Paul Anthony Lo Duca...graduated from Apollo (AZ) High in Glendale...annually hosts
an instructional baseball camp in Arizona for 200 youngsters...father and brothers help with the camp, along
with high school baseball coach, Ray Alonzo, and Phoenix-area college coaches.
2009
Did not play professional baseball.
2008
Split the season between Washington
and Florida...began the season in the Nationals
organization and was with the club until he was
released on July 31...hit .230 (32-for-139) with no
homers and 12 RBI...missed time in April, May and
June with two stints on the 15-day DL (fractured
right hand)...after clearing waivers and becoming a
free agent on Aug. 5, he signed a deal with Florida
on Aug. 8 and was assigned to Albuquerque...the
Marlins purchased his contract from the minors on
Aug. 16, and he went on to hit .294 (10-for-34) with
3 RBI in his final 21 games...he drew 6 walks and
struck out twice in a Marlins uniform...logged 3
multi-hit games with Florida: 9/1 vs. Atlanta, 8/22 at
Arizona and 8/20 at San Francisco...all but one of
his defensive innings in Florida were as a catcher.
2007
In final season with NYM, hit .272 with 54 RBI...21 of 54 RBI came in September as NYM chased NL East crown...
the 21 September RBI led all MLB catchers...batted .341 when facing opposing lefthanders...tied for 4th in NL with
10 sacrifice flies...posted a career-high and team season-best 7 RBI on September 4th at CIN...was just the 3rd C in
NYM history to collect 7 RBI in a single game, joining Gary Carter (July 11, 1986 vs. ATL) and Todd Hundley (May 18,
1996 at SFG)...was placed on the 15-Day DL on August 12 with a right hamstring strain...led the NL in batting in May
(.393)...double off Barry Zito on May 30 vs. SFG was 1000th career hit.
Game-By-Game Highlights: Hit 2 homers, Sept. 4th at CIN...legged out 200th career double, May 23rd at ATL.
2006
Was sixth in the National League with a .318 batting average, and fourth with a .318 batting average on the road...In addition, he was the third hardest to strike out in the National League, fanning once every 14.5 plate appearances...Was second among catchers with 157 hits...Oakland's Jason Kendall was first with 163...Has collected the third most hits (816) by a catcher over the last six years (2001-2006)...Only Jason Kendall (986) and Ivan Rodriguez (851) have more...Over his last 13 games of the season, he was 21-52 (.404)...Had eight multi-hit games during that stretch (two, three-hit games and six, two-hit performances)...Hit safely in 25 of his last 30 games...Batted .344 (42-122) with 23 runs scored, 10 doubles, a triple, a home run and 12 RBI...Hit in 44 of his last 53 games...Was 72-213 (.338) with 37 runs, 16 doubles, a triple, two home runs and 17 RBI in that span...Compiled a 12-game batting streak from Aug. 19-Sept. 2...Batted .385 (20-52) during that period...Had the third-highest batting average in the National League in July (.410, 32-78), behind Scott Hatteberg (.425) and Chase Utley (.425)...Had a season-high four hits on July 29 at Atlanta and May 29 vs. Arizona...Registered an 11-game hitting streak, July 18-Aug. 2...Hit .429 (21-49) during that span...Was elected the starting catcher for the NL squad for the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh on July 11...He was 0-2 in the NL's 3-2 loss...Threw out 27 of 111 runners attempting to steal (24 percent)...Blasted a solo home run in the top of the ninth off Milwaukee's Derrick Turnbow to snap an 8-8 tie and lift New York to a 9-8 victory on May 13. ..Hit safely in 13 straight contests, May 9-May 29...Went 21-60 (.350) during that stretch with 10 runs scored, six doubles, a home run and six RBI...Cracked his first home run with the Mets, a solo shot in the sixth inning, on April 29 at Atlanta off John Thomson in a 1-0 win...Was the designated hitter on June 28 at Boston and June 30-July 1 at Yankee Stadium...Four of his five home runs either tied the game or gave the Mets the lead...Had surgery to repair a ligament tear in his left thumb on October 23, 2006...Dr.Andrew Weiland performed the procedure at The Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.
POSTSEASON: Collected at least one hit in eight of the Mets' 10 postseason games...Delivered a two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning of Game Six of the NLCS vs. St. Louis to give New York a 4-0 lead...Had an RBI single in the sixth inning to put the Mets ahead, 6-5, in Game Three of the NLDS at Los Angeles....Tagged out two Dodgers on the same play in the second inning of Game One of the NLDS at Shea...Los Angeles' Russ Martin singled to right; Shawn Green retrieved the ball and threw it to Jose Valentin, whose relay throw to Lo Duca nailed Jeff Kent at the plate...LoDuca then turned around and tagged out J.D. Drew trying to score.
