Frederick Deshaun Lewis (born December 9, 1980) 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 ...

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 catch ...

. 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

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

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

, and

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

, and in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) for the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

High school and college

Lewis graduated from Stone High School in

Wiggins, Mississippi Wiggins is a city in and the county seat of Stone County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area. The population was 4,272 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Wiggins is named after Wi ...

in 1999, where he was a three sport star in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and

. He went on to attend

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) is a Public college, public community college with its main campus in Perkinston, Mississippi. It was founded as Harrison County Agricultural High School in 1912. MGCCC has three campuses and sev ...

, where he played both football and baseball. After graduating in 2001, he was drafted in the 20th round (585th overall) by the

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 ...

, but opted not to sign, instead attending

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

to play baseball. While attending Southern University, Lewis flipped a truck he was driving on a rainy night, and three of the occupants in the car were killed.

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

Minor leagues

Lewis was drafted by the

in the second round (66th overall) of the

2002 Major League Baseball draft The 2002 Major League Baseball draft, was held on June 4 and 5. It is featured in Michael Lewis (author), Michael Lewis' 2003 book ''Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Moneyball''. First round selections Supplemental first r ...

, and was sent to the Low-A

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their ...

. While there, earned

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...

All-Star honors, leading the league with a .322

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 ...

, while finishing 5th for both hits (77) and

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

(.396). Lewis also was named co-Player of Month for July, along with Dan Ortmeier and Greg Bruso. Lewis spent all of 2003 with the

Hagerstown Suns The Hagerstown Suns were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland. They were a member of the South Atlantic League and, from 2007 through 2020, were the Class A (baseball), Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They pl ...

, where he finished the season second in the Giants organization with 30 stolen bases. He also led the team with 61 runs scored, while ranking 3rd in games (114) and doubles (17). Lewis finished the season with a .250 batting average, but as a result of leading the team in walks with 68, wound up with a .361 on-base percentage. Lewis starred on the

Norwich Navigators Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic River, Yantic, Shetucket River, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River f ...

, where it was customary for fans to shout his name while he was at bat, on deck, running in from the field or anywhere else in view. Lewis would choose the loudest fans to join him in Fred Lewis' Pancake Breakfasts. Fred Lewis 2009

Major leagues

Lewis was a September call-up in 2006, making his debut on September 1 at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

against 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 ...

; he had a base hit in each of his first three at bats. Lewis finished the year 5–11 with 2 RBI. Lewis made his first appearance on a Major League 25-man roster on May 6,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and

hit for the cycle 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 ...

on May 13, Mother's Day, in only his 16th game in the majors at

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. Lewis doubled leading off the game, then hit a three-run opposite-field home run in the fourth inning (both against Taylor Buchholz), followed by an RBI triple in the fifth (against Tom Martin) and a single leading off the seventh inning (against Denny Bautista). Lewis' cycle was the 22nd in Giants franchise history. Lewis is one of only a handful of Major League baseball players to hit his first homer as part of a cycle. On June 1, Lewis hit his first MLB grand slam against the

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

. About a month later, on July 4, Lewis hit another grand slam against the

, becoming the first player in San Francisco Giants history to hit two grand slams in his rookie season. On April 26, 2008, Lewis hit the 46th Splash Hit at

AT&T Park Oracle Park is a ballpark in the South of Market, San Francisco, SoMa district of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball (MLB). The stadium stands along San Francisco Bay ...

. On July 27, 2008, Lewis became the first left-handed batter to get four hits against

Randy Johnson Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed, "the Big Unit," is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle Mariners and Arizo ...

in a game. In the first at-bat in this game, a

fog horn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. ...

went off as Johnson was releasing his pitch, causing him to throw an eephus pitch which fell for a strike. Lewis led the majors in steals of home in 2008 with 2, but was also caught twice while attempting to steal home.

Toronto Blue Jays

On April 16, 2010, Lewis was traded to the

. Lewis had a somewhat successful stay with Toronto, batting first in the batting order on a regular basis with a .276 batting average. On December 3, 2010, the Blue Jays declined to tender a contract to Lewis prior to the non-tender deadline, thereby making him a free agent.

Cincinnati Reds

On January 10, 2011, it was announced that Lewis had signed a one-year, $900,000 contract with the

. In 81 appearances for the Reds, he batted .230/.321/.317 with three home runs, 19 RBI, and two stolen bases. On September 1, Lewis was removed from the 40-man roster and sent outright to the Triple-A

Louisville Bats The Louisville Bats are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and are named in dual reference to the bat, wi ...

. He elected free agency on October 27.

New York Mets

Lewis signed a minor league contract with the

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) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

on January 19, 2012, which included an invitation to the team's spring training camp. On April 2, Lewis was released by the Indians, prior to the start of the season. On April 25, 2012, Lewis signed a minor league contract with the

. On September 3, the Mets selected the contract of Lewis as rosters expanded. He posted a .150/.320/.150 in 25 plate appearances over 18 games. Lewis was then outrighted off of the 40-man roster on October 16, and opted to become a free agent.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

On November 9, 2012, Lewis signed a one-year, $400,000 deal with a club option for 2014 with the

. The deal included a $150,000 signing bonus.

Atlantic League

Lewis signed with the

Lancaster Barnstormers The Lancaster Stormers (formerly known as the Lancaster Barnstormers) is an American professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner l ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

for the 2014 season. He was later traded to the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseb ...

. Lewis signed with the

Southern Maryland Blue Crabs The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are an American professional baseball team based in Waldorf, Maryland. They are members of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent "partner league" of Major League Base ...

for the 2015 season. He re-signed with the team on April 8, 2016.

Personal life

Lewis was named after

Hurricane Frederic Hurricane Frederic, known in Latin America as Federico, was an intense and damaging tropical cyclone that carved a path of destruction from the Lesser Antilles to Quebec, in particular devastating areas of the United States Gulf Coast. Though ...

which hit his home state the year before he was born. He is a

second cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

of Matt Lawton. In November 2001, Lewis was driving a truck in a storm on U.S. Route 49 in Mississippi when it hydroplaned and crashed into a ditch. Three passengers, two of them Lewis' cousins, died in the accident. Lewis' son, Kaleb, was born in 2002 or 2003. He lived in

Chatham, New Jersey "The Chathams" (, ) is a term used in reference to shared services for two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States – Chatham Borough, New Jersey, Chatham and Chatham Township, New Jersey, Chatham Township. The two a ...

for a brief time before moving to Toronto. In 2019, Lewis opened a

daiquiri The daiquiri (; ) is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum, citrus juice (typically lime juice), and sugar or other sweetener. The daiquiri is one of the six basic drinks listed in David A. Embury's classic ''The Fine Art of Mixing Dri ...

shop in

Gulfport, Mississippi Gulfport ( ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States, and its co-county seat. It had a population of 72,926 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Mississippi, second-most populous ...

References

External links

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Fred 1980 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan San Francisco Giants players Toronto Blue Jays players Cincinnati Reds players New York Mets players Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Hattiesburg, Mississippi African-American baseball players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players Louisville Bats players Hagerstown Suns players Grand Canyon Rafters players Scottsdale Scorpions players Naranjeros de Hermosillo players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico San Jose Giants players Fresno Grizzlies players Norwich Navigators players Southern Jaguars baseball players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Lancaster Barnstormers players Bridgeport Bluefish players Southern Maryland Blue Crabs players Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs baseball players Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs football players

High school and college

Professional career

San Francisco Giants

Minor leagues

Major leagues

Toronto Blue Jays

Cincinnati Reds

New York Mets

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

Atlantic League

Personal life

See also

References

External links