Carlos Quentin

Infobox MLB player
name = Carlos Quentin


width = 300
team = Chicago White Sox
number = 20
position = Left Fielder
birthdate = birth date and age|1982|8|28
birthplace = city-state|Bellflower|California
bats = Right
throws = Right
debutdate = July 20
debutyear = 2006
debutteam = Arizona Diamondbacks
statyear = September 5, 2008
stat1label = Batting average
stat1value = .262
stat2label = Home runs
stat2value = 50
stat3label = Runs batted in
stat3value = 163
teams =
*Arizona Diamondbacks (by|2006-by|2007)
*Chicago White Sox (by|2008-present)
awards =
* All-Star selection (2008)

Carlos Josè Quentin (born August 28, 1982 in Bellflower, California), is an outfielder who plays for the Chicago White Sox. In 2008, Quentin was selected as an All-Star. [citeweb|url=http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080706&content_id=3076812&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws |title=Crede, Quentin named to All-Star team|accessdate=2008-07-06|author=Scott Merkin|publisher=MLB Advanced Media, L.P.]

chool years

High School

Quentin attended Saint Pius X Elementary School (Chula Vista, California). Before Quentin went on to be a professional baseball player, he already had an outstanding sports career in both high school and college. At (University of San Diego High School), he was a three-sport star, excelling in baseball, football and basketball. He led his baseball team to two Western League Championships, while setting a record at his school with 28 home runs and 119 RBI. In football his senior year, he was selected First Team All-County, All-CIF and All-Western League, and was named Western League Defensive Player of the Year as an outside linebacker. He also captured two league and two section titles. In addition, he participated on the 1997 high school state championship team in basketball. He was named the San Diego Male Athlete of the Year in 2000. Aside from sports, he was on his school honor roll. He then went on to Stanford University, where he excelled even more.

College

His Stanford career was exceptional; he was named All Pac-10 the three seasons he played (freshman, sophomore and junior). He was honored by Baseball America magazine all three seasons as well. He was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2001. In his junior season (2003), he was named Third Team All-American by the NCBWA and was one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award.

Quentin helped lead the Cardinal to postseason appearances all three years of his collegiate career, culminating in a 2-for-2, 2 RBI performance in Stanford's 2003 College World Series Championship Series Game 3 loss to Rice University.

He finished his Stanford career with a .350 batting average, 35 home runs, 170 RBI, and 26 stolen bases in 199 games played for the Cardinal.

Career

Minor leagues

Quentin was Arizona's second first round pick of the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft, selected 29th overall. He sat out that year after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow (a rare procedure for non-pitchers). Once recovered, he quickly became part of a talented core of young Diamondback prospects and later on, traded to the Chicago White Sox.

Quentin set a minor-league record in 2004 when he was hit by a pitch 43 times. That season, he led all Arizona minor league players in batting (.332), RBI (91), runs (103), hits (157), and walks (69), numbers that were divided between Single-A Lancaster and Double-A El Paso.He also starred on a TV show chronicling the life of a minor leaguer with Chris Young and Dustin Nippert.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Quentin was hitting .289 with 30 doubles, three triples, nine homers and 52 RBI in 85 games for the Tucson Sidewinders when he was called up to the Diamondbacks on July 20, 2006; after grounding out in his first two major league at-bats, Quentin hit a two-run home run off Mark Hendrickson in the sixth inning of Arizona's 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. His arrival was long anticipated by Diamondbacks fans; he was expected to replace Shawn Green as the everyday right fielder for the Diamondbacks once Green retired or otherwise left the team. Green was traded to the New York Mets in August, clearing the way for Quentin to become a full-time starter. Quentin would finish the 2006 season with a .253 batting average, 9 home runs, and 32 RBI in 57 games for the Diamondbacks.

He began the 2007 season on the disabled list when he was diagnosed with a partial tear of his left labrum during Spring Training. He made his season debut on April 16 against the Dodgers and finished 2-for-4 with two doubles. After producing disappointing results through the first half of the season (.210, 5 HR, 28 RBI in 66 games), Quentin was demoted to Triple-A on July 6.

Chicago White Sox

On December 3rd, 2007, Quentin was traded to the Chicago White Sox for minor league first baseman Christopher Carter. Carter played for the low Class A Kannapolis Intimidators in 2007 and was considered one of the White Sox' best prospects.

In 2008, Quentin has been a huge surprise for the White Sox, emerging to become one of the team's best hitters. Through August 18th, he was ranking among American League leaders in home runs (first, 35), slugging percentage (third, .586), OPS (third, .981), and runs batted in (third, 96). Quentin's strong season has drawn calls for a possible AL MVP award. After Quentin hit his 35th HR in a 13-5 rout of the Mariners on August 18th, White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski said, "As far as I'm concerned, Quentin has been the American League MVP."

White Sox fans have bestowed the nickname "TCQ," standing for "The Carlos Quentin." The name originates from a quote from GM Ken Williams after he acquired Quentin. He said, "We wanted to upgrade at shortstop, get a setup guy for the bullpen, acquire Carlos Quentin, and not a guy like him but actually Carlos Quentin,"

Quentin's other local nickname is "Q-uperman". The "Q-uperman" sign has received much love at U.S. Cellular, and is steadily growing among online communities. Many a time has the sign, depicting Quentin as Superman with an "S" on his chest, been shown on the Jumbotron at the park, and it has even received mention in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, as well as on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.

Due to Jim Thome's slow start, manager Ozzie Guillén promoted the red-hot Quentin up the batting order into Thome's customary third spot for one game against the Angels in Anaheim. Quentin delivered a key eighth-inning grand slam, breaking a 1-1 tie, and kicked off a run that saw the White Sox win 10 of 12 games and charge to first place. He has since stayed firmly in the 3rd spot in the order. During a nationally televised home game on May 25, Quentin clocked two home runs off of the Angels' John Lackey and drove in all of the White Sox runs in a 3-2 walk-off victory. His towering home runs have drawn comparisons to sluggers such as José Canseco and Luis Gonzalez. Angels center fielder Torii Hunter characterized his pure power as "tremendous pop, like Hulk Hogan. He's crazy strong."

On September 5, by|2008, it was reported that Quentin had a fractured wrist and would undergo surgery, meaning he would miss the rest of the season. [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iEjpf62bFwqlD3zW4NA9uibSQBIwD930OGJ81] Quentin injured his wrist after slamming his bat with his wrist in frustration after fouling off a pitch.

Statistics

small|Roll over stat abbreviations for definitions. Stats through September 11, 2008.cite web| url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/q/quentca01.shtml | title=Carlos Quentin Statistics| work=Baseball-Reference| accessdate=2008-08-14]

See also

* Arizona Diamondbacks all-time roster

References

External links

* [http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/quentin_carlos00.html Carlos Quentin bio on Stanford Cardinal athletics website]
* [http://www.minorleaguenews.com/baseball/features/articles2005/08/15/21.html No. 21 - MLN FAB50 Baseball 2005] - Minor League News
* [http://www.minorleaguenews.com/baseball/features/articles2006/08/fab50/04.html No. 4 - MLN FAB50 Baseball 2006] - Minor League News
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070409&content_id=1889476&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari] - Major League News
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080518&content_id=2729454&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws] - Major League News
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080524&content_id=2761359&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws] - Game recap 2008/05/25
* [http://www.dugoutcentral.com/blog/?p=1548 Carlos Quentin Scouting Report from Dugout Central]