Xavier Ladel Scruggs (born September 23, 1987) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

first baseman 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 major ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...

, and in the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are ...

for the NC Dinos.

Professional career

St. Louis Cardinals

Scruggs was drafted by the

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

in the 50th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft out of

Poway High School Poway High School is a four-year secondary school in southern California accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Established in 1961, its approximately 2,408 students are from the city of Poway and the community of Rancho ...

Poway, California Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...

, but did not sign and attended the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

(UNLV) to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision for college football) as a member of the Mountain West Co ...

. During his three years at UNLV he hit .328/.427/.652 with 34

home run 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 is ...

s and 112

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

. After his junior year, Scruggs was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 19th round of the 2008 Draft and signed with the Cardinals. Scruggs called up to the majors for the first time on September 4, 2014. He made his major league debut that day, but his major league action in 2014 was brief. He started the next season at Memphis. After batting .274 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 17 games in April, he was named the Cardinals' organizations Player of the Month. The Cardinals recalled him from Memphis on June 19,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. Four days later against the

, he provided three hits and two RBI, including a game-tying double, in an eventual 4–3 win. Another three-hit, two-RBI effort followed on June 27 in an 8–1 win over the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

Miami Marlins

On November 30, 2015, Scruggs signed a minor league deal with the

. He was called up from Triple-A to play first base for the Marlins on August 19, 2016, and hit his first career homer, a 2-run shot off Pirates pitcher Chad Kuhl, in a 3-1 Marlins win on August 20. On October 24, he was outrighted off of the team’s 40-man roster.

NC Dinos

Scruggs signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the NC Dinos of the

on December 26, 2016. He became a free agent following the 2018 season. In two years with the Dinos in the KBO, Scruggs hit 61 home runs and drove in 208 runs.

Leones de Yucatán

On June 17, 2019, Scruggs signed with the Leones de Yucatán 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 released on December 5, 2019.

Post-baseball career

In April 2021, Scruggs joined the St. Louis Cardinals baseball operations team as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant. Xavier Scruggs has covered MLB for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

since 2021. In April 2022, Scruggs was hired as an inaugural panelist for the MLB Network show '' Off Base''.

References

External links

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UNLV Rebels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scruggs, Xavier 1987 births Living people African-American baseball players Sportspeople from Diamond Bar, California Baseball players from Los Angeles County, California Major League Baseball first basemen ESPN people St. Louis Cardinals players Miami Marlins players NC Dinos players UNLV Rebels baseball players Batavia Muckdogs players Quad Cities River Bandits players Palm Beach Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Memphis Redbirds players Gigantes del Cibao players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic New Orleans Zephyrs players Leones de Yucatán players Águilas de Mexicali players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico American expatriate baseball players in South Korea KBO League infielders 21st-century African-American sportspeople Major League Baseball broadcasters 20th-century African-American people