Jesús María "Pepe" Frías Andújar (born July 14, 1948) is a Dominican former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

, Texas Rangers and

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

between and , appearing in 724 games over nine MLB seasons."Pepe Frías Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Retrieved on 2017-05-14. Born in

San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís is a city and municipality (''municipio'') in the Dominican Republic. The capital of its eponymous province in the east region of the country, it is among the ten largest cities of the Dominican Republic. The city has approx ...

, he threw and batted right-handed and was listed as tall and .

Minor leagues

Frías signed originally with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in , but an anemic bat hampered his progress in

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. After he hit only .173 in 19 games in the lower minors, the Giants released him July 1; signed by the Dodgers that off-season, he was released again just before the campaign, and he spent that year out of pro ball until the Giants re-signed him in October. But in Frías continued to struggle at the plate, hitting only .188 in 44 games in 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 ...

, and he drew yet another unconditional release."Pepe Frías, (transactions)"

Baseball Reference Baseball Reference is a baseball statistics database maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for Major League Baseball (MLB) players and teams as well as records, MLB draft history, and sabermetrics. History Founder ...

"Pepe Frías"

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Finally, the first-year Expos, building out their

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, signed Frías for their Double-A

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affiliate, and in he batted an acceptable .254 with 125 hits in 136 games and was able to move up in the Montreal organization until he made the 1973 Expos' early-season roster.

Major leagues

Frías spent six full seasons in Montreal as a backup infielder, peaking at 100 games played during his rookie campaign, and hitting .224 in 429 appearances. Finally, on March 1, 1979, the Expos traded him to the Atlanta Braves for pitcher Dave Campbell. It was a break for Frías, now 30 years old: he was able to claim Atlanta's starting shortstop job, starting 136 games, batting .259 with 123 hits, and swatting his only MLB home run, a solo blow off

John Candelaria John Robert Candelaria (born November 6, 1953) is a Puerto Rican-American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Nicknamed "the Candy Man", he played in MLB during the years 1975–1993 for eight teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels, ...

of the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

on May 2 at

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."Pittsburgh Pirates 10, Atlanta Braves 2."

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(May 2, 1979). The season also saw Frías play regularly, although for the Texas Rangers, to whom he was traded on December 6, 1979. Starting 69 games at shortstop and seven at third base, he batted .242 with 55 hits until he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 13 for pitcher

Dennis Lewallyn Dennis Dale Lewallyn (born August 11, 1953) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball and current Pitching coach for the AA Mississippi Braves. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians from 1975-1982. Lewall ...

and cash. Reverting to

utility infielder In baseball, a utility player or utility man is a player who has the ability to play more than one position in the field and is primarily used as a substitute. The term super utility player may be used to refer to a player who can play all or mos ...

status, Frías would appear in 39 total games for the Dodgers before they released him on August 31, 1981. He then played the – seasons at the Triple-A level before leaving pro baseball after logging 17 seasons. In the majors, Pepe Frías collected 323 total

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

, of which 58 went for extra bases: 49 doubles, eight

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and his 1979 home run. He batted .240 overall with 108

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

References

External links

1948 births Living people 20th-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Astros de Tampico players Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from San Pedro de Macorís Cafeteros de Córdoba players Decatur Commodores players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Mexico Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Evansville Triplets players Florida Instructional League Expos players Fort Myers Sun Sox players Jacksonville Suns players Los Angeles Dodgers players Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball shortstops Mexican League baseball players Montreal Expos players Québec Carnavals players Salt Lake City Giants players Texas Rangers players Wichita Aeros players Winnipeg Whips players {{DominicanRepublic-baseball-shortstop-stub