Tony Blanco
Chunichi Dragons — No. 42
First baseman
Born: November 10, 1980 (1980-11-10) (age 29) San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
Professional debut
NPB: April 3, 2009 for the Chunichi Dragons
MLB: April 4, 2005 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
NPB statistics (through 2009 season)
Batting average	.275
Home runs	39
Runs batted in	110
Teams
Washington Nationals (2005-2008) Chunichi Dragons (2009-)
Career highlights and awards
2009 Leader of Home Run and RBI (Central League)

Tony Hemiphere Blanco (born November 10, 1980 in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic) is a professional baseball player (mainly playing as first baseman, third baseman and outfielder), He last played in Major League Baseball for the Washington Nationals. During 2005, his rookie season, he hit .177 with one home run and seven RBI.

Blanco began his career in the farm system of the Boston Red Sox as third base. In 2002, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds. As a top prospect in the Reds organization in 2003, Blanco made a name for himself while playing for the Potomac Cannons of the Carolina League. Blanco was picked up by the Nationals as a Rule 5 Draft choice in 2005 and started the year playing for the Potomac Nationals. Blanco was invited to spring training for the big league club and quickly made it to the roster early in 2005, playing in 56 games. He hasn't played in the majors since then.

In 2008, Blanco played for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers in the Colorado Rockies organization batting .323 with 23 home runs and 88 RBI. After the 2008 season, Blanco played in the Dominican Winter League for the Estrellas Orientales. He was acquired by the Chunichi Dragons, which released their cleanup hitter Tyrone Woods due to his high wage, shortly after that.

His first year in NPB is very successful, especially renowned with his power of hitting balls outside the park. Including a grounded home run in Nagoya Dome(first in dome history), light unit above the advertisement board in Tokyo Dome, also the top-level stand in Nagoya and Osaka Dome. He finished that first season with a impressive 39 HR and 110 RBI, both leading in Central League, with a .275 hit rate. Other than the HR and RBI award, he was also rewarded as Central League Performance Award in Interleague game (11HR and 24 RBI) and a win in Home Run Derby before the All-star game (which he was also playing as Central League First baseman).

[edit] External links

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

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