Damian Rolls

Single...Was originally the Dodgers' first round selection in the 1996 June Free Agent Draft.

2004

Rolls won the third base job in Spring Training but was quickly switched to his former role of utilityman. He spent a week at Triple-A Durham in May and was put on the DL later that month with a chest bruise after colliding with Jose Cruz Jr. chasing a popup in short right field. He returned July 2 but was with the Rays only two weeks before being sent back to Durham. He was recalled Aug. 1 and saw limited action with the team the rest of the season.

2003

Started 96 games: 3B (68 games), RF (23 games) and LF (5 games) ... Also appeared in two games at 2B ... Batted everywhere in the lineup except 3rd and 4th.

Made Rays' opening day roster and appeared in 15 games, 7 starts (all RF) before heading to the DL after suffering a fractured tip of his right thumb April 22 vs.TOR diving for a ball in the outfield ... reinstated May 27 and optioned to AAA Durham.

Recalled June 13 mainly to play 3B the rest of the season when 3Bs Jared Sandberg was optioned to Durham and Jeff Leifer was designated for assignment ... Rays had used 7 third basemen up to that point (64 games) ... Started 89 of the club's remaining 98 games, 68 at third base and batted .261 (89- 341) with 7 home runs and 44 RBI hiking his average from .219.

Made only 6 errors in 216 chances at 3B, a .972 fielding pct ... Among AL third baseman with 200 or more chances, only two had a higher fielding percentage: KC's Joe Randa (.980) and Minnesota's Corey Koskie (.973).

Batted 63 points higher with men on base (.290) than when they were empty (.227) ... Was also 5-for-11 with the bases loaded, tied with Texas' Rafael Palmeiro for 10th best in the AL.

Batted .330 (32-97) in 25 games between July 24 and Aug 19 ... Included in that stretch was a career-high 11-game hit streak July 26-Aug.6 ... Was hitting .278 on Aug 19 after back-to-back 3-hit games at Baltimore, but hit only .204 (23-113) in his final 33 games.

On June 23, became just the 11th player to hit 2 home runs in one game against Roger Clemens ... Rolls later doubled off Clemens and according to the Elias Sports Bureau became just the 3rd player to get 3 extra base hits off Clemens in the same game ... Rolls had only 2 career home runs in 392 career at-bats before that game and none in his previous 176 ... Drove in all 4 Rays runs in the Rays' 4-2 win over the Yankees ... Also tied Rays club record with 10 total bases.
Players with 2 HRs Vs. Roger Clemens, One Game
Robin Yount, June 2, 1984
Manny Ramirez, April 21, 1996
Eddie Murray, June 27, 1986
Ken Griffey, Jr, April 25, 1997
Carlton Fisk, August 26, 1987
Albert Belle, April 15, 1999
Fred McGriff, June 28, 1990
Jim Thome, June 2, 2001
Ivan Rodriguez, July 13, 1995
Josh Phelps, August 29, 2002
Damian Rolls, June 23, 2003
Players With 3 Extra Base Hits Vs. Clemens, One Game
Jim Thome, June 2, 2001
Damian Rolls, June 23, 2003
Edgar Martinez, August 18, 2002

2002

Outfielder was recalled Sep 3 from AAA Durham and started 21 of the Raysb final 25 games: 13 in RF, 4 in LF and 4 in CF.

Hit leadoff each game, hitting safely in 16 of the 21 (.330 OBP)...had 7 multi-hit games in his first 12 contests.

Had a career-high 8-game hit streak Sep 8-19 in which he hit .395 (15/38) with 6 multi-hit games hiking his avg. from .313 to .370.

Finished 6-for-35 (.171) following that hitting streak, dropping his avg. 78 points to .292.

First game Sep 3 vs.Anaheim he collected hits in his first 3 AB, including a pair of doubles.

Hit .266 (65/244) in 67 games at AAA with 6-2B, 4-3B, 6-HR, 35-RBI, 15-SB.

Played predominantly centerfield at Durham (43 games), but also saw action at left field, right field, third base and designated hitter.

Was Dlbd from May 30-Aug. 12 with a right thumb sprain he suffered sliding into second base on May 29 at Scranton Wilkes-Barre.

Had a season-best 10-game hit streak up to the injury...hit .359 (14-39) over the streak.

Hit .207 (17/82) in the seasonbs opening month, then hit at a .308 clip the rest of the way (48/156).

His third game since returning from the DL b Aug. 20 at Norfolk b went 4-for-5 in a 6-3 Bulls victory.

Hit .357 (15/42) with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.

Played winter ball for Santurce in Puerto Rico.

2001

In his first full major league season he hit .262 with 11 doubles, 2 HR, 12 RBI and 12 SB in 74 games...spent most of 2000 on the DL recovering from right shoulder surgery - played the last month of the season with the Rays.

Ranked 7th among AL rookies in hitting.

Started just 5 of the Rays´ first 38 games...went into starting lineup when Russ Johnson was DL´d May 16 and started 33 of the next 36 games (all at 2B), hitting .266 (34/128) over that stretch.

Started just 18 of the season´s final 88 games and went 21-for-85 (.247)...had only 85 AB over the final 100 days of the season.

Made his first major league start April 22 vs. BAL (2B) and went 1-for-4, collecting his first extra-base hit with a double in his first AB.

Made 57 starts: 39-2B, 1-3B, 4-LF, 13-CF...his last 17 starts came in the outfield, the first of his pro career...made his OF debut July 8 vs. FLA as a defensive replacement in CF.

Was hitting .304 (38/125) thru June 15, but batted .214 (24/112) the rest of the slate.

Had 9 multi-hit games in his first 18 starts thru May 29 and 7 the rest of the season.

Hit .325 in May (25/77), 2nd to Ichiro among AL rookies...had a career-best 7-game hit streak May 16-23 (.379, 11/29).

Avg. was above .300 everyday from May 16 to June 16 except one.

Collected a career-high 4 hits Aug. 13 vs. MIN, tying a club record (21st Ray to do it).

Belted his first ML HR May 22 vs. TEX (Brantley) in his 56th big league AB...hit HR #2 HR Aug. 24 vs. CWS (Buehrle) - went 154 AB in between homers.

His 12 SB tied Randy Winn for 2nd on the club to Jason Tyner´s 31...ranked T-5th among AL rookies...was only caught 4 times...began the season 8-for-8 until he was gunned down May 23 by TEX Pudge Rodriguez.

Finished 3rd on the club with 12 infield hits behind Tyner-35 and Randy Winn-13.

Broke up CWS Mark Buehrle´s no-hit bid Aug. 3 @ Comiskey in the 7th inning with a single.

Hit .310 (26/84) from the 7th inning on.

1999

Spent the entire season at Class A Vero Beach, his fourth season with the Dodgers' organization...Hit a career-best .297 while also establishing personal bests in runs (68), hits (141), doubles (26), home runs (9), RBI (54) and stolen bases (24)...His batting average tied for 10th best among all Single-A third basemen...Hit .386 (34/88) in the season's opening month with 10 doubles, three homers, 11 RBI and eight stolen bases...After going 0-for-4 on opening day, he ran off a hitting streak of 14 straight games, his season high (.448, 26/58)...Had another stretch from July 15-Aug. 5 in which he hit safely in 19 of 21 games (.365, 31/85), raising his average 16 points from .293 to .309...Average was under .300 only 24 days the entire season...Finished at .297 after going 18 for his final 81 at-bats (.222) from Aug. 10...Underwent off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.