Emmanuel Burriss

On June 4, Burriss was playing second base as Randy Johnson won his 300th game against the Washington Nationals.

Burriss' RBI single in the second inning proved to be the game-winning RBI.

Despite that, on Tuesday, June 16, he was sent down to AAA Fresno Grizzlies for Matt Downs after hitting .238/.292/.267 in 61 games.

Emmanuel Allen Burriss (born January 17, 1985) is an American former professional baseball utility player.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, and Philadelphia Phillies.

He is a switch-hitter who throws right-handed.

While primarily a second baseman, Burriss played a variety of positions during his career.

Emmanuel Allen Burriss was born to parents Allen and Denise on January 17, 1985, in Washington, D.C. His mother works for Washington's Department of Employment Services.

Also an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, she administers "Serenity yoga workshops" as part of an independent ministry.

Raised in the Shaw neighborhood of D.C., Burriss attended St. Ann's Catholic Elementary School.

Though he resided in Cardozo High School's district, he attended Woodrow Wilson High School, because that institution offered better opportunities for baseball.

At Wilson, he played basketball as well as baseball before graduating in 2003.

In 2005, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he was named a league All-Star and was named the co-Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the playoffs for his performance as the Cardinals won the season championship.

With KSU in 2006, he was the Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, leading the conference with 70 runs scored and NCAA Division I players with 42 stolen bases.

In his 158-game career at Kent State, Burriss batted .325 and scored 146 runs.

Scott Stricklin, his college coach, was extremely impressed with his natural quickness and baseball instincts.

The San Francisco Giants drafted Burriss in the first round of the 2006 MLB Draft.

Burriss began his professional career in 2006 with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Single-A short season Northwest League.

Playing 65 games, he batted .307.

Burriss' 35 stolen bases led the league, and he finished third with 50 runs scored (tied with Tyler Colvin's total behind Mike Epping's 53 and Matt Camp's 51) and fourth with 78 hits (behind Camp's 87, Daniel Mayora's 84, and Cyle Hankerd's 83).

In 2007, Burriss began the year with the Single-A advanced San Jose Giants of the California League.

After batting .166 in 36 games, he was demoted to the Augusta GreenJackets of the Single-A South Atlantic League.

With Augusta, he was named a postseason all-star, batting .321 with 64 runs scored and 117 hits in 89 games.

Burriss stole a combined 68 bases between the teams, the highest total in the Giants' organization.

Following the regular season, Burriss played 17 games for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League (AFL), batting .365 with eight stolen bases.

Used exclusively as a shortstop in his first two regular seasons, Burriss began playing second base as well in the AFL.

With his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2008, he became the first MLB player who was a graduate from the Washington, D.C. public school system since catcher Willie Royster played in four games for the Baltimore Orioles in.

Coming into the 2008 season, Burriss was rated the Giants' tenth best prospect and fastest baserunning prospect by Baseball America.

He did not make the Giants out of spring training that year, but the Giants purchased his contract from the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies on April 20 after shortstop Brian Bocock started the season poorly.

That same day, he made his MLB debut, replacing Bocock at shortstop in the ninth inning of an 8–2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 26, he pinch-ran for Bengie Molina on a play that umpires initially deemed a single.

The Giants challenged the ruling, and baseball's new instant replay revealed that Molina had actually hit a home run.

However, because Burriss had been inserted into the game already, he was credited with the run scored on the play.

He finished his rookie season with a .283 batting average in 95 games.

After the season, the Giants sent Burriss to the 2008 Arizona Fall League where he played as a member of the Scottsdale Scorpions.

During 2009 spring training, Burriss competed with Kevin Frandsen for the starting second baseman position before being named the starter on April 1.

"[Burriss'] all-around play was very solid," remarked Brian Sabean, the Giants' general manager.

"It was a unanimous opinion from all involved -- front-office, coaching staff, scouts. He had a tremendous spring."

In 2014, Dave McKenna of The Washington Post called him "the best player to come out of D.C. schools since Los Angeles Dodger great Maury Wills".

Burriss played college baseball at Kent State University (KSU) in Kent, Ohio.