Kole Alan Calhoun (born October 14, 1987) is an American professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In ...
who is a free agent. He has 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 (A ...
(MLB) for the
Los Angeles Angels,
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
and
Texas Rangers. Calhoun 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 ...
at
Yavapai College and
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
. He was drafted by the Angels in the eighth round of the
2010 Major League Baseball draft
The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
First-round selections
The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pi ...
and made his MLB debut in 2012. He won a
Gold Glove Award
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...
in 2015.
Early life
![Kole Calhoun - Here Comes the Boom! (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Kole_Calhoun_-_Here_Comes_the_Boom%21_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Calhoun attended
Buckeye Union High School
Buckeye Union High School is a public high school in Buckeye, Arizona under the jurisdiction of the Buckeye Union High School District.
History
The first students in the town of Buckeye graduated in 1921. Regular graduating classes began the ne ...
in
Buckeye,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. In 2005, Calhoun and
Sammy Solis
Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami.
People Music
* Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter
*Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter
*Sammy Davis Jr. ...
were named the
West Valley High School Baseball Co-Players of the Year.
College career
Calhoun then attended and 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
Yavapai College and
Arizona State University. In 2010, his senior year at Arizona State, he
batted .321 with 17
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 59
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...
(RBIs) in 61 games for the
Arizona State Sun Devils
The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member ...
.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
The
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
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 ...
selected Calhoun in the eighth round of the
2010 Major League Baseball draft
The 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 7–9, 2010 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.
First-round selections
The draft order was determined based on the 2009 MLB standings, with the worst team pi ...
. He was assigned to Rookie League
Orem
Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City.
Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah M ...
, where in 56 games, he hit .292 with 7 home runs and 42 RBI. He played 2011 with High-A
Inland Empire, where in 133 games, he hit .324 with 22 home runs, 99 RBI and a .957 OPS. He also stole 20 bases. He was named to the
California League Postseason All-Star team as a utility player. He was the Kenny Myers Minor League Player of the Year in 2011. This monster season earned him a direct promotion to Triple-A
Salt Lake to begin 2012. In 43 games prior to his first callup, he hit .296 with 5 home runs and 31 RBI.
Los Angeles Angels (2012–2019)
On May 21, 2012, Calhoun was recalled by the Angels to replace
Vernon Wells
Vernon Michael Wells III (born December 8, 1978) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the New York Yankees.
Wells ...
, who was placed on the disabled list. He made his debut the next day, and he recorded his first major league hit the day after, a double off of
Jarrod Parker
Jarrod Parker (born November 24, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks as the 9th overall pick in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft from Norwell High School in Ossian, Indiana. H ...
. Calhoun was the 8th player from the
2010 MLB draft to make his major-league debut. He was sent back down on June 12 after 8 games with the Angels. He made the
Pacific Coast League All-Star team. He had another short stint with the Angels before being called up for good in August. His final stats with the Bees in 105 games were .298 with 14 home runs, 73 RBI, and a .877 OPS. He was used exclusively off the bench in August and September. In 21 games with the Angels, he hit .174 with 1 RBI in just 23 at-bats.
![Kole Calhoun on May 25, 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Kole_Calhoun_on_May_25%2C_2012.jpg)
In 2013, Calhoun was competing for the fifth outfielder spot with
J. B. Shuck, but after a poor spring training, in which he hit .174 with 10 RBI and 16 strikeouts in 23 games, Shuck won the position, and Calhoun began 2013 with Salt Lake. Calhoun was recalled on July 28 to replace the injured
Albert Pujols. Calhoun was hitting .354 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI with Salt Lake. On August 2, Calhoun hit his first major league home run, a two-run, go-ahead shot off of
Steve Delabar
Steven Edward Delabar (born July 17, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. A native of Kentucky, Delabar attended Central Hardin High School and Volunteer State Community College. He was selected late in the 2003 MLB draft by ...
in the bottom of the 8th inning, part of a 4-hit night for Calhoun. Because Pujols went down,
Josh Hamilton
Joshua Holt Hamilton (born May 21, 1981) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from to , most prominently as a member of the Texas Rangers teams that won two consecutive Americ ...
received the most time at designated hitter, leaving right field up for grabs. By the time September rolled around, Calhoun won the job, starting the last 21 games of the season there. In 58 games with the Angels in 2013, Calhoun hit .282 with 8 home runs and 32 RBI.
