Doug Mirabelli

Douglas Anthony Mirabelli (born October 18, 1970) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher.

After leading Valley High School in his hometown of Las Vegas to two state baseball titles, Mirabelli was originally selected by the Detroit Tigers in the sixth Round (159th overall) of the 1989 Major League Baseball amateur draft, but did not sign.

Instead, Mirabelli chose to attend Wichita State University.

In 1990, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Hyannis Mets and was named a league all-star.

In the late 1990s, the Giants teams often utilized a platoon at the catcher position, relying on different veterans to split time for most of the season.

When Mirabelli reached the majors, he saw limited time and spent most of his season in Triple-A with Phoenix.

In 1992, Mirabelli was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 5th round (131st overall) of the Major League Baseball amateur draft again.

He signed a contract with the club on June 24, 1992.

Mirabelli began his minor league career in 1992 with the San Jose Giants in the California League.

Over the next four seasons, he also spent time with the Giants' Double-A club, the Shreveport Captains, and their Triple-A team, the Fresno Grizzlies.

He played for the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000), Texas Rangers (2001), Boston Red Sox (2001–2005), and San Diego Padres (2006) before returning to the Red Sox (2006–2007) to end his 11-year career.

He batted and threw right-handed.

Mirabelli was a career .231 hitter with 58 home runs and 206 runs batted in in 566 games.

While with the Red Sox, he was well-known as the personal catcher for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

In 1996, Mirabelli started the year in Double-A, putting together an impressive season hitting .295 with 21 home runs and 70 runs batted in, earning a promotion to Triple-A.

He bounced back to the Double-A level before earning a promotion to the major leagues in August of that year.

Mirabelli made his major league debut on August 23, 1996, against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 1999, he finally made the promotion to the majors permanent when he split time with veterans Brent Mayne and Scott Servais.

The following season, Mirabelli platooned with Bobby Estalella, but neither catcher hit above .230 or played well enough to earn the starting job.

During spring training of 2001, the Giants signed veteran catcher Benito Santiago, who took over the starting role.

Mirabelli's contract was sold to the Texas Rangers, who made him the backup to All-Star catcher Iván Rodríguez.

Mirabelli struggled, barely hitting above .100.

After Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek's season was ended by a broken left elbow on June 7, 2001, the Red Sox acquired Mirabelli on June 12 in a trade with the Texas Rangers and he split time with Scott Hatteberg for the rest of the season.

Mirabelli hit .270 with 9 home runs for the Red Sox in 2001.

Offensively, Mirabelli provided an occasional spark; he would become the only player in Major League Baseball history to hit six or more home runs in six consecutive seasons of fewer than 200 at-bats (from 2001 to 2006).

After the season, Hatteberg signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics and, in 2002, Mirabelli found himself as the designated catcher for veterans Darren Oliver and Frank Castillo.

However, neither one lasted in The Rotation and Mirabelli soon found himself partnered with knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

On July 23, 2002, Wakefield returned to the starting rotation after serving as a reliever for most of the season; Mirabelli made the start at catcher.

The partnership seemed to work as Wakefield went 8–2 down the stretch with Mirabelli catching for him each time.

Over the next three seasons, Wakefield and Mirabelli became an effective battery.

As Wakefield solidified himself in the starting rotation, Mirabelli made almost every start for him as well as spot starts in relief of Varitek.

He was part of the Red Sox' World Series championship teams in 2004 and 2007.

Mirabelli was the starting catcher in Game 1 of the 2004 World Series as Wakefield was named the starting pitcher.

He batted 1-for-3 with a run scored as the Red Sox went on to win 11–9 and eventually swept the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2005, Mirabelli hit .228 and struck out in more than a third of his at-bats.

He also missed nearly a month due to a left wrist injury.

Following the season, the Red Sox traded Mirabelli to the San Diego Padres for second baseman Mark Loretta.

For the first time in his major league career, Mirabelli was going to be given a chance to be a starting catcher.

However, in early February, General Manager Kevin Towers decided to sign veteran catcher Mike Piazza and installed him as the starter instead.

Mirabelli made just a handful of starts, hitting .182 with no runs batted in through April.