Anthony James Giarratano (born November 29, 1982) is an Italian-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 wh ...

who played for the Detroit Tigers in 2005.

College career

A native of

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, Giarratano attended

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

, 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 p ...

for the

Green Wave A green wave occurs when a series of traffic lights (usually three or more) are coordinated to allow continuous traffic flow over several intersections in one main direction. Any vehicle traveling along with the green wave (at an approximate spee ...

. In 2½ seasons at Tulane, Giarratano recorded a .319

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and drove in 111 runs. He was named a first-team freshman All-American at second base in 2001 and was a Conference USA All-Star infielder in 2003. He was also named to the All-Tournament Team in the 2001 Conference USA Tournament, which Tulane won. In 2002, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Professional career

Giarratano was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the third round of the 2003 amateur entry draft. He signed with Detroit on June 30 of 2003. After working his way through the Tigers minor league system, Tony made his major league debut on June 1, 2005. Giarratano appeared in 15 games for the Detroit Tigers; he recorded 6 hits, 1

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 ...

, 4 RBIs, and had a .143

in his rookie year. Giarratano was placed on the disabled list in August of 2006 and remained on the DL for all of the 2007 season for shoulder and knee injuries. Giarratano was progressing well and on target to be ready for 2008 spring training. Then, in January 2008, he re-injured his throwing shoulder and was released by the Tigers on January 31, 2008.Tony Giarratano MLB Baseball at CBSSports.com
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giarratano, Tony 1982 births Living people Detroit Tigers players American people of Italian descent Italian baseball players Tulane Green Wave baseball players Cotuit Kettleers players 2006 World Baseball Classic players Oneonta Tigers players West Michigan Whitecaps players Lakeland Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players