Christopher William Roberson (born August 23, 1979) is an American-born Mexican professional baseball outfielder for the

Acereros de Monclova The Acereros de Monclova (English: Monclova Steelers) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. Their home ballpark is Estadio de Béisbol Monclova, which has a capacity of 11,000 people. The Ace ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

. He was drafted by the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has been Citize ...

in the 9th round of the 2001 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Career

Roberson graduated from El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito in 1997, and attended both Contra Costa College and

Feather River College Feather River College (FRC) is a community college in Quincy, California. The school serves an annual full-time enrolled student body of approximately 1,500 students. History Feather River College was established in 1968 to support the need ...

. He was drafted by the

in the 9th round of the 2001 MLB June Amateur Draft.

Philadelphia Phillies

After graduating, Roberson played on the

Clearwater Threshers The Clearwater Threshers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Clearwater, Florida, and have played their home games at BayCare Ballpark since 20 ...

, a Phillies farm team, and had a twenty-three game hit streak. Playing for the

Reading Phillies Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...

, Roberson was named the 2005 Eastern League Rookie of the Year. After starting

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

Aaron Rowand crashed into the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

wall at

Citizens Bank Park Citizens Bank Park is a baseball stadium located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the city's South Philadelphia Sports Complex. It is the home playing field of the Philadelphia Phillies, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The st ...

on May 11, 2006, Roberson was called up to play the center field position, along with

Shane Victorino Shane Patrick Victorino (born November 30, 1980), nicknamed "The Flyin' Hawaiian", is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodger ...

. Roberson made his major league debut on May 12, 2006, against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Baltimore Orioles

Out of options, Roberson was traded to 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 ...

in January 2008 for cash. In February 2008, Roberson was assigned to the

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 ...

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...

. He became a free agent at the end of the season.

Arizona Diamondbacks

In January 2009, Roberson signed a minor league contract with the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. ...

. After spending the 2009 season with the Reno Aces, he was again granted free agency.

Sultanes de Monterrey

In 2010, he signed with

Sultanes de Monterrey The Sultanes de Monterrey ( en, Monterrey Sultans) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Monterrey, Mexico. They compete in the Northern Division. The team also joined the Mexican Pacific League for the 2019–20 season f ...

of the

. While in Mexico, Roberson has also played for

Liga Mexicana del Pacífico The Mexican Pacific League (), known as Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacífico for sponsorship reasons or simply LMP for its acronym in Spanish, is a professional baseball winter league based in Northern Mexico. The ten-team regular season schedule r ...

teams Naranjeros de Hermosillo and Águilas de Mexicali. He played for the club during the 2010 and 2011 campaigns.

Winnipeg Goldeyes

In 2012, he played for the

Winnipeg Goldeyes The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a minor-league baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Professional Baseball, which they joined in 2011. Previously, the Goldeyes were members of the Norther ...

in the American Association.

Sultanes de Monterrey (second stint)

Roberson joined the

of the

for part of the 2012 season. He played for the club in every season through 2019. He resigned with the club for the 2020 season, but did not play in a game due to the cancellation of the Mexican League season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Bravos de León

On February 2, 2021, Roberson was traded to the Bravos de León of the

. In 2021, he batted .289/.353/.493 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs in 51 games. In 2022, he started the season batting .363/.442/.611 with 6 home runs and 30 RBIs in 30 games.

Acereros de Monclova

On May 28, 2022, Roberson was traded to the

of the

in exchange for OF Alán García, and the rights to P Alejandro Chávez (for 2022 and 2023) and P Juan Pablo Téllez (for 2022).

International career

He was selected for the

Mexico national baseball team The Mexico national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de México'') is the baseball team that represents Mexico in international tournaments. It is currently the 4th-ranked baseball team in the world. Roster Results and fixtures ...

at the

2017 World Baseball Classic The 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, composed of 16 competing nations, held from March 6 to March 22, 2017. It was the fourth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. The first-round hosts ...

. On March 7, 2019, he was replaced by Jesús Fabela at the 2019 exhibition games against Japan.

Personal

After moving to Mexico, Roberson married Yaneth Hurtado, with whom he has two daughters and one son, and later became a citizen of the country.

References

External links

Mexican Baseball League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberson, Chris 1979 births Living people Acereros de Monclova players Águilas Cibaeñas players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Águilas de Mexicali players American emigrants to Mexico American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Oakland, California Batavia Muckdogs players Bravos de León players Clearwater Threshers players Feather River Golden Eagles baseball players Florida Complex League Phillies players Lakewood BlueClaws players Major League Baseball center fielders Mexican League baseball outfielders Mexican people of African-American descent Naranjeros de Hermosillo players Naturalized citizens of Mexico Norfolk Tides players Ottawa Lynx players Philadelphia Phillies players Reading Phillies players Reno Aces players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players Sultanes de Monterrey players Toros del Este players Winnipeg Goldeyes players 2017 World Baseball Classic players American expatriate baseball players in Nicaragua El Cerrito High School alumni