Octavio Augie Ojeda (born December 20, 1974) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

, and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

Amateur career

A native of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, Ojeda attended

Cypress College Cypress College is a public community college in Cypress, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and belongs to the North Orange County Community College District. It offers a variety of general education (55 associat ...

and the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

. In 1994, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Bro ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Professional career

Baltimore Orioles

Ojeda was drafted in the 13th round of the 1996 MLB Draft by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

, but he did not play for the Orioles organization until 1997 due to his participation in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. He shot through the Orioles system in 1997, playing for the Single-A

Frederick Keys The Frederick Keys are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. The Keys are based in Frederick, Maryland. The franchise is named for the "Star-Spangled Banner" writer Francis Scott Key, a native of Frederick County. A new team ...

, Double-A

Bowie Baysox The Chesapeake Baysox are a Minor League Baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and play in the Eastern League. Their home ballpark is Prince George's Stadium. From 1993 to 2024, th ...

and Triple-A

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...

. In total, he had a .344

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and also showed good plate discipline with 57 walks compared to only 39

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

. In 1998, Ojeda played mostly for Double-A Bowie and his batting average slumped to .264, though he again showed good plate discipline, with 39 walks and 31 strikeouts. In 1999, he played 134 games for Bowie and 1 game for Rochester. He batted .267 and had a career-high 10

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 60

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

. On December 14, 1999, he was traded to the

for Richard Negrette.

Chicago Cubs

Ojeda batted .280 in 113 games for Triple-A

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. T ...

in 2000. He spent most of June in the majors, making his major league debut on June 4 and was also called up after rosters expanded in September, overall in the majors, Ojeda batted .221. He spent all of the 2001 season in the majors, where he only batted .201 in 144

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

. He began 2002 in the majors, but was sent down in June after only batting .186. He again found success in Triple-A, batting .299 and again walking more than he struck out. In 2003, Ojeda batted .251 in Triple-A and spent August and September with Chicago. On November 24, 2003, he was claimed off waivers by the

Minnesota Twins

The Twins released Ojeda on December 21, but re-signed him two days later. He spent the next two seasons with the Twins organization. In Triple-A in 2004, he batted just .245, but hit .339 in the majors from August to the end of the season. 2005 was the first time in five seasons he did not appear in the majors; he struggled in Triple-A with a .224 batting average. He became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

after the season.

Chicago Cubs

On January 3, 2006, Ojeda signed with the Cubs again. He was the starting

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for Iowa, but he hit just .248. He made his first pitching appearance in 2006, pitching 1 inning, giving up 1

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

and 1 walk, but not allowing a

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

. He was granted free agency at the end of the season.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On February 5, 2007, he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks and was a non-roster invitee for

Spring Training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, but started the season with Triple-A Tucson for his first season in Arizona's organization. Ojeda hit .323 with Tucson to earn a major league call up in June, where he spent the rest of the season. He batted .274 in the majors and also pitched 1 inning. On August 14, D-Backs starter Byung-hyun Kim got only 1 out with 17 pitches, and gave up 4 runs. With the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

weary, Ojeda had to make an emergency appearance on the mound. He pitched a perfect 8th inning becoming only the 3rd D-Backs position player to ever pitch in a game. Ojeda batted .286 in 21 postseason at-bats for the D-Backs in the NLDS and

NLCS The National League Championship Series (NLCS) is a Playoff format#Best-of-seven playoff, best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Major League Baseball po ...

, as the Rockies beat them in the NLCS. He started 2008 on the major league squad as a utility infielder.

Return to the Cubs

On January 27, 2011, Ojeda signed with the Cubs once again this time as a non-roster invitee to

. He played 18 games for the

, but after hitting just .200, he was released on July 9.

Personal life

He currently resides in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ojeda, Augie Living people 1974 births Major League Baseball infielders American baseball players of Mexican descent Frederick Keys players Bowie Baysox players Rochester Red Wings players Gulf Coast Orioles players Iowa Cubs players Chicago Cubs players Minnesota Twins players Tucson Sidewinders players Arizona Diamondbacks players Baseball players from Los Angeles Cypress Chargers baseball players Tennessee Volunteers baseball players Brewster Whitecaps players Baseball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in baseball 2009 World Baseball Classic players Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Baseball Classic players of Mexico