Mark James Grudzielanek (; born June 30, 1970) is an American former

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 ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

and

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 ...

. Grudzielanek played for six different teams during his 15-season career. He batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

. He was most recently the 2019 manager of the

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field ...

, the Triple-A affiliate of the

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 ...

Early years

Grudzielanek attended J. M. Hanks High School in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, and was a letterman and an All-State selection 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 ...

and

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 ...

. His mother is of Galician descent and his father is of Polish descent.

Professional career

Montreal Expos

Grudzielanek was originally drafted by the

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 ...

in the 17th round of the 1989 MLB Draft but did not sign. He was then drafted in the 11th round of the 1991 MLB draft 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 ...

and signed on June 11, 1991. In 1994, with the Double-A

Harrisburg Senators The Harrisburg Senators are a Minor League Baseball team who play in the Eastern League, and are the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. The team is based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at FNB Field on Cit ...

he hit .322 in 122 games and was rewarded by being selected as a Double-A All-Star, Eastern League Most Valuable Player, and Expos Minor league player of the year. He made his Major League debut on April 28, 1995, with the Expos 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 ...

, striking out as a pinch hitter against Mike Walker. He made his first start (at second base) the following day but did not record his first major league hit (a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

) until May 4 against

relief pitcher Mike Remlinger. His first career home run came on May 16, 1995, against Kevin Jarvis of the

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 ...

. He appeared in 78 games that season, hitting .245. In 1996, Grudzielanek hit .306 in 153 games and was selected to appear in the 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game for his only appearance in the Mid-Summer Classic. In the All-Star game, he grounded out in his lone at-bat against Roberto Hernandez. In 1997, he led the majors with 54 doubles. He hit .281 in 492 games for the Expos over four seasons.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Grudzielanek was traded by the Expos to the

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

(along with Hiram Bocachica and Carlos Perez) for Jonathan Tucker, Peter Bergeron, Wilton Guerrero, and Ted Lilly on July 31, 1998. Primarily a shortstop through this point in his career, the Dodgers moved him to second base in 2000 to make room for Alex Cora to play shortstop. He spent five seasons with the Dodgers, playing in 605 games and hitting .284 with 38 home runs.

Chicago Cubs

On December 4, 2002, the Dodgers traded him (along with Eric Karros) to the

for Chad Hermansen and Todd Hundley. He spent the next two seasons in Chicago, hitting .312 in 202 games.

St. Louis Cardinals

After leaving the Cubs as a free agent after the 2004 season, Grudzielanek signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on January 6, 2005. He appeared in 137 games with the Cardinals, hitting for a .294 average. From the April 27 game against the Milwaukee Brewers until July 1, 2022, he was the only Cardinals player to have

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 ...

until Nolan Arenado achieved the feat on the latter date.

Kansas City Royals

Grudzielanek signed a contract on December 16, 2005, to be the second baseman for 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 won the

Gold Glove Award 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 (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

in for second basemen in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

. He played with the Royals for three seasons, appearing in 336 games, with a .300 batting average.

Minnesota Twins

He became a free agent after the 2008 season but did not sign with a team until the

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 ...

offered him a minor league contract on July 19, 2009. After only 11 games (three with the Gulf Coast Twins and eight with the New Britain Rock Cats), he was released on August 10.

Cleveland Indians

On January 12, 2010, he 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 ...

with a spring training invite. He was added to the Major League roster on April 3. He appeared in 30 games for the Indians, hitting .273 but also spending several weeks on the disabled list. His 30 hits were all singles; this was the highest hit total without an

extra-base hit In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any hit (baseball), base hit on which the batting (baseball), batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error (base ...

in a single season since 1938. On June 8, Grudzielanek was designated for assignment by the Indians to make room on the roster for Anderson Hernandez; he was released shortly after. Grudzielanek retired from professional baseball on February 23, 2011.

Career statistics

In 1,802 games over 15 seasons, Grudzielanek posted a .289

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 ...

(2,040-for-7,052) with 946 runs, 391 doubles, 36 triples, 90

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 ...

, 640 RBI, 133 stolen bases, 364 bases on balls, .332

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 ...

and .393

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. He finished his career with a .977

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

playing at second base, shortstop and third base. In 21 postseason games, he hit .188 (16-for-85) with eight runs and five RBI.

Coaching career

Grudzielanek was named the manager of the

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 ...

' Class A affiliate Kane County Cougars prior to the 2015 season. Following the 2015 season, where the Cougars won the Midwest League Western division with a 48–22 record (.686 winning percentage), Grudzielanek was promoted to the Diamondbacks Player Development staff, with a title of Assistant Coordinator. He was the manager of the