Keith Michael Ginter (born May 5, 1976) is a former American

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), ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

. Ginter is a graduate of

Fullerton Union High School Fullerton Union High School is a public high school located in the Orange County, California city of Fullerton, operated by the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. History In 1893 a special election was held to create Fullerton Union High ...

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Sa ...

College

Ginter attended and played baseball at

Cypress College Cypress College is a public community college in Cypress, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and belongs to the North Orange County Community College District. It offers a variety of general education (55 associat ...

before transferring to

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. During his two years at Texas Tech University, Ginter was a two-time All-American and helped the Red Raiders in NCAA Regional action.

Professional career

Ginter 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 ...

in 10th Round of 1998 amateur entry draft and began his professional career playing for the Auburn Doubledays of the New York–Penn League and made his first major league appearance playing for the Astros on September 20, 2000. In September 2002, Ginter was traded along with

Wayne Franklin Gary Wayne Franklin (born March 9, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros (2000-2001), Milwaukee Brewers (2002-2003), San Francisco Giants (2004), ...

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

for Mark Loretta and cash. Ginter played for the Brewers until December 2004 when he was traded to the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

for

Nelson Cruz Nelson Ramón Cruz Martínez Jr. (born July 1, 1980) is a Dominican-American professional baseball designated hitter and right fielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas ...

and

Justin Lehr Charles Larry "Justin" Lehr (born August 3, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, and Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB), as well as the Doosan Bears of the K ...

. During the 2004 season, Ginter had been named National League Player of the Week. Ginter split the seasons between Oakland and the teams triple-A affiliate

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

, and spent the entire season at triple-A. On January 2, 2007, he was signed by

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

to minor league contract and invited to spring training, but spent the entire season playing for the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

. On December 13, 2007, he was signed by

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 ...

to minor league contract, and attended the teams spring training session but was assigned to the teams minor league camp on March 19, . He became a free agent at the end of the 2008 season and signed a minor league contract with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

on January 6, 2009. He was released by the White Sox March 15, 2010. On April 26, 2010, he was signed by the

Orange County Flyers The Fullerton Flyers were a professional baseball team based in Fullerton, California, in the United States. They were an independent franchise, not affiliated with either Major League Baseball ''or'' Minor League Baseball. The team played from ...

of the independent Golden Baseball League and was their starting

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 ...

for the 2010 season. He is not related to

Matt Ginter Matthew Shane Ginter (born December 24, 1977) is a former American professional baseball pitcher. After playing collegiately at Mississippi State, he started made his MLB debut in 2000 with the Chicago White Sox. He was signed by the Boston Red ...

, a pitcher who pitched in the majors from 2000 to 2008.

Spring training incident

In spring training of , Ginter and five teammates from the

organization were in a players hotel room with a female guest when two gunmen burst in, tied them up and robbed them. The gunmen then went to the next room where Aaron Miles wrestled one of them to the ground while the other one fled. The other players involved were

Morgan Ensberg Morgan Paul Ensberg (born August 26, 1975) is an American former infielder in Major League Baseball. Ensberg bats and throws right-handed. He was previously a member of the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and New York Yankees. From 2011-12 he ...

, Derrek Nicholson, Mike Rose, and Eric Cole.

References

External links

Baseball Reference
minor league statistics

Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Ginter, Keith 1976 births Living people People from Norwalk, California Baseball players from California Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Auburn Doubledays players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charlotte Knights players Cypress Chargers baseball players Houston Astros players Indianapolis Indians players Jackson Generals (Texas League) players Kissimmee Cobras players Milwaukee Brewers players New Orleans Zephyrs players Oakland Athletics players Orange County Flyers players Pawtucket Red Sox players Round Rock Express players Sacramento River Cats players Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball players All-American college baseball players Mat-Su Miners players