Donnie Lamont Sadler (born June 17, 1975) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water polo. The ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from 1998–2007.

Career

An alumnus of Valley Mills High School in

Valley Mills, Texas Valley Mills is a city in Bosque and McLennan counties in central Texas, United States. The population was 1,203 at the 2010 census. The McLennan County portion of Valley Mills is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Valley ...

(where he was an all-state

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

), Sadler is small in stature, standing at only 5'6" tall and weighing 175 pounds. His cousin, Ray Sadler, is an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

organization. Drafted 229th overall by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in , Sadler quickly displayed impressive speed in the minor leagues. From 1994 to , for example, he averaged nearly 36 steals per season, while playing in an average of only 95 games each year. He earned a spot on the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

All-Star team in because he not only stole 41 bases, he batted a respectable .283 with nine

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 55 RBI. Sadler made his big league debut at the age of 23 in the second game of the season, April 1. Although Sadlers' Red Sox beat the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

2-0 that game, he went 0 for 3 at the plate. After starting the season without collecting a single

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in his first 11

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s, he was quickly sent down and did not see any Major League action until July of that year. The first hit of his career was quite impressive-it came in his second game after being recalled from Pawtucket in July-off of pitcher

Jason Bere Jason Phillip Bere (born May 26, 1971) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and bullpen coach. He played in Major League Baseball for parts of 11 seasons from 1993 to 2003, for the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brew ...

on July 3, he smacked a

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

in the sixth inning. Although he finished the game one for five, he did help the Red Sox beat the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

15 to 2-he scored one of the Red Sox' many runs in that game. The rest of his career saw him bouncing up and down between the minors and majors, spending only one season in the majors for the entire year: . Sadler was involved in a couple noteworthy transactions in his career. The first occurred on November 16, 2000, when he and Michael Coleman were sent to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

for

Chris Stynes Christopher Desmond Stynes (born January 19, 1973) is a former Major League Baseball utility player.Pete Palmer; Gary Gillette; Stuart Shea. The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia'. Sterling Publishing Company; 1 February 2006. . p. 680. Early life Chri ...

. The second came on June 20, 2001, when the Reds traded Sadler to the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

for minor league pitcher Cary Ammons. Sadler finished with a career batting average of .202, and he ultimately did not show the speed he displayed in the minors-the highest total of stolen bases he had in a season was seven. Oddly, of the six home runs he hit in his career, three of them came in the first 124 at bats of his career. He hit only three more in 643 at bats. His postseason batting average was .500-he has collected one hit (a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

) in two at bats. On July 28, 2007, it was announced that Sadler had tested positive for "a drug of abuse" and was handed a 50-game suspension. Sadler later served as a hitting coach for the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

Career Stats

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadler, Donnie 1975 births Living people Major League Baseball infielders Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Texas Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Kansas City Royals players Texas Rangers players Arizona Diamondbacks players Baseball players suspended for drug offenses Gulf Coast Red Sox players Trenton Thunder players Pawtucket Red Sox players Omaha Royals players Oklahoma RedHawks players Charlotte Knights players Tucson Sidewinders players People from Clifton, Texas People from Valley Mills, Texas