selected to play in the LHSAA All-Star Game, and earned St. Bernard Parish Most Outstanding Player recognition as a senior.

Manzella attended Tulane University and played for the Tulane Green Wave baseball team.

He played in 55 games as a true freshman, mostly at shortstop, and led the team with 135 assists while finishing fifth on the team with a batting average .294.

He earned All-Tournament honors at the 2002 Conference USA Tournament after hitting .615 (8-for-13) with a double and five RBIs during the tournament.

Upon graduation, Manzella played for the Waynesboro Generals of the Valley League in 2002 and the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod League in 2003.

In 2002, he earned All-Valley League honors as a shortstop and was named to the All Star Game roster as he led his team with nine stolen bases, and finished second on the club in batting average (.313) and doubles (5).

In 2003, he started all 59 games at second base and received honorable-mention All-Louisiana honors after tying for the team lead in doubles (20) while ranking tied for second in RBIs (44).

Manzella was again named to the C-USA All-Tournament Team after hitting .615 (8-for-13) with an RBI, a walk, and a stolen base.

In 2003, he led the Whitecaps in assists while collecting three doubles, a triple, six RBIs and four stolen bases.

In 2004, he was the only player on the team to start at the same position in all 62 games, and earned second-team All-Louisiana honors after leading the team in assists (185) and sacrifice bunts (school-record 12) while ranking second in steals (11).

He was named to NCAA Oxford Regional All-Tournament Team after hitting .417 (5-for-12) with three RBIs and two sacrifice bunts, and posted nine putouts and nine assists while helping turn three double plays defensively.

In 2005, he started all 65 games at shortstop and earned first-team All-Conference USA honors after leading the team in batting average (.356), hits (98), stolen bases (21) and assists (171), while tying for first in doubles (24), ranking second in RBIs (62), third in total bases (150), fourth in slugging percentage (.545) and runs scored (58), and fifth in home runs (eight).

He led C-USA in hits and stolen bases.

In the NCAA New Orleans Super Regional, Manzella started all three games at shortstop, hitting .400 (6-for-15) with two doubles and two RBIs and posted a .417 on-base percentage with a walk.

He had two hits in all three games, and posted seven putouts, five assists, and one error defensively.

He was drafted by the Astros in the 3rd round of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft.

Manzella went on to play for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York–Penn League.

He played in 53 games and finished with a .232 batting average in 220 at-bats with 18 RBIs, and 5 stolen bases.

He was promoted to the Lexington Legends in 2006, where he played 99 games and finished with a .275 batting average in 338 at-bats with 7 home runs, 43 RBIs, and 16 stolen bases along with a .956 fielding percentage.

In 2007, Manzella split time between the Salem Avalanche and Corpus Christi Hooks, playing in 121 games with a .264 combined batting average in 451 at bats with 1 home run, 39 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases.

In 2008, Manzella played in 54 games with the Hooks before being promoted to the Triple-A Round Rock Express, where he struggled with a .219 batting average with 0 home runs and 15 RBIs, but had his best fielding percentage at .989.

The Astros signed Manzella to a one-year, $400,000 major league contract on February 15 after having added him to the 40-man roster in November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

He was called up to the major leagues along with Chris Johnson and Billy Sadler by the Astros from the Round Rock Express.

He recorded his first major league hit, off of Donnie Veal of the Pirates, on September 11.

Manzella was the Opening Day shortstop with the Astros in 2010, and Jeff Keppinger also got time there when he wasn't at second base.

He went 13-58 (.224) with 3 RBI in April.

He hit his first major league home run, a 2-run home run off of Rodrigo López of the Diamondbacks, on May 5, putting the Astros on top 2-1 in a game they eventually won 3-2.

He hit .192 (14-73) with 5 RBI in May.

When the Astros placed Kazuo Matsui on waivers on May 20, Keppinger took over full-time at second base, making Manzella the full-time shortstop.

He was hitting .224 (13-58) in June before he fractured his left index finger on June 22 when Nate Schierholtz slid into it trying to steal second base.

The Astros recalled Oswaldo Navarro to take over at shortstop, but they eventually acquired Ángel Sánchez to take over on July 1.

He rehabbed at Corpus Christi and Round Rock for 11 games total before returning on August 19.

He finished the year splitting time with Sánchez at shortstop.

In 83 games with the Astros, he hit .225 with 1 HR, 21 RBI and a .973 fielding percentage.