Chris Woodward: 2006 NL Eastern Champion Mets Utility Player (2005 - 2006)
In 1994, the scrappy player was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 54th round. He was primarily a short stop in the minor leagues thru five seasons. In 1992 at AAA Syracuse, he batted .292 for the Chiefs.
MLB Career: On June 7th, 1999, Woodward, got a call up making his MLB debut against the New York Mets in an 8-2 Mets win at Skydome. He collected a base hit & a sacrifice fly off Orel Hershiser, driving in both Blue Jays runs.
Woodward would spend six years in Toronto as a utility infielder & designated hitter. He was the
teams main short stop for parts of three seasons.
MLB Career: On June 7th, 1999, Woodward, got a call up making his MLB debut against the New York Mets in an 8-2 Mets win at Skydome. He collected a base hit & a sacrifice fly off Orel Hershiser, driving in both Blue Jays runs.
Woodward would spend six years in Toronto as a utility infielder & designated hitter. He was the
teams main short stop for parts of three seasons.
In 2002, he got into 90 games batting .276 with career highs in HRs (13) triples (4) & RBIs (45). On August 7th, he became the first Blue Jay short stop to hit three HRs in a game. Nine of his 13 HRs came at Skydome where he batted .289.
In 2003 he played in a career high 104 games enjoying career bests in hits (91) doubles (22) & walks (28) while batting .261. In the first week of May, Woodward had three multi-three hit games. He had eight multi-three hit games on the season.
TV Star: In 2004, Woodward made it to television, appearing in an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation.
In 2005 Woodward signed a two-year contract with the New York Mets.
Mets Career: In 2005 he would become manager Willie Randolph’s all-around guy, playing six different positions & play in 81 games.
Woodward debuted in the second game of the season as a defensive replacement for Doug Mientkiewicz. On April 14th, he played his first MLB game as an outfielder & collected his first Mets hit, a double in a 4-3 win over the Astros.
Woodward debuted in the second game of the season as a defensive replacement for Doug Mientkiewicz. On April 14th, he played his first MLB game as an outfielder & collected his first Mets hit, a double in a 4-3 win over the Astros.
April 13th, Chris became the 130th third baseman in Mets history, as he came on in the 11th inning, finishing off the game at the position in the 1-0 win over Houston.
On 23rd, he got a start at short stop & went 2-6 in a 10-5 win over the Nat's at Shea Stadium. In the 4th inning, Woodward drove in his first two Mets runs with a two-run single.
In May he played in nine games, had a five-game hit streak & hit two HRs.
On May 18th, Woodward hit his first Mets HR, a two-run shot off the Reds Eric Milton in a 10-6 win. On May 23rd, he homered again in a loss at Atlanta.
In his first 16 games where got the start, Chris hit safely in 15 of those 16 games. From June 17th to July 3rd, he had a season best nine game hitting streak where he batted .414.
Game Winning Hit: On July 1st, Woodward delivered an 8th inning, RBI single off the Marlins Jim Mecir breaking a 6-6 tie. It was the games winning run in the 7-6 Met win.
On August 4th, Woodward had a season high multi-three hit game, including his ninth double of the year in a loss to Milwaukee at Shea Stadium.
Walk Off Hit: On August 20th, Woodward came off the bench as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 10th inning of tie game with the Nationals. With two on & one out he delivered another game winning hit, scoring Gerald Williams with a walk off single off Gary Majewski.
Overall, Woodward hit a career high .283 (going 49-173). At Shea Stadium he batted .316 (30-95). He also batted .312 against right-handed pitchers, hitting two of his three HRs. On the year he also collected ten doubles with 18 RBIs, 16 runs scored, a .337 on base % & .730 OPS. Chris played 34 games at first base, 24 games in the outfield, seven games at short, six games at third, & five games at first base.
2006 Mets NL Eastern Champion Season: In 2006 Woodward returned in a utility role for an improved team. He would play in 83 games overall, 38 games at second base, 13 games at short, 10 games at third base & 9 games in the outfield.
Multi-RBI Game: On April 13th, in a 13-4 win at Washington, Woodward got the start at second base then moved over to first base later in the game. He collected two hits & drove in season high three runs.
Walk Off Hit: On June 3rd, Woodward got the start in right field in a game at Shea with the Giants. In the bottom of the 11th inning with the score tied at 2-2 & the bases loaded, he hit a sac fly off Jonathan Sanchez bringing in Lastings Milledge with the games winning run. It was his third Mets Walk off hit.
win in the third game. Chris got his average up to .300 but then collected just two hits in his next 25 at bats as his average fell to .233.
In July Woodward, hit two HRs, had a four-game hit streak & two multi-hit games. But overall, he was struggling at the plate both as a pinch hitter as well as in a starting role. The good-natured positive Woodward kept his sense of humor throughout the slump.
On August 26th he drove in two runs in a 11-5 win over the Phillies & had another multi-RBI game on September 6th, in the night cap of a double header, where Oliver Perez threw a complete game five hit shut out over Atlanta at Shea Stadium.
He posted a .289 on base 5 & .600 OPS. He had ten multi-hit games on the year, collecting two hits in each game.
2006 Post Season: In Game #3 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium, Woodward led off the 8th inning with a pinch-hit double off Brett Tomko. He advanced & then scored on Paul LoDuca's sac fly in the Mets 9-5 victory. The Mets swept the series & advanced to the NLCS. Woodward did not play in the NLCS loss to St. Louis
After the season he was granted free agency & signed with the rival Atlanta Braves.
Post Mets Career: In Atlanta he played in over 90 games at four different positions. but hit just .199, the worst in the major leagues for any regular starting player. He collected 39 pinch hits on the season & had five multi- hit games.
In 2008 he played for three organizations at the minor league level, the AL. New York team, Phillies & Brewers. In 2009 he returned to the majors playing 29 games with the Seatle Mariners. In August he was placed on waivers & picked up by the Red Sox where he appeared in 13 games hitting .083.
In 2010 he was back in Seattle playing the majority of the season at AAA Tacoma batting .232 getting a call up for eight games with the Mariners batting .158. In 2011 he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays playing in just 11 games.
In 2010 he was back in Seattle playing the majority of the season at AAA Tacoma batting .232 getting a call up for eight games with the Mariners batting .158. In 2011 he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays playing in just 11 games.
Career Stats: In his 12-year career Woodward batted .239 with 408 hits 87 doubles 14 triples 33 HRs 191 RBIs & 211 runs scored. He struck out 400 times, walked 137 times with a .296 on base % & .661 OPS.
job as a coach in the Seattle Mariners organization. In 2015 he got to the big-league level as a Mariners infield coach. In 2016 he opted not to return in 2016.
WBC: Woodward managed New Zealand in the World Baseball Classic qualifier in 2016.
In 2016, Woodward became a third base coach for the Dodgers under manager Dave Roberts. In 2017 he got to his first World Series as their coach.
Rangers Manager: Woodward became manager of the Texas Rangers from 2019 to August 2022 when he was let go. He posted four losing seasons as Texas' manager going 211-287 with a .424 winning %.In 2023 he returned to the Dodgers as a front office special assistant & roving infield instructor.
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