Raúl Adalberto Mondesí (born July 27, 1995) is a Dominican-American 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 ...

and

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

who is a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. He has previously 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

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. Mondesí is the first player in modern MLB history to make his debut in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

, doing so with the Royals in Game 3 on October 30, 2015, against the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

Career

Minor leagues

Mondesí signed with the

on July 27, 2011, receiving a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $2 million. He made his professional debut in 2012 with the Idaho Falls Chukars of the

Rookie-level Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Pioneer League, hitting .290/.346/.386 with three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in 50 games. Prior to the 2013 season, Mondesí was ranked by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'' as the team's seventh-best prospect. He played the 2013 season with the

Lexington Legends The Lexington Legends are an American professional baseball team based in Lexington, Kentucky. They are a member of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. The Legends have ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

. On May 27 he

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. He finished the season hitting .261/.311/.361 with seven home runs. After the season, he was named the Class A Lexington Player of the Year by the Royals. Prior to the 2014 season, Mondesí was considered one of the top prospects in baseball. He was ranked by ''Baseball America'' as the team's third-best prospect. He was ranked by MLB.com as the 38th best prospect overall. Mondesi spent the 2014 season with the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the

Class A-Advanced High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

, and played for the Peoria Javelinas of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

after the regular season. In 2015, Mondesi played for the

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. T ...

of the Double-A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

. He appeared in the 2015

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League- ...

Kansas City Royals

The Royals added Mondesi to their active roster for the 2015 World Series. He became the first player since Bug Holliday in 1885 to make his major league debut during a championship series, when he pinch hit during Game 3 for pitcher

Danny Duffy Daniel Richard Duffy (born December 21, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Piratas de Campeche of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals. After being drafte ...

and struck out against

pitcher Noah Syndergaard. He won his first World Series ring when the Royals defeated the

in five games. Mondesi began the 2016 season in Double-A. On May 10, Mondesi was suspended 50 games after testing positive for clenbuterol which is banned by Major League Baseball. His suspension was originally 80 games, but was reduced due to the substance having been ingested via cold medicine. On August 16, Mondesi hit his first major league home run against Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. Mondesi became the youngest Royal to hit a home run since Clint Hurdle in 1978. Mondesi ended the 2016 season with a major-league

slash line This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See count. 1 ...

of .185/.231/.281 with nine

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out ...

s in 47 games. Mondesi spent the majority of the 2017 season in Triple-A. He appeared in 25 games in the major leagues, slashing .170/.214/.245 with five stolen bases. After beginning the 2018 season in the minors, Mondesi was recalled during the month of June to play shortstop regularly. In 75 games, he slashed .276/.306/.498 and hit 14 home runs with 32 stolen bases. In 2019, Mondesi hit 9 home runs with 62 RBIs in 102 games. In 2020, Mondesi had a .256/.294/.416 slash line with 6 home runs and 22 RBIs in 59 games of the shortened season, and led the AL in both stolen bases (24) and caught stealing (8). In 2021, to open the season, Mondesí was placed in the injured list with a right oblique muscle strain. He played in only seven games, during May 25–31, before being placed on the injured list again after straining his left

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

. He returned on June 16, but played in only three games with the Royals before going back on the injured list. In ten games with the Royals, he batted .361 with four home runs and nine RBIs. On August 3, he began a rehab assignment with the Triple-A

Omaha Storm Chasers The Omaha Storm Chasers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. They are located in Papillion, Nebraska, a suburb southwest of Omaha, Nebraska, Omah ...

, playing in five games, but returned to Kansas City on August 15 for examination by team medical staff after experiencing oblique tightness. On August 19, he began another rehab assignment with Omaha. On September 1, he returned to the Royals lineup versus the

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) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

. He completed the season with a .240 batting average, along with six home runs and 17 RBIs in 35 games. In 2022, Mondesí was batting .140 in 15 games when he sustained a torn left

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

(ACL). He underwent surgery in May and missed the rest of the season. Overall with the Royals, Mondesí appeared in 358 regular-season games, batting .244 with 38 home runs, 157 RBIs, and an 83.6% success rate on stolen base attempts (133-for-159). Defensively, he made 262 appearances at shortstop, 68 at second base, 20 at third base, and 11 as

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

. He registered an aggregate .982

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

Boston Red Sox

On January 24, 2023, the Royals traded Mondesí and a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

(named in March as minor-league infielder Angel Pierre) to 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) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

for Josh Taylor. On March 30, Mondesi was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a left ACL tear. He ultimately missed the entire season. He became a free agent after the season.

Personal life

Mondesí is the son of former MLB player Raúl Mondesí. Known as Adalberto when he signed with the Royals, Mondesí went by Raúl Mondesí (and was sometimes referred to in media as Raúl A. Mondesí or Raúl Mondesí Jr.) from 2015 to 2018. He was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, while his father played for the

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 ...

. He grew up in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mondesi, Adalberto 1995 births Living people American League stolen base champions American sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent Baseball players from Los Angeles Idaho Falls Chukars players Kansas City Royals players Lexington Legends players Major League Baseball players suspended for drug offenses Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Northwest Arkansas Naturals players Omaha Storm Chasers players Peoria Javelinas players Wilmington Blue Rocks players