Christopher Jon Widger (born May 21, 1971) is an American 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 ...

coach and former

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

who is currently the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

for the

Sussex County Miners The Sussex County Miners are a professional baseball team based in Augusta, New Jersey. The Miners compete in the Frontier League (FL) as a member of the East Division in the Atlantic Conference. The team plays its home games at Skylands Stadium ...

of the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

. He played for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

(-, ),

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

(-2000),

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

(),

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

(),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

(-), and

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 ...

(2006). In January 2020, after a few seasons as a minor league bench coach, he was named the manager of the

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. Fra ...

, then promoted to similar positions with the Quad Cities River Bandits in 2021 and the

Northwest Arkansas Naturals The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale, Arkansas. The team is a member of the Texas League, and serves as the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. T ...

in 2022.

Early life

A native of

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, Widger graduated from Pennsville Memorial High School in Pennsville Township,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

. In 1991, 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

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League ...

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 ...

Career

A third round pick of the Seattle Mariners in the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft, Widger made his major league debut in June 1995. In his first start for Seattle, he was the catcher for a combined

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

Tim Belcher Timothy Wayne Belcher (born October 19, 1961) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1987 to 2000 for seven different teams. He was named ''The Sporting News'' Rookie Pitcher of the Year ...

and Bobby Ayala. Widger established himself as an everyday player during his tenure with the Expos, who acquired him from Seattle, along with

Matt Wagner Matt Wagner (born October 9, 1961) is an American comics artist and writer who is best known as the creator of the series ''Mage (comics), Mage'' and ''Grendel (comics), Grendel''. Early life, family and education Matt Wagner's childhood was spe ...

and Trey Moore in a trade for Jeff Fassero and Alex Pacheco. He had his best major league seasons with the Expos in 1998 and 1999, playing in 125 and 124 games, respectively, and hitting double-digit home runs in both seasons. In August 2000, he was traded back to Seattle for players to be named later. Widger missed the 2001 season due to shoulder surgery. His sister died that year from an interaction of her prescription medications. Widger and his wife built a new house so that Widger's brother-in-law and five nieces could move into Widger's old home. Widger signed with the Yankees in 2002, then with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003. After playing the 2004 season with the independent Camden Riversharks, Widger made it back to MLB with the Chicago White Sox as a backup where he won a World Series in 2005. He played catcher, but also played at

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

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 ...

, and once in 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 bat and ball games ...

. On July 23, 2006, he was placed on waivers by the White Sox, who had acquired Sandy Alomar Jr. to replace him as their backup catcher. On August 4, 2006, Widger was signed by the Orioles to a contract for the rest of the 2006 season. He served as the Camden Riversharks pitching coach from 2012 to 2014, before being named the team's manager on December 5, 2014. In 2016, he became the Bench Coach for the

, the Advanced-A affiliate of the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

. He was named Wilmington's manager in January 2020. In 2021, he was named the manager of the Quad Cities River Bandits (the new High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals). The River Bandits won the High-A Central League championship, and Widger was named the High-A Central Manager of the Year. In 2022, he managed the

(Double-A affiliate of the Royals). He parted ways with the Royals organization following the 2022 season. In November 2022, Widger was announced as new manager for the

of the independent

for the 2023 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widger, Chris 1971 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baltimore Orioles players Baseball coaches from Delaware Baseball players from Wilmington, Delaware Baseball players from Salem County, New Jersey Bellingham Mariners players Camden Riversharks players Chicago White Sox players Columbus Clippers players Cotuit Kettleers players Everett AquaSox players George Mason Patriots baseball players Jacksonville Suns players Major League Baseball catchers Memphis Redbirds players Minor league baseball coaches Minor league baseball managers Montreal Expos players New York Yankees players Pennsville Memorial High School alumni People from Pennsville Township, New Jersey Riverside Pilots players Seattle Mariners players St. Louis Cardinals players Tacoma Rainiers players