2005
Has collected the third most hits (659) by a catcher over the last five years (2001-2005)...Only Jason Kendall (823) and Ivan Rodriguez (701) have more...Hit .314 (27-86) vs. lefthanded pitching...Batted .282 (37-131) with 50 RBI with runners in scoring position...Batted .328 (22-67) in April, .327 (33-101) in June, and .306 (26-85) in July...Recorded a season-high four hits on June 15th at Chicago, going 4-5 with three singles and a double...Made his third consecutive All-Star appearance on July 12th in Detroit...Went 0-2 in two plate appearances...Hit home runs in the first two games following the All-Star break, July 14th and July 15th at Philadelphia...It was the 10th time in
his career that he hit home runs in back-to-back games...Left the game on August 6th at Cincinnati with a strained right hamstring...Missed the next nine games from August 7th-August 14th...Constructed a 3.79 catcher's ERA in 1,033.1 innings defensively...Committed just eight errors in 886 total chances (.991 fielding percentage)...Threw out 24 of 113 base runners attempting to steal against him (21.2 percent).
2004
Played 143 games combined with the Marlins and Dodgers...Hit .286 with 29 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs, and 80 RBI...Acquired by the Marlins from the Dodgers on July 30th...Hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run on the first pitch in his first at-bat with the Marlins on July 31st vs. Montreal (off Rocky Biddle),
his first career pinch-hit home run...Joined the Mets' Kazuo Matsui and Baltimore's Javy Lopez as the only players to hit home
runs on the first pitch they saw with a new team in 2004...Recorded a season-best 11-game hitting streak from April 5th-April 17th...Hit .512 (22-43) during the streak...Had four hits in a game three times: April 7th vs. San Diego, April 17th at San Francisco, and May 29th vs. Arizona...Hit home runs in three straight games, June 2nd vs. Milwaukee, June 4th and June 5th at Arizona...Hit .462 (6-13) with a double,
three home runs, and seven RBI during those games...Cracked his first career grand slam on July 11th vs. Houston (off David Weathers)...Was first among National League catchers in RBI and fourth in batting average...Registered a 25.9 percent caught-stealing percentage (29-112).
2003
Had a career-high 25 game hitting streak from May 17th-June 18th...Reached base safely in 30 straight games from May 13th-June 20th...Ranked third among major league catchers in hits and doubles...Led National League catchers by throwing out 34.1 percent of
runners attempting to steal against him (43-126)...Hit his first career inside-the-park home run on June 8th vs. Chicago White Sox (off Esteban Loaiza)...Went 1-2 in the All-Star Game on July 15th at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field...Colleted his 500th career hit on September 13th vs. San Diego (off Jake Peavy).
2002
Recorded a career-high in doubles, to rank seventh on the Dodgers' single-season doubles list...Led major league catchers in hits, was third in total bases (233), fouth in RBI, and fifth in batting average...Connected for his first career triple on June 10th at Tampa Bay (off Jason Jimenez)...Slugged his first career walk-off home run in the 10th inning on September 28th vs. San Diego (off Jeremy Fikac) in the Dodgers'
1-0 victory.
2001
Established career highs in batting average, home runs, and RBI...His 30 strikeouts were the fewest by any player hitting at least 25 home runs since Yogi Berra hit 30 home runs and struck out 29
times in 1956...Played four different positions (catcher, first base, leftfield, and rightfield), and hit in six different spots in the batting order (first,
second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh)...Collected four lead-off home runs...Was placed on the 15-Day Disabled list on May 3rd (retroactive to April 29th) with a strained left hamstring and a strained left oblique
muscle...Activated on May 21st...Recorded a career-high six hits on May 28th vs. Colorado, becoming the first catcher to collect six hits in a game since Walker Cooper in 1949...Had his first career multiple-home run game on July 3rd vs.San Francisco (Livan Hernandez)...Also hit two home runs on October 2nd at San Diego...Hit clean-up for the first time in his career on August 16th vs. Montreal...Went 3-3 with a double, a walk, and a home run...Threw out 31 of 79 runners attempting to steal (39 percent), which ranked sixth in the National League.
2000
Began the season with Albuquerque (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League and was called up on June 2nd...Hit .346 (9-26) with two
home runs and five RBI in nine games with the Dodgers in June before being optioned back to Albuquerque on June 26th...Recalled for the second time on July 13th...Optioned to Albuquerque on July 27th...Threw out 47 percent of runners attempting to steal.
