Ryan Garko

Ryan Francis Garko (born January 2, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, first baseman, and designated hitter.

In college, he was a catcher.

He played for the Cleveland Indians, the San Francisco Giants, and the Texas Rangers in Major League Baseball as well as the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization.

Garko was seen by former ESPN reporter John Sickels as a good hitter who hit to all parts of the field, but with poor defensive instincts.

He graduated from Servite in 1999 alongside future major league players Ben Francisco and Brian Wolfe.

Also in 1999, Garko played for the USA Baseball Junior National Team.

He holds numerous records at Servite High School, including the single-season records in, triples (6), home runs (8), RBIs (52), and the career records in, games played (101), at-bats (314), hits (149), triples (19), home runs (24), RBIs (121), and walks (80).

He was also the starting quarterback on the football team for two years.

In the classroom, Garko had a 4.2 GPA.

Garko attended Stanford University on a scholarship from 1999-03.

He led the Stanford Cardinal baseball team in batting average in his sophomore season (2001) with a .398 clip, and was named their Most Improved Player.

He helped Stanford reach the College World Series and hit .583 in the CWS.

That summer, he played with the Hyannis Mets in the Cape Cod League, an amateur summer league, and batted .233 with 14 runs, 28 hits, 3 home runs, and 19 RBIs while being named a league all-star.

Next season, in his junior year, Garko was named a Johnny Bench Award semifinalist.

During his senior year in 2003, he won the award and was named a First Team All-American.

He also shared the Pac-10 Conference Baseball of the Year Award with Dustin Pedroia, and was named the NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player and Stanford's Most Valuable Player.

In his time at Stanford, Garko batted .350 with 60 doubles, 39 home runs, 191 RBIs in 218 games played.

Garko was selected as a catcher by the Cleveland Indians in the third round (78th overall) of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft.

In 2006, Baseball America ranked him as the fifth best prospect in the Indians organization, including being the best at hitting for average.

Garko debuted in 2006 for the Indians, eventually taking over their first base position.

In 2007, he hit a career-high 21 home runs in the regular season and batted over .300 for the Indians in the playoffs.

Questions about Garko's ability to hit caused him to lose some playing time in 2008, although he managed to have 90 RBI.

In 2009, Garko was traded to the San Francisco Giants to become their first baseman, but he slumped and ended the season as a backup.

Through 2010, he had a .275 career average, 427 hits, 55 home runs, and 250 RBI in 463 games.

When he attended Stanford University, Garko won the Johnny Bench Award and was named the Pac-10 Co-Player of the Year his senior year.

He was also voted onto the College World Series Legends Team, featuring 28 of the best College World Series players as voted upon by fans, writers, and head coaches.

During his time in the Cleveland Indians' organization, Garko was converted into a first baseman.

He signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2010 but was claimed off waivers at the end of spring training by the Texas Rangers.

After just 15 games, he was sent to the minors, where he spent the rest of the year.

On May 6, 2010, Garko was voted on to a 28-member College World Series Legends Team as a part of a commemoration of the final College World Series in Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.

The team was voted upon by college baseball fans, college baseball writers, and Division I head coaches.

He played for the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization in 2011 and played in the minor leagues in the United States in 2012.

He has not played in 2013, although he attended spring training with the Colorado Rockies.

He is as of 2013 fifth all-time in doubles at Stanford, seventh in RBIs, and ninth in batting average and home runs.

His only problem at Stanford was that he had trouble with controlling his weight.

He was hired as an assistant coach at Stanford prior to the 2014 college baseball season.

Garko spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as manager of the Tulsa Drillers, a minor league affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, before being named the head baseball coach at University of the Pacific on July 23, 2017.

Garko was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

At the age of three, his family moved to southern California.

He attended Saint Angela Merici Parish School in Brea, California, where his mother was a teacher, and attended high school at Servite High School.