Brett Alexander Wallace (born August 26, 1986) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

infielder. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the Houston Astros and

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

High school

A 2005 graduate of Justin-Siena High School in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

, Wallace earned four varsity baseball letters for head coach Allen Rossi. He helped lead Justin-Siena to a 97–9 record during his prep career, including a perfect 27–0 senior season. He broke nine school records during his prep career and holds single-season school records for walks, runs, hits, RBI, home runs and slugging percentage. Among his numerous accolades, Wallace was named a Collegiate Baseball/

Louisville Slugger Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

All-American and 2005 first-team All-State (CalHiSports.com) and 2005 California Small Schools Player of the Year. He was also a four-time All-Marin County Athletic League selection, 2004 and 2005 All-Napa County Offensive Player of the Year.

College career

Wallace was a two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year (2007 & 2008) and a two-time Triple Crown Winner at Arizona State University. He was the 12th Sun Devil to win the Pac-10 Player of the Year award, and the first since

Dustin Pedroia Dustin Luis Pedroia (born August 17, 1983) is an American former professional baseball second baseman who played his entire Major League Baseball career for the Boston Red Sox, from 2006 to 2019. He was a four-time All-Star, and won the Americ ...

shared the award in 2003. Wallace played 3B for the Sun Devils, teaming with now

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

first baseman

Ike Davis Isaac Benjamin Davis (born March 22, 1987) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. From 2010 through 2016, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, and New York ...

at 1B and now

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

second baseman

Jason Kipnis Jason Michael Kipnis (born April 3, 1987; nicknamed "Kip") is an American professional baseball second baseman who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs. He attended Glenbrook N ...

in center field. The 2008 ASU squad also featured current

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

pitcher

Mike Leake Michael Raymond Leake (born November 12, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Seattle Mariners, and Arizona Diamo ...

and former

pitcher

Josh Spence Joshua Patrick William Spence (born 22 January 1988) is an Australian former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. Career Spence enrolled at Central Arizona College, and played for th ...

. In 2006, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Falmouth Commodores The Falmouth Commodores are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Commodores play their home games at Arnie Alle ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star.

Professional career

Early career

The

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

selected Wallace in the 42nd round of the

2005 MLB Draft The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams. It is widely considered to be one of the bes ...

, but he did not sign with the team. After his collegiate career, he was picked by the

as their first round (13th overall) selection of the

2008 MLB draft The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008. First round selections ;Key Supplemental first rou ...

out of Arizona State University. After his performance at Single-A

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

, Wallace skipped High-A Palm Beach and was promoted immediately to the Double-A Springfield. He began 2009 playing for Springfield before being promoted to the Triple-A

Memphis Redbirds The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbir ...

. During his career in the minor leagues, Wallace split time between first base and

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. On July 24, 2009, Wallace was traded to the Oakland Athletics as part of a package for

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

Matt Holliday Matthew Thomas Holliday (born January 15, 1980) is an American professional baseball coach and former left fielder who is the bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB from 2004 to 2018 for the ...

. On December 15, 2009, Wallace was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays for Michael Taylor, who was obtained by the Blue Jays from the Philadelphia Phillies as part of a trade for Roy Halladay.

Houston Astros

On July 29, 2010, he was traded again, this time to the Houston Astros, in exchange for minor league outfielder

Anthony Gose Anthony Robert Gose (; born August 10, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher and outfielder in the Cleveland Guardians organization. Originally an outfielder, Gose transitioned from a center fielder to a pitcher, following the 2016 s ...

, who had just been obtained by the Astros from the Phillies as part of a trade for

Roy Oswalt Roy Edward Oswalt (; born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Oswalt played for the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Houston Astros. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Texa ...

. Wallace was sent to the Triple-A affiliate, the

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home games at the Dell Diamond. The team is named ...

, for one day and did not appear in a game before being called up by the Astros on July 31, 2010 after

Lance Berkman William Lance Berkman (born February 10, 1976), nicknamed "Fat Elvis" and "Big Puma", is an American baseball coach and former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman, who is the current head baseball coach of the Houston Christian H ...

was traded to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. Wallace made his MLB debut against the Milwaukee Brewers the same day, and went 0–4. On August 1, he got his first MLB career hit, a single, against Brewers' pitcher

Randy Wolf Randall Christopher Wolf (born August 22, 1976) nicknamed "Wolfie", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, ...

. On September 7 Wallace hit his first MLB career home run off Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Silva, tying the game. On August 1, 2011, Wallace was sent back to the Triple-A

Oklahoma City RedHawks Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

club. Wallace started the 2012 season with the RedHawks, and was recalled by Houston on June 3 when

Carlos Lee Carlos Noriel Lee (born June 20, 1976), nicknamed "El Caballo", is a Panamanian former professional baseball first baseman and left fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999–2012 with the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, ...

was placed on the disabled list. He returned to Oklahoma City on June 17 when Lee was re-activated. Wallace was recalled again on July 30 when Brian Bixler was optioned to Oklahoma City. Wallace began the 2013 season with the Astros. However, due to a slow start in which he batted .042 in 17 games, he was optioned to Oklahoma City on April 18. On June 25, he was called back up to start against the

. On February 6, 2014, the Astros designated Wallace for assignment to make room for Jerome Williams. He was released on March 12.

Return to the minors

Wallace signed a Minor League contract with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

on March 23. He played for the Triple-A

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

before being traded to the Blue Jays on July 14 for cash considerations. He was assigned to the Triple-A

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

of the International League. On August 24, 2014, Wallace clubbed a walk-off

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

in the 12th inning to cap a three home run, six RBI game, as the Bisons rallied for a 10–6 victory over visiting

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

. Wallace joined Fernando Martínez (2012) and

Marco Scutaro Marcos Scutaro, better known as Marco Scutaro, (; born October 30, 1975) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball infielder. He bats and throws right-handed. Scutaro made his major league debut with the New York Mets in 2002, and subsequentl ...

(1999) as the only Bisons to hit walk-off grand slams at Coca-Cola Field. It was also the sixth three-homer game in franchise history and the first since May 19, 2012, when

Vinny Rottino Vincent Antonio Rottino (born April 7, 1980) is an American former professional baseball utility player. He has played positions including catcher, first base, third base, and the outfield. He graduated from St. Catherine's High School in Racine ...

achieved the feat against the Indianapolis Indians.

San Diego Padres

On December 13, 2014, Wallace signed a minor-league contract including an invitation to major-league spring training with the

. On June 19, 2015, the Padres called Wallace up. He finished the season with a .302/.374/.521 slash line in 107 plate appearances for the Padres. The following off season, the Padres and Wallace avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1 million contract for 2016. Wallace was given the starting third base job when Yangervis Solarte was placed on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Wallace failed to repeat his 2015 production in 2016, finishing the season with a .189/.309/.318 slash line in 256 plate appearances. He was outrighted off the Padres' 40-man roster after the season. In December 2016, Wallace signed a new minor league contract with the Padres. On April 2, 2017, he was released. Wallace ended his career following the 2017 season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Brett 1986 births Living people All-American college baseball players Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Baseball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Baseball players from California Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players El Paso Chihuahuas players Falmouth Commodores players Houston Astros players Las Vegas 51s players Leones del Escogido players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Major League Baseball first basemen Memphis Redbirds players Norfolk Tides players Oklahoma City RedHawks players Pan American Games medalists in baseball Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States People from Sonoma, California Peoria Saguaros players Quad Cities River Bandits players Sacramento River Cats players San Diego Padres players Springfield Cardinals players United States national baseball team players Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games