Kevin Douglas Stocker (born February 13, 1970) is an American former

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), ...

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 ...

and switch hitter. Stocker played with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

(1993–1997),

Tampa Bay Devil 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) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

(1998–2000) and

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

(2000). A 1988 graduate of Central Valley High School in

Spokane Valley The Spokane Valley is a valley of the Spokane River through the southern Selkirk Mountains in the U.S. state of Washington. The valley is home to the cities of Spokane and its suburbs Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, and Millwood. The valley i ...

, Stocker attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that mai ...

from 1989–1991. Stocker was also a member of the fraternity

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

. Stocker was selected by Philadelphia in the 1991 MLB draft, taken in the second round with the 54th overall selection. He made his major league debut in 1993 on July 7 at

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for foo ...

in a marathon game that lasted 6 hours and 10 minutes. Stocker played all 20 innings in the defeat of the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

7-6. Stocker was credited with a game-saving play in the tenth inning when he made a miraculous throw to home-plate for a force-out. Stocker had nine

plate appearance In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner ...

s in the game, the most by any player in his Major League debut. , no other player has had more than seven. In his rookie season, Stocker batted .324 with two

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 31 RBI in 70 games. He was the regular Phillies shortstop through the 1997 season. In 1997 he enjoyed his best season, compiling career-highs in

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

(149), runs (51), doubles (23) and

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s (11), adding five triples, four homers and 41 RBI. During the 1997 expansion draft, Stocker was traded to Tampa Bay in exchange for

Bobby Abreu Bob Kelly Abreu (; ; born March 11, 1974), nicknamed "El Comedulce" and also "La Leche", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, New York ...

. After two-plus seasons, he was released and signed with Anaheim. In an eight-season career, Stocker batted .254 with 23 home runs and 248 RBI. He now owns an Emerald City Smoothie franchise in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Post-playing career

Stocker has served as a color analyst for 14 seasons (as of 2014). He is currently in his second season with the Pac-12 Network, after a stint with

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known a ...

. In January 2018, it was announced that Stocker would be serving as a part-time color analyst for Phillies radio broadcasts during the 2018 season. Stocker rejoined the radio broadcast team in 2022.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stocker, Kevin 1970 births Living people Philadelphia Phillies players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Anaheim Angels players Baseball players from Spokane, Washington Major League Baseball shortstops Washington Huskies baseball players Spartanburg Phillies players Clearwater Phillies players Reading Phillies players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players St. Petersburg Devil Rays players Las Vegas 51s players Major League Baseball broadcasters Philadelphia Phillies announcers