Chosen by the Rangers within the Seventeenth spherical of the 2007 draft, Moreland was within the huge leagues simply over three years later, making a powerful impression with a .255/.364/.469 slash and 9 homers in 173 plate appearances as a rookie. That sturdy exhibiting set the stage for a torrid postseason effort wherein a then 24-year-old Moreland batted .348/.400/.500 with a homer and 4 doubles, serving to Texas advance to the World Collection, the place they fell to the Giants in a 4-1 sequence loss.
From that time forth, Moreland was entrenched as a giant leaguer. He logged common time in every of the subsequent 11 seasons, serving as a slick-fielding, righty-mashing slugger in the course of the order for the Rangers, Purple Sox and — extra briefly — Padres and Athletics. Alongside the way in which, Moreland gained a Gold Glove for his work at first base with the Rangers and secured an All-Star nod with the Purple Sox, who signed him as a free agent previous to the 2017 season and twice re-signed him in free company — first for 2 years (2018-19) after which to a different one-year deal (2020).
The 2018 season was a giant one for Moreland not solely resulting from his All-Star choice but in addition from a giant image standpoint. Whereas Moreland’s Rangers fell shy in consecutive World Collection appearances in 2010-11, he reached the Fall Traditional for a 3rd time with the ’18 Purple Sox and this time captured the championship that had twice eluded him.
As with the 2010 Rangers, Moreland performed a giant function within the Purple Sox’ postseason success that 12 months, slashing .294/.368/.529 in 19 plate appearances. That included a pinch-hit, three-run bomb at Dodger Stadium within the seventh inning of Recreation 4 of the World Collection — a blast that jumpstarted a late-inning rally which noticed Boston rating 9 runs en path to a comeback victory.
The Purple Sox traded Moreland to the Padres for a pair of prospects throughout the shortened 2020 season. He scuffled via a small pattern of 73 plate appearances earlier than once more heating up within the postseason, the place he went 4-for-8 with a double. Moreland inked a one-year cope with Oakland that offseason however was restricted to 82 video games by ribcage and wrist accidents.
That proved to be the ultimate season of Moreland’s enjoying profession, and whereas it could not have ended with a flourish, it’s simple to look again and see a profitable profession — notably for a Seventeenth-round decide.
Moreland retires as a lifetime .251/.318/.446 hitter within the common season. He slugged 186 dwelling runs, 219 doubles and 9 triples alongside the way in which, whereas piling up 1,020 hits, 527 runs scored and 618 runs batted in. As beforehand talked about, he gained a Gold Glove and was named to the American League All-Star crew. Between his stable arbitration numbers and a quartet of free-agent contracts, Moreland made about $36M in wage over the course of his 12 seasons within the majors.
Whereas many gamers go nearly all of their profession with out sniffing the postseason, Moreland’s groups reached the playoffs in an unimaginable eight of his 12 huge league seasons. He added on one other 150 plate appearances over 52 postseason video games, batting .259/.329/.422 throughout that point.
