Fausto Andres "Andy" Abad (born August 25, 1972 in West Palm Beach, Florida) is a former professional baseball player. He is also known as "Tulile" in the Dominican Republic. Abad is of Cuban descent; his father escaped Cuba during the Fidel Castro revolution. Before being drafted, he graduated from Jupiter High School in Florida, and then attended Middle Georgia College. He resides in Jupiter, Florida. He is currently the hitting coach for the Low-A Yakima Bears in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

[edit] Minor leagues, Japan

The left-handed hitting and throwing Abad was drafted in the 16th round (443rd overall) in the 1993 amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox, who assigned him to the Gulf Coast Red Sox of the Gulf Coast League that year.

The next year, in 1994, Abad advanced to the Single-A Sarasota Red Sox, where he saw some success. His average jumped 40 points to .288. He remained in Sarasota through part of 1995, where he then advanced to the Double-A Trenton Thunder. His average dropped to 0.240 while with Trenton that year.

He was sent back down to Single-A Sarasota in 1996, but he did not stay there long. After hitting 0.287 for the Single-A team, he was again called up to Double-A Trenton, where he hit 0.277 with the Thunder.

In 1997, Abad only played 45 games, all with Double-A Trenton. He hit 0.303 that year, the first of multiple .300-plus seasons.

In 1998, Abad started out with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. He hit 16 home runs and stole 10 bases. He finished the season with a 0.307 average. The next season, he hit 15 home runs and again posted 10 steals. On October 15, 1999, Abad was released from his contract.

Abad went overseas, and played in Japan with the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 2000. Following the 2000 season, the Oakland Athletics signed him to a contract. He started in their Triple-A club, the Sacramento River Cats. There he had one of the best seasons of his minor league career, hitting 0.301 with 19 home runs. Abad hit 0.529 during the 2001 Pacific Coast League playoffs.

After the 2001 season, Abad granted free agency and later picked up by the Florida Marlins where he spent the 2002 season with their Triple-A affiliate, the Calgary Cannons.

In 2003, he signed, again, with Boston. He started out the season with Triple-A Pawtucket, of which he was a former member. While with Pawtucket, he hit 0.304 with 13 homers and made the International League All-Star team.

Abad was picked up by Pittsburgh in 2004. Abad hit 0.292 with 15 homers with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. He was then released, and subsequently signed by the Cleveland Indians. He played the 2005 season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. During the season, he hit 0.293 with a career high 20 home runs and was voted the team co-MVP

In the minors in 2006 with the Triple-A Louisville Bats, he hit 0.267 with 9 home runs. He was granted free agency and later signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2007 where his was assigned to the Nashville Sounds. With them, he hit 0.316 in 269 at-bats. Abad became a free agent at the end of the season. He signed with the Pericos de Puebla of the Triple-A Mexican League for 2008. After playing 30 games for the team, he was released in late April.

He has pitched in seven minor league games: one in 1994 and 1996, two in 2002, and one game in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Combined, he has a 3.86 ERA in 10 innings pitched. He has allowed 12 hits and 2 home runs, committed 4 errors, and tossed 4 strikeouts.

[edit] Major league career

Abad made his Major League Baseball debut in 2001 with the Oakland Athletics as a pinch hitter for Jeremy Giambi, resulting in a fly-out. This was his only plate appearance of the year. Abad returned to the big leagues in 2003 for a little more than a week with the Boston Red Sox. Appearing in 9 games (17 at-bats), he hit just .118. He was again granted free agency after the season. In 2006, he was on the Cincinnati Reds opening day 25-man roster. In 5 games in the majors that year, he went 0 for 3, drawing two walks.

[edit] Coaching career

On December 3, 2008, Abad was named the hitting coach for the Low-A Yakima Bears in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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