Gregor Blanco

Gregor Blanco
Blanco with the San Francisco Giants in 2014
San Francisco Giants – No. 7
Outfielder
Born: (1983-12-24) December 24, 1983 Caracas, Venezuela
Bats: Left Throws: Left
MLB debut
March 30, 2008, for the Atlanta Braves
MLB statistics (through May 6, 2016)
Batting average	.263
Home runs	20
Runs batted in	198
Stolen bases	96
Teams
Atlanta Braves (2008-2010) Kansas City Royals (2010) San Francisco Giants (2012–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× World Series champion (2012, 2014)

Gregor Miguel Blanco Pedraza (born December 24, 1983) is a Venezuelan professional baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He previously played in MLB for the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals. He has a twin brother named Gregory and a younger brother named Gregsman.[1]

Career

Gregor Blanco was the center fielder and leadoff hitter for Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League, hitting .315 (178 AB) in the 2006–07 season, .345 (229 AB) in the 2007–08 season (finishing 2nd in the MVP Award) and .349 (172 AB) in the 2008–09 season. He was eventually called up to the majors because of Jordan Schafer's struggles.

Atlanta Braves

Blanco signed with the Atlanta Braves on July 4, 2008 as an undrafted free agent. He beat out Josh Anderson in Spring training to become the Braves backup outfielder in 2008. He began to see regular playing time after Mark Kotsay injured his back on May 26.

In 2008 he had the lowest home run per plate appearance percentage in the majors (among regular home run hitters) (0.2%).[2]

Kansas City Royals

On July 31, 2010, Blanco was traded to the Kansas City Royals along with Jesse Chavez and Tim Collins for Kyle Farnsworth and Rick Ankiel.

Washington Nationals

On May 8, 2011, Blanco was traded to the Washington Nationals in exchange for a player to be named later. During the offseason of 2011, Gregor played in the Venezuelan Winter league and was named the MVP for the 2011 season.

San Francisco Giants

Blanco signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants on November 16, 2011, and was selected to be part of the Giants' 2012 Opening Day roster as an outfielder.

On June 13, 2012, Blanco made a fully extended diving catch in deep right-center field, catching the ball in the end of his mitt, to rob Jordan Schafer of a hit in the top of the 7th inning of Matt Cain's perfect game. The Mercury News wrote "In a town very familiar with the words "The Catch", Blanco made one for the ages: he took off on a dead sprint at the crack of the bat and made a diving catch on the warning track in center field, 400 feet from home plate."

On September 5, 2014, Blanco made an error that ended his 306-game errorless streak. He was trying hard to catch Bryan Holaday's line drive, but instead he dropped the ball.

On October 22, 2014, Blanco hit the first World Series lead-off home run in franchise history, during Game 2, the 19th lead-off home run in World Series history.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
• gregor blanco on Twitter