Josh Whitesell: Difference between revisions

Joshua S. Whitesell (born April 14, 1982, in Durham, North Carolina) is a 6' 3", 225-pound, very muscular[1] left-handed major league baseball first baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Whitesell, who is Jewish, attended and pitched at Rialto High School in Rialto, California.[2][3] He was a two-time All-Citrus Belt first-team selection.[4]

Whitesell played baseball at Loyola Marymount University, initially as a pitcher, from 2001-03. The last series of his freshman year he was taking a lead off first and the left-hander gave him a quick-pick. He fell back into the bag and tore his labrum and had to have surgery. Before that he had thown 90-91 mph, but after surgery he threw about 84 mph.[5]

Whitesell garnered second team All-West Coast Conference accolades in 2003, his junior (and final) year, batting .340 with a .471 on base percentage, .736 slugging percentage, 41 runs scored, 19 doubles, a team-high 15 home runs in 162 at bats, and team-best 47 RBIs.[6]

Whitesell was drafted in the 6th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft by the Washington Nationals out of college.

In 2007 Whitesell played for Double-A Harrisburg in the Nationals' system, where he hit .284 with 78 runs scored, 23 doubles, 21 homers, and 74 RBIs in 119 games. He was named to the Eastern League midseason All-Star team, and was added to the Nats' 40-man roster over the winter. [7]

On March 15, 2008, Whitesell was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks and assigned to Triple-A Tucson.

He was the Diamondbacks' 2008 Minor League Player of the Year, after batting .328 with a .425 on base percentage and 26 home runs. He also had 86 runs scored, 36 doubles, and 110 RBIs in 127 games for Tucson. He finished the PCL season ranked seventh in batting average, second in RBIs, and tied for fourth in hits. Whitesell ranked in the top 5 in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization in OPS (.993; third), batting average (third), on-base percentage (second), slugging percentage (.568; third), home runs (first), RBI (first), runs scored (third), hits (156; third) and doubles (third). After the All-Star break, he batted .399 with a .497 on-base percentage and .696 slugging percentage.[8]

Whitesell hit safely in 19 straight games from June 27-July 18, batting .384 (28-for-73), the longest streak by a Sidewinder for the season and tied for fourth in the PCL. He also had a 16-game hitting streak from July 23-August 9, batting .525 (31-for-59) with 10 multi-hit games and 24 RBIs. Whitesell had a season-high 7 RBIs on May 23 vs. Sacramento.[9]

Whitesell made his major league debut on September 2, 2008.

He collected his first major league hit, a single, against the San Francisco Giants on September 15, 2008, during his first start. Whitesell hit his first home run on September 21, 2008, against Colorado Rockies pitcher Steven Register.

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• "September yields small fall crop of Jewish Major Leaguers," NJJN, 9/11/08
• "Pitch and catch with Josh Whitesell." The Arizona Republic, 9/25/08