Cliff Pennington, Infield

Date of Birth: 6/15/1984
Birthplace: Corpus Christi, Texas
College: Texas A&M

Cliff Pennington, infielder, was first drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2005. He played in the Athletics' minor league system from 2005 through most of 2009, joining the Athletics for 36 games in 2008 and 60 games in 2009.

In 2010, his first full season in the major leagues, Pennington played in a career high 156 games with the Athletics. He batted .250 with 127 hits and career highs in doubles with 26 and stolen bases with 29. The following season was an even better one for him, with career highs in hits (136), doubles (26), and RBIs (58). He batted .264 in 148 games.

Pennington played in 125 games in 2012 and he batted just .215 with 90 hits and 18 doubles. After the season ended, in October, 2012, he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In January, 2013, he signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the team.

Pennington was just a part-time player with the Diamondbacks. In 2013, he batted .242 with 65 hits in 96 games and in 2014, he had 45 hits and a .254 batting average in just 68 games.

Pennington started his career as a shortstop but he was a utility infielder in 2013 and 2014. He played 74 games at shortstop, 47 games at second base, and 10 games at third base in those two seasons.

Pennington was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays on August 8, 2015. He finished the 2015 season with 44 hits and a .210 batting average in 72 games with the Diamondbacks and 33 games with the Blue Jays. Defensively, he played 33 games at second base, 18 games at third base, 29 games at shortstop, and 8 games in left field. In the postseason, he had just one at-bat in four games.

On November 17, 2015, Pennington signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels. He finished the 2016 season with a .209 batting average in 74 games with the Angels. Defensively, he played 3 games at first base, 58 games at second base, 1 game at third base, and 17 games at shortstop.

Pennington finished the 2017 season with 49 hits and a .253 batting average in 87 games. Defensively, he played 47 games at second base, 18 games at third base, and 18 games at shortstop.

Pennington became a free agent on November 2, 2017. He signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds on February 15, 2018. He was released on May 17th and a day later, he signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers. He spent most of the 2018 season in the minors, playing in just 16 games with the Reds and no games with the Rangers.

Pennington elected free agency on November 2, 2018. He signed a minor league contract with the Athletics on February 15, 2019, and he was released on March 31st. He signed a minor league contract with the New York Yankees on April 4th. After playing in just the minors in 2019, he was released on June 4th.

Pennington hasn't played professional baseball since 2019.

Career batting statistics for Pennington through 2018 include:

• 971 games played
• 678 hits
• 120 doubles
• 84 stolen bases
• 242 RBIs
• 619 strikeouts to 266 walks
• .242 batting average

Career fielding statistics for Pennington as a shortstop through 2018 include:

• 609 games played
• 1,663 assists
• 365 double plays
• 817 putouts
• 82 errors
• .968 fielding percentage

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Cliff Pennington
ESPN - Cliff Pennington