Craig Landis (born December 29, 1958) is an American sports agent and a former professional baseball player. As an agent, he specializes in baseball represents Los Angeles Angels outfielder

Mike Trout Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). Trout is a ten-time MLB All-Star, three-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) ...

Career

Athlete

An All-American in both football and baseball at Vintage High School in Napa, California, Landis was drafted 10th overall by the San Francisco Giants in the first round of the

1977 MLB Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1977 Major League Baseball draft. Other notable Selections ''*'' Did not sign Background The White Sox surprised some when they passed on right-handed pitcher Bill ...

. He went on to play six seasons of minor league baseball, reaching as high as Triple-A. After retiring from baseball, Landis accepted a football scholarship to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, where he played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and special teams.

Agent

Landis earned degrees in economics, and worked on Wall Street before returning to the sports world in 1991, when a friend asked him to represent a high school player in the MLB Draft. He went on to represent players including Paul Konerko,

J.J. Hardy James Jerry Hardy (born August 19, 1982) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, and Baltimore Orioles. Hardy attended Sabino High School in Tuc ...

J.J. Putz Joseph Jason Putz (; born February 22, 1977) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks. High school an ...

Randy Winn Dwight Randolph Winn (born June 9, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily as an outfielder. Winn was a switch hitter, and threw right-handed. He mad ...

and Aaron Rowand. , Mike Trout is his only client. In 2013, Landis expressed his frustration when the Angels renewed Trout's contract for just $510,000 in the wake of his AL Rookie of the Year and MVP runner-up season. Landis said: "Because Mike has less than three years of major league service and has not yet reached arbitration, the Angels have the right under the ollective bargaining agreementto unilaterally impose a salary upon Mike, and they chose to do that today...I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time. In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a 'fair' contract, and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process." Prior to the 2014 season, Landis negotiated a six-year, $144.5 million contract for Trout with the Angels. The deal angered some around baseball who felt that Trout could have signed for more money and worried his contract would suppress the market for players in the future. Landis said, "What Mike was trying to accomplish was some financial security, but also keeping the door open for whatever may happen down the road."

Personal life

Landis is the son of Jim Landis, a former All-Star with the Chicago White Sox and a five-time

Gold Glove The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in bo ...

winner.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landis, Craig American sports agents Living people 1958 births Great Falls Giants players Cedar Rapids Giants players Shreveport Captains players Phoenix Giants players Richmond Braves players Savannah Braves players Baseball players from California Stanford Cardinal football players