Matt Downs

Matt Downs
Houston Astros
Second baseman
Born: March 19, 1984 (1984-03-19) (age 27) Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 16, 2009 for the San Francisco Giants
Career statistics (through 2011 Season)
Batting average	.244
Home runs	12
Runs batted in	50
Teams
San Francisco Giants (2009–2010) Houston Astros (2011-present)

Matthew Russell "Matt" Downs (born March 19, 1984 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) is a Major League Baseball second baseman for the Houston Astros.

Downs graduated from Bibb County High School in Centreville, AL and he played a year playing as a pitcher/infielder for Shelton State Community College in Alabama in 2003.

He was drafted in the 25th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2003 MLB June Amateur Draft, while playing for Shelton State Community College. In 2006 the San Francisco Giants drafted him in the 36th round from the University of Alabama. He played 2006 in the Rookie League Giants franchise, in 2007 for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, and in 2009 at their Single-A San Jose Giants and AAA Fresno Grizzlies teams. He was named the Northwest League co-MVP in 2007 while playing for the Volcanoes.

On June 16, 2009, Downs was called up to the San Francisco Giants, replacing Emmanuel Burriss, and he collected his first two big league hits June 17 against the Angels' Matt Palmer. He hit his 1st Major League home run off Milwaukee's Jeff Suppan on June 28.

He was optioned back to triple-A July 3, but was quickly recalled again on July 21, due to a struggling Juan Uribe, who returned to more of utility role.^[1] Downs started 3 of 4 games against Braves, batting .182 and going 2-for-11. He appeared in just 2 more games on Giants' 10-game road trip, went 0-for-6 in Colorado and was then optioned back to Fresno where he finished season.

Downs was designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants on August 23, 2010 to make room for Cody Ross.^[2] He was claimed by the Houston Astros on August 25, and sent to Triple-A Round Rock.^[3]

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

References

1. ^ http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=453303
2. ^ http://twitter.com/extrabaggs/statuses/21909917189
3. ^ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100825&content_id=13906018&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Persondata
Name	Downs, Matt
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 19, 1984
Place of birth	Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Date of death
Place of death