Xavier Nady
Free Agent — No. --
Outfielder
Born: November 14, 1978 (1978-11-14) (age 31) Salinas, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 30, 2000 for the San Diego Padres
Career statistics (through August 27, 2009)
Batting average	.280
Home runs	87
Runs batted in	325
On-base plus slugging	.792
Teams
San Diego Padres (2000, 2003–2005) New York Mets (2006) Pittsburgh Pirates (2006–2008) New York Yankees (2008–2009)

Xavier Clifford Nady VI^[1] (pronounced /ɛkˈseɪvi.ər ˈneɪdi/; born November 14, 1978, in Salinas, California) is a free agent Major League Baseball outfielder.

Contents 1 Amateur career 2 Professional career 2.1 San Diego Padres 2.2 New York Mets 2.3 Pittsburgh Pirates 2.4 New York Yankees 3 Uniform number 4 Personal life 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Amateur career

The St. Louis Cardinals originally drafted Nady in the 4th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft (134th overall) after he was named Northern California Player of the Year in his senior year of high school, but he did not sign professionally at that time. After attending UC Berkeley, where he set the all-time Pac-10 Conference record for career slugging percentage (.729), Nady was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft by the San Diego Padres (49th overall). Nady signed a major league contract and became the 18th player to go directly to the major leagues without making his professional debut in the minor leagues since 1965.

Nady only appeared in one game and spent extensive time in the minor leagues following his debut. He was named Padres Minor League Player of the Year in 2001, also collecting the California League's Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards that season. Nady underwent Tommy John surgery and had limited playing time in 2002. In 2003, he again returned to the major league level for part of the season, but spent most of his time in the minor leagues.

Professional career

San Diego Padres

In late June 2005, Nady became the first Padre since Greg Vaughn (in 1998) to homer in four consecutive games.

New York Mets

The Padres traded him to the New York Mets for Mike Cameron on November 18, 2005.

On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Nady was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation. Nady underwent an emergency appendectomy early in the morning on May 30, 2006; he was placed on the 15-day disabled list, and returned to the lineup on June 18.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On July 30, 2006, Mets set-up relief pitcher Duaner Sanchez was injured when the cab in which he was a passenger was broadsided. The Mets' pitching corps was already depleted with star pitcher Pedro Martinez on the disabled list. Desperate for pitching, the Mets were forced to give up Nady, their starting right fielder, to the Pirates in exchange for pitchers Óliver Pérez and Roberto Hernandez.

New York Yankees

On July 26, 2008, the New York Yankees acquired Nady and pitcher Dámaso Marté from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jose Tabata, Ross Ohlendorf, Daniel McCutchen, and Jeff Karstens.^[2]

Nady had a career-high 6 RBIs as the Yankees came back to beat the Los Angeles Angels on August 3, 2008.

Nady signed a one-year deal worth $6.65 million with the Yankees avoiding arbitration. On April 14, 2009, Nady suffered a right-elbow injury which ultimately required a second Tommy John surgery, despite an initial attempt to rehab the injury. The surgery will sideline him for an extended period of time, and is possibly career threatening, as the success rates for multiple elbow ligament replacement surgeries is lower.^[3] Following the conclusion of the 2009 season, Nady filed for free agency.

Uniform number

During his major league career with both the Padres and Mets, Nady wore uniform number 22, with the Pirates his uniform number was changed to 25 for a brief stint before his number was again changed, this time back to his original number 22. When he was traded to the Yankees, he was assigned number 29, due to LaTroy Hawkins being assigned 22 at the time. Shortly after, Hawkins was traded to the Houston Astros and Nady switched back to 22.

Personal life

Nady's wife Meredith had their first child, Xavier Henry Nady VII, on July 15, 2008.^[4]

After an intestinal illness prior to spring training in 2007, Nady was tested for Crohn's disease due to family history of the disease.^[5] The tests turned out negative and Nady was instead diagnosed with a minor infection of the small intestines^[6].

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Xavier Nady

• List of baseball players who went directly to the major leagues

References

External links

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