Nicholas Lee Stavinoha (born May 3, 1982) is an American former 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 tea ...

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 ...

. 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 2008 to 2010 for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

Early life

He played football and baseball at

Jersey Village High School Jersey Village High School is located in Jersey Village, Texas, United States, in the Houston metropolitan area. The school, which serves grades nine through twelve, is a part of the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. Maggie Wiley serves as its principal, ...

(Graduated in 2000) before attending the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

for football. He later transferred to

San Jacinto College San Jacinto College is a public community college in the Greater Houston with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Channelview, De ...

and played there for two seasons as a catcher. While at San Jacinto, Stavinoha hit 49 Home Runs and is a member of the Golden Anniversary all 50 Greatest JUCO World Series Participants. Stavinoha went on to attend

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. In 2003, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Wareham Gatemen The Wareham Gatemen are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Wareham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Gatemen play their home games at Clem Spillane Fie ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. He is one of the few players in college baseball to participate in both the JUCO World Series in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mos ...

(twice) and also at the NCAA D1 World Series in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

Professional career

Stavinoha was drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, but did not sign. He was drafted again by the Cardinals in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and signed. He hit for a .337 average with 16 home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals Triple-A affiliate, the

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

in . He hit .261 with 13 home runs in 2007 while stealing seven bases, also at Memphis. He hit .297 with 12 home runs at Double A-Springfield in 2006. That batting average ranked fourth among all Cardinal minor league players that played a full season. In 2005, he hit .344 with 14 home runs in 65 games at Single A-Quad Cities in 2005 as a 23-year-old. He has 55 career minor league home runs. He also has a career average of .304 in the minors. Stavinoha made his big-league debut on June 22, , as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

, and getting the first

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 ...

of his major league career against 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 ...

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

. Stavinoha was placed in the Rule 5 draft at the end of the 2010 season. Stavinoha was designated to the Cardinals once again on January 14, 2011. He became a free agent after the 2011 season. On November 9, 2011, he signed a minor league contract with the

. He also received an invitation to spring training. However, he was released on December 14, in order to sign with the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

in Japan.

Family

Stavinoha resides in

Cypress, Texas Cypress is an unincorporated community in Harris County, Texas, United States, located completely inside the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Houston. The Cypress area is located along U.S. Highway 290 (Northwest Freeway) is twenty-fo ...

with his wife, Casey, and two daughters.Nick Stavinoha Stats, Bio, Photos, Highlights
stlcardinals.com

References

External links

Nick Stavinoha at St. Louis Cardinals.Scout.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stavinoha, Nick 1982 births Living people Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Texas People from Houston Memphis Redbirds players St. Louis Cardinals players San Jacinto Central Ravens baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Sugar Land Skeeters players Wareham Gatemen players Peoria Saguaros players Springfield Cardinals players Swing of the Quad Cities players