Xander Bogaerts

Xander Jan Bogaerts (born October 1, 1992; ) is an Aruban professional baseball shortstop and second baseman for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Boston Red Sox.

He represents the Netherlands national baseball team in international competition.

After being signed as an amateur free agent by the Red Sox in 2009, Bogaerts made his MLB debut in 2013, appearing in 30 games between the regular season and postseason, and helping the Red Sox to the World Series championship.

Bogaerts was noticed in 2009, at the age of 16, by Mike Lord, a scout for the Boston Red Sox.

After not playing baseball for two weeks due to the chicken pox, Bogaerts played for Lord, who recommended him to Craig Shipley, the Red Sox' vice president of international scouting.

Shipley flew to Aruba to watch Bogaerts play.

The Red Sox signed him to a contract with a $410,000 signing bonus.

Bogaerts made his professional debut in 2010 in the Dominican Summer League (DSL), where he had a .314 batting average, .396 on-base percentage, and .423 slugging percentage.

He led the DSL Red Sox in each of those categories, along with hits (75), home runs (3), runs batted in (RBIs; 42), and total bases (101).

He was fifth in the DSL in RBIs and tenth in total bases, and he had a .929 fielding percentage.

The next year, at age 18, Bogaerts played for the Greenville Drive of the Class A South Atlantic League, where he had a slash line of .260/.324/.509, fielded .924, and hit 16 home runs in 72 games.

During the 2012 season, Bogaerts started out in Class A and ended up playing with the Portland Sea Dogs of the Class AA Eastern League.

He was named to appear in the 2012 All-Star Futures Game.

Heading into the 2013 season, Bogaerts ranked sixth in the MLB.com Top 100 Prospects list, eighth in the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects list, and was ranked the fifth-best prospect by ESPN's Keith Law, who described him as "Still just 20 years old, Bogaerts has been playing solid shortstop for Portland with a solid walk rate but isn't yet generating the power expected from his explosive swing."

Bogaerts started the season with Portland and was promoted to the Pawtucket Red Sox of the Triple-A International League in mid-June.

The Red Sox promoted Bogaerts to the major leagues on August 19.

Bogaerts made his MLB debut on August 20 against the San Francisco Giants.

He got his first major league hit five days later against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On September 7, Bogaerts hit his first MLB home run against New York Yankees pitcher Jim Miller.

At the end of the 2013 Minor League season, Bogaerts gained USA Today Minor League Player of the Year honors and was named to the Baseball America Minor League All-Star Team.

During his brief stint in the majors in 2013, Bogaerts appeared in 18 games batting .250 with a home run, five RBIs, and a stolen base.

Despite debuting late in the season, Bogaerts was part of the 25-man active roster during the postseason run.

Bogaerts had a strong performance in the postseason as he batted .296 with two RBIs in 12 postseason games, eventually leading to the Red Sox winning their eighth World Series in franchise history.

He became the Red Sox' starting shortstop in 2014, and was awarded the American League's Silver Slugger Award at the position in back-to-back years, 2015 and 2016, and again in 2019 and 2021.

He has the most games played at the position of shortstop for the Red Sox, having set the record in 2022.

Bogaerts began the 2014 season as the starting shortstop for Boston.

On May 29, Bogaerts had his first walk-off plate appearance on a throwing error by Atlanta Braves third baseman Chris Johnson, allowing Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.. to score.

On June 2, the Red Sox re-signed Stephen Drew and Bogaerts was moved back to third base.

Bogaerts returned to shortstop once again when the Red Sox sent Drew to the rival New York Yankees at the trading deadline on July 31.

For the season, Bogaerts played 99 games at shortstop and 44 games at third base, while batting .240 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs.

In 2015, Bogaerts led the Red Sox with a career-high .320 average (along with seven home runs and 81 RBIs), finishing second only to Miguel Cabrera for the American League batting title.

From late July, Bogaerts began to bat second or third exclusively.

He had 10 hits with the bases loaded, the most in MLB for 2015.

He received the American League's Silver Slugger Award for shortstop.

On top of his breakout offense, Bogaerts was also a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award at shortstop.

In 2016, Bogaerts again began the season as the Red Sox' starting shortstop, primarily batting third.

Between May 6 and June 2, Bogaerts hit safely in 26 consecutive games.

His hitting streak came to an end in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on June 3.

He was chosen to play in the 2016 MLB All-Star Game, the first of his career; he started at shortstop and was 1-for-2 at the plate.