Mitch_Webster
Mitch Webster
American baseball player
Mitchell Dean Webster (born May 16, 1959) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1983 through 1995 for the Toronto Blue Jays, Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers. Listed at 6' 0", 185 lb., he was a switch hitter and threw left handed.[1]
| Mitch Webster | |
|---|---|
| Outfielder | |
| Born: (1959-05-16) May 16, 1959 (age 64) Larned, Kansas, U.S. | |
Batted: Switch Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 2, 1983, for the Toronto Blue Jays | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 1, 1995, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .263 |
| Home runs | 70 |
| Runs batted in | 342 |
| Teams | |
Born in Larned, Kansas, Webster was selected by the Dodgers in the 23rd round of the 1977 MLB Draft. He then was selected by Toronto from Los Angeles in the 1979 Minor League draft.[1]
A speedy outfielder, Webster achieved good production from both sides of the plate, and also had a strong arm with the ability to play all three outfield positions well.
His most productive season came with Montreal in 1986, when he posted career-highs with a .290 batting average and 36 stolen bases while leading the National League with 13 triples.[1] He is one of the few players to play both major league Canadian teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos.[2]
Webster's 1990 season with the Cleveland Indians featured a bench clearing incident between Webster and Todd Stottlemyre of the Toronto Blue Jays. In the action, Webster charged the mound but was tackled by Stottlemyre and catcher Pat Borders.[3]
In a 13-season career, Webster slashed .263/.330/.401 with 70 home runs and 160 steals in 1,265 games, driving in 342 runs and scoring 504 times while playing mostly as a leadoff hitter.[1]
As an outfielder, he committed just 42 errors in 2,007 fielding chances for a .979 fielding percentage.[1]
Webster scouted during 14 years with the Dodgers organization,[4] serving for eight seasons as an amateur scout before working in 2008 and 2009 as a professional scout, being responsible for signing such players as Blake DeWitt, Scott Elbert, Joel Hanrahan, Koyie Hill, Lucas May, Bubba Starling, and Scott Van Slyke, among others.[citation needed] He also spent four seasons as a coach in the Dodgers minor league system from 1996 to 1999.[4]
In 2009, the Kansas City Royals named Webster as their Midwest Regional Scouting Supervisor.[4] He was named to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.[5]
- Major League Baseball Statistics and History. Baseball Reference. Retrieved on January 17, 2017.
- Blue Jays 10, Indians 4. UPI game recap - April 30, 1990
- Royals name Mitch Webster Midwest Regional Scouting Supervisor. MLB.com. Retrieved on January 17, 2017.
- Barber, Hayden (June 13, 2018). "Royals' Kauffman, Paul Pierce, Larry Drew among Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees". Kansas City Star. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
- Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)