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'Covelli Loyce "Coco" Crisp' (born November 1 1979 in Los Angeles, California) is a Major League Baseball center fielder for the Boston Red Sox. He has a career batting average of .280 as of the end of the 2006 MLB season. Crisp is noted as much for his humorous and unique name as for his baseball skills.

Contents

Baseball career

Cleveland Indians

Boston Red Sox

2007 Season

References

External links

Baseball career

Cleveland Indians

Coco Crisp was originally drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1999. On August 7, 2002, while playing at AA-level New Haven, Crisp was traded to Cleveland to complete an earlier trade for pitcher Chuck Finley.
Crisp became the starting center fielder with the Indians in mid-2002, replacing Milton Bradley. For the next few seasons, Crisp established a reputation as an excellent fielder and speedy baserunner. Despite his success, Crisp had to fight for his roster spot each spring. In 2005, Crisp moved to left field following the emergence of another young outfielder, Grady Sizemore. In his final two seasons with the Indians, Crisp showcased his offensive talent by batting .297 and .300 with 31 total home runs and 35 steals.

Boston Red Sox

After Johnny Damon, the 2005 center fielder for the Red Sox, signed with the New York Yankees, the Red Sox sought Crisp to fill Damon's vacated role. In January 2006, the Red Sox sent prospect third baseman Andy Marte, pitcher Guillermo Mota, catcher Kelly Shoppach, a player to be named later (Minor Leaguer Randy Newsom), and cash considerations to the Indians for Crisp and pitcher David Riske and catcher Josh Bard. Crisp, already a fan favorite in Cleveland, saw his national fame jump dramatically upon entering big-market Boston before playing a single game in a Red Sox uniform.
After a promising start to his Red Sox career, which included signing a 3-year contract extension worth $15.5 million, Crisp broke his left index finger attempting to steal third base and spent many weeks on the disabled list. After returning to the Red Sox outfield on May 28th, Kevin Youkilis had taken over the leadoff spot, and Crisp usually batted 7th or 8th in the line-up for the rest of the year. In 105 games, he had a .264 batting average with 8 home runs and 36 RBIs. Crisp's 2006 season may be best remembered for a fantastic defensive catch that likely saved a run against the New York Mets on June 29th.

2007 Season

Crisp began the 2007 season struggling offensively. On April 20, 2007, Crisp fell over a short wall at Fenway Park while trying to catch a home run by Alex Rodriguez. Although he was unable to make the catch, missing by inches, he hit a game tying triple off of Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the eighth. The Red Sox went on to win 7-6. During this season he has made numerous impressive catches in the outfield. It has even been claimed by one major league club that Crisp is easily the best defensive center fielder in all of Major League Baseball.^[1] Although he has struggled at the plate throughout much of the season, between June 13 and July 5, Crisp raised his batting average from .221 to .265, and after a 3 for 4 game on July 22nd he raised his average to a season high .277. On June 18th, entering the game with only two home runs, Crisp belted two homers in his first multi-HR game of his career in a 9-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
On August 5, Crisp was almost run over by the Seattle Mariners', mascot, the Moose. As Crisp was heading out to his position in the fifth inning of the rubber match of a series in Seattle, the Mariner Moose was driving fast along the track in front of the Red Sox' dugout. Crisp had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell was incensed by the mascot's actions and let his displeasure be known to both the mascot and the groundskeeper. After the game, the Red Sox received an apology for the incident.^[2]

References

1. projo.comCoco's fielding mighty Crisp, Sean McAdam, 6/27/2007
2. boston.comTheir only close call was a moose on the loose, Dan Shaughnessy, 8/6/2007

External links

★ Baseball Reference page