George Alberto Arias (born March 12, 1972) is a former

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 ...

player 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), ...

and

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

Career

Arias was drafted by the California Angels in the seventh round of the

1993 Major League Baseball draft The 1993 Major League Baseball draft began with first round selections on June 3, 1993. Alex Rodriguez was selected first overall by the Seattle Mariners. Other notable draftees included Chris Carpenter, Torii Hunter, Jason Varitek, Scott Rol ...

after graduating from the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. He made his major league debut in , and played 84 games, hitting .238 with seven

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 28 RBI. He went back and forth between the majors and minor leagues after that, and was traded to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

during the season. He played with the Padres until , before joining the

Orix BlueWave , styled as ORIX, is a Japanese diversified financial services group headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. ORIX offers leasing, lending, rentals, life insurance, real estate financing and development, venture capital, investment an ...

in Japan. Arias became the regular

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in his first year with the BlueWave, and was the team's best power hitter, hitting 38 home runs in . He was a slow but solid fielder, and had a strong arm. Arias was a very streaky hitter, and had a very low batting average with runners in scoring position. He signed with the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railwa ...

in , and hit 38 home runs with 107 RBI in , contributing to the Tigers' league championship. He also won a Golden Glove award at first base, and the Best Nine award that year. He left the Tigers after , and signed a minor league deal with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

in , but was cut at the start of the season. He played in the Mexican League for the rest of the year. Arias was signed by the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

in June , and made his debut with the Giants in July as an

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 c ...

. He was unable to repeat his previous success, and was demoted to the minors after playing 17 games. He hit only .167 his last year, and was cut at the end of 2006. In 639 games in NPB, Arias hit .259 with 169 home runs and 436 RBI.

External links

ESPN Article on Arias
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arias, George 1972 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Anaheim Angels players Arizona Wildcats baseball players Baseball players from Tucson, Arizona California Angels players Cedar Rapids Kernels players Hanshin Tigers players Lake Elsinore Storm players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Major League Baseball third basemen Mexican League baseball first basemen Mexican League baseball left fielders Mexican League baseball third basemen Midland Angels players Nippon Professional Baseball first basemen Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen Orix BlueWave players Pima Aztecs baseball players Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players San Diego Padres players Vancouver Canadians players Yomiuri Giants players

Career

See also

External links