1999
Batted .232 with three home runs and 11 RBI in 36 games...started 28 games, including the final two of the season...made Opening Day roster after batting .325 (13-for-40) in Spring Training with two home runs and eight RBI in 21 games...became the first rookie catcher to begin a season with Los Angeles since Mike Piazza in 1993...was batting .056 (2-for- 36) when optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque on May 18...batted .368 (28- for-76) with the Dukes despite missing seven weeks after suffering a fractured right hand on June 2...recalled by the Dodgers on Aug. 3...hit his first career home run on Aug. 7 at New York, a solo shot in the eighth inning off lefty Al Leiter which sparked a come-from-behind victory at Shea Stadium...also homered on Aug. 25 at Milwaukee and Sept. 21 vs. San Francisco...batted .339 (20-for-59) after Aug. 3 recall from Albuquerque...stole home on Aug. 15 vs. Braves as part of a double-steal in a two-out, first-and-third situation...Eric Young stole second base ahead of him and he beat shortstop Jose Hernandez's return throw...became first Dodger catcher to attempt stealing home since Mike Scioscia, who was thrown out in 1981...other Dodger catchers to steal home (steals-attempts) since 1962 include John Roseboro (3- for-6) and Steve Yeager (1-for-3)...it was also first steal of home by a Dodger since Raul Mondesi on July 26, 1998 vs. Arizona...prior to the steal, Lo Duca was 0-for-1 in attempted steals in 24 Major League games...batted seasonhigh .400 (12-for-30) with two home runs and six RBI in August...threw out seven of 27 base runners (26 percent)... caught young Dodger pitchers in the Arizona Fall League during the offseason, his third time playing in the league.
1998
Had three stints during his rookie campaign with Los Angeles, batting .286 with a double and one RBI in six games...spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Albuquerque...appeared in four games behind the plate with the Dodgers, including two starts, and threw out two of the four baserunners who attempted to steal against him...when he was behind the plate, Dodger pitchers allowed only seven earned runs over 24.0 innings for a 2.63 ERA...was recalled from Albuquerque on June 19 when Charles Johnson missed two games to attend his grandfather's funeral in Florida...made his Major League debut on June 21 at Colorado and drove an RBI-single to center field off Rockies' left-hander Bobby Jones for his first big league hit in the eighth inning...was optioned back to Albuquerque the next day...was recalled July 2 and optioned back the following day, joining the Dodgers for only one game in Texas...returned to Los Angeles when the Major League rosters expanded on Sept. 1 and he appeared in five games, going 3-for-12 (.250) with a double in five games...at Albuquerque, batted .319 in 126 games with 30 doubles, three triples, eight home runs and 57 RBI...his .319 average ranked ninth among PCL leaders...saw action at three different positions with the Dukes, playing in 91 games at catcher, 21 games at first base and 13 games at third base...threw out 30 of the 81 baserunners who attempted to steal against him (37 percent)...was named to the PCL squad for the Triple-A All-Star Game in Norfolk, VA...started at catcher and went 0-for-2...after ending the 1997 season at Double-A San Antonio with a 15-game hitting streak, he opened the 1998 campaign by hitting safely in his first seven games with the Dukes...had a .408 batting average through May 2 after collecting a hit in 18 of his first 22 games.
1997
Batted .327 with seven home runs and 69 RBI in 105 games for Double-A Texas League champion San Antonio...finished fifth in the Texas League with a .399 on-base percentage, eighth in batting average and was the hardest batter to strike out in the league, striking out once every 16.4 atbats... led Texas League catchers in fielding percentage (.990) and assists (84)...named to the TL All- Star team...went 0-for-4 with one RBI in the Hall of Fame Game against San Diego on Aug. 4 in Cooperstown, NY...batted .363 with 35 runs scored, 14 doubles, 15 RBI and two stolen bases for the Arizona Fall League Champion Peoria managed by Mike Scioscia...was named the league's top catching prospect by coaches and managers.
1996
Batted .305 with three home runs and 66 RBI at Single-A Vero Beach...was named to the Florida State League All-Star Team after leading the league with a .400 on-base percentage...his .305 average was third best among Single-A catchers and fourth best among full-season minor league catchers...named Best Defensive Catcher in the Florida State League by Baseball America...earned second-team honors after batting .320 with one home run and 13 RBI for Sun Cities in the Arizona Fall League.
1995
Batted .246 with one home run and eight RBI in only 61 games at San Antonio.
1994
Had a .310 average with six home runs, 68 RBI and 32 doubles in 123 games at Single-A Bakersfield.
1993
Batted .313 with six doubles and 13 RBI in 39 games for Vero Beach in his first professional season.