Calhoun was the starting right-fielder entering 2014. However, after just 14 games, Calhoun was placed on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle. By the time he returned on May 21,
Collin Cowgill
Collin Brannen Cowgill (born May 22, 1986) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and current major league coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, Los Angeles ...
was playing well as the right-fielder, and Calhoun shared some of his starts with Cowgill. For the season, he scored 90 runs, 9th in the AL.
Calhoun played in 159 games for the Angels in 2015, hitting .256 with a career high 26 home runs and 83 RBI, with 164 strikeouts (3rd in the AL). He also played stellar defense in right field, posting a .989 fielding percentage and six defensive runs saved and leading the league in putouts as a right fielder (342) en route to winning his first
Rawlings Gold Glove Award.
Despite a slight drop-off in terms of home runs and runs batted in from 2015, Calhoun lowered his strikeout rate and walked more in the 2016 season. Altogether, Calhoun finished batting .271/.348/.438 with 5 triples (10th in the AL), 18 home runs and 75 RBIs in 157 games played.
For the third consecutive season, Calhoun played in over 150 games in 2017. He finished the season batting .244/.333/.392 with 19 home runs, 71 RBIs, and scored 77 runs.
For the first half of the 2018 season, Calhoun struggled offensively despite being tied in outfield assists in MLB with 7. He was placed on the disabled list on June 3 with an oblique injury. In the second half, he hit .231 with 10 home runs. Overall, he finished the season hitting a career-low .208/.283/.369 with 19 home runs and 57 RBIs.
His four double plays led AL outfielders.
Calhoun began slowly in 2019, but picked it up in the second half of the season, finishing the season with a career high 33 home runs in 152 games.
Arizona Diamondbacks (2020–2021)
On December 30, 2019, Calhoun signed a two-year contract with the
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
with a club option for the 2022 season.
On July 6, 2020, it was announced that Calhoun had tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
. He was cleared to resume summer training on July 10. Calhoun finished his first season with Arizona leading the team in home runs (16), RBI (40) and runs scored (35). His home run and RBI totals ranked third and ninth in the National League respectively.
On March 3, 2021, Calhoun underwent right knee surgery after suffering a torn meniscus. On April 30, Calhoun underwent another surgery, this time for a split hamstring tendon in his left leg. The injury would sideline him between 6-8 weeks. On May 15, Calhoun was placed on the 60-day injured list. He was activated off of the injured list on July 10. In 2021, he had the slowest sprint speed of all major league right fielders, at 24.7 feet/second.
Texas Rangers (2022)
On November 30, 2021, Calhoun signed a 1 year, $5.2 MM contract with the
Texas Rangers.
On May 27th, 2022, Calhoun would record his 1,000 hit against Oakland Athletics pitcher,
Cole Irvin
Cole R. Irvin (born January 31, 1994), nicknamed "Swirvin Irvin", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). Irvin was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the fifth round of the 201 ...
.
Personal life
Calhoun and his wife, Jennifer, welcomed a child, son Knox, in September 2016 and a daughter, Lennox, in May 2019.
Calhoun grew up an Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals fan.
Notes
References
External links
*
Arizona State Sun Devils bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calhoun, Kole
1987 births
Living people
People from Buckeye, Arizona
Sportspeople from the Phoenix metropolitan area
Baseball players from Arizona
Los Angeles Angels players
Arizona Diamondbacks players
Texas Rangers players
Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players
Yavapai Roughriders baseball players
Orem Owlz players
Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino players
Navegantes del Magallanes players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Salt Lake Bees players
Round Rock Express players
Leones del Escogido players
American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic
Major League Baseball right fielders
Gold Glove Award winners
Eau Claire Express players