Todd Steverson

From BR Bullpen

Todd Anthony Steverson

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 2", Weight 195 lb.
School Arizona State University
High School Culver City High School
Debut April 28, 1995
Final Game April 3, 1996
Born November 15, 1971 in Los Angeles, CA USA

[edit] Biographical Information

Todd Steverson is the cousin of Ron LeFlore. He attended Arizona State University.

Originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth round of the 1989 draft, Steverson opted not to sign. He would have to wait until 1992 to be drafted again-he was drafted 25th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays-and this time, he did sign. His signing bonus was $450,000.

He spent three years in the Blue Jays' farm system, showing nothing more than mediocre statistics-he was speedy (he had a career high 23 stolen bases in 1992 while with the St. Catharines Blue Jays), but he also struck out a lot (118 K's in 413 at-bats in 1993 with the Dunedin Blue Jays) and was not an average hitter (.209 average in 1992).

He was drafted by the Tigers in the 1994 Rule V Draft, and although he had had a fairly unimpressive minor league career, he found himself with the big league club before the end of April, 1995. He made his debut on April 28, 1995 at the age of 23 against the Seattle Mariners. In his only at-bat of the game, he flew to right off of a pitch from Ron Villone. He appeared in 30 games for the Tigers in 1995, collecting 11 hits in 42 at-bats for a .262 batting average. He spent nine games in the minors that year, but he hit only .107.

Steverson homered twice in 1995, in back-to-back games no less. He victimized pitcher Eddie Guardado of the Minnesota Twins on June 10, then pitcher Dave Stevens of the Twins the very next day. The top game of his season may have come on June 15 of that year, though. Playing the New York Yankees, he collected three hits in four at-bats, driving in two runs and scoring once. Interestingly, those were the last hits of his career.

Although his rookie season was short but fairly impressive, the Tigers did not keep him for more than a season. Instead, right before the beginning 1996 season, he was traded by the Tigers with Cade Gaspar and Sean Bergman to the Padres for Raul Casanova, Richie Lewis, and Melvin Nieves. That would basically seal the fate for his big league career-it ended on April 3 of that year. Pinch hitting for pitcher Joey Hamilton, he was called out on strikes in his final big league at-bat. Turk Wendell was credited with the K.

He played in a total of 31 games in his career, collecting 11 hits in 43 at-bats for a .256 batting average. He scored 11 times, hit two home runs and drove in six RBI. A perfect fielder, he committed no errors in his career. Perhaps it was the number he wore that caused his career to end so quickly-he wore 13 in both his seasons in the big leagues, a traditionally unlucky number.

After retiring as a player after the 1998 season, he spent five years as a coach in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. He joined the Oakland A's organization in 2004 and managed the Stockton Ports in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, he became manager of the Midland Rockhounds.