Austin Kearns
Free Agent — No. --
Right fielder
Born: May 20, 1980 (1980-05-20) (age 29) Lexington, Kentucky
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 17, 2002 for the Cincinnati Reds
Career statistics (through August 27, 2009)
Batting average	.256
Home runs	105
RBI	422
Teams
Cincinnati Reds (2002–2006) Washington Nationals (2006–2009)

Austin Ryan Kearns (born May 20, 1980, in Lexington, Kentucky) is a Major League Baseball right fielder currently a free agent.

Contents 1 Baseball career 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Baseball career

After playing at Lafayette Senior High School, he was offered a scholarship to play college baseball at the University of Florida. However, he decided to sign with the Cincinnati Reds after being selected seventh overall in the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft. After three seasons in the Reds' minor league system, he made his MLB debut on April 17, 2002.

Kearns was traded to the Nationals on July 13, 2006, along with Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris, and Daryl Thompson.

On September 23, 2006, playing against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, Kearns and first baseman Nick Johnson collided while making a sliding attempt to catch a fly ball. Kearns originally remained in the game relatively unhurt, but was removed shortly after play resumed by Manager Frank Robinson. Kearns was replaced by Ryan Church, who played in Kearns's spot for most of the rest of the season. Kearns suffered severe bruising down his left side as well as soreness. Johnson sustained a broken femur and underwent surgery that night to repair his injuries. Johnson missed all of 2007 recuperating from his injuries. Kearns, however, had career highs in several key areas, including 161 games played and 74 RBIs. On May 12, 2007, in a game at home against the Florida Marlins, Kearns hit a bases-empty inside-the-park home run, the first ever for a Nationals player. The ball bounced off the glove of Florida Marlins player Reggie Abercrombie. Kearns scored after receiving the sign to keep running by 3rd base coach Tim Tollman. Down the stretch, he tallied 4 hits in 11 at bats (with 2 home runs) in a late-season Nats' series sweep over the division leading New York Mets that kept the Mets out of the playoffs.

In 2008, the Nationals placed Kearns on the 15-day disabled list on May 22 because of loose bodies in his right elbow and on August 25 with a stress fracture in his left foot.

Kearns was placed on the disabled list on August 5, 2009 with a right thumb injury. His move to the was retroactive to August 4. The Nationals called up outfielder Jorge Padilla from the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs to replace the ailing Kearns.^[1]On November 6th, The Nationals declined the 2010 contract option on Kearns making him a free agent.

[edit] See also

• Washington Nationals all-time roster

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• 2007 spring training highlight video at The Washington Post