[69] On November 1, Molina won his fourth consecutive Gold Glove Award,[80] becoming just the fifth catcher on a pennant-winning club to lead his position in OPS+ in his league while winning a Gold Glove. [13][40] In the third inning of the May 29 game against Colorado, he took a foul tip off his wrist from Rockies right fielder Brad Hawpe's bat. Yadier Molina stood a few feet away, beaming. His 20 hits were the most by a catcher in the postseason since Ivn Rodrguez stroked 21 in 2003. In the mound appearance, Molina collected his first career pitching strikeout, punching out Rays infielder Isaac Paredes. Puerto Rico dropped its first three games to the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and South Korea, preventing it from moving on in the tournament. [85] He collected his tenth career four-hit game against the Brewers on April 29 with a two-run home run that led the Cardinals to a 73 win. [206] On June 8, Molina came in to pitch again in the eighth inning of an 11-3 loss against the Tampa Bay Rays. Adam Wainwright, left, and Yadier Molina sat down with reporter Katie Woo of The Athletic to rewatch their first game as starters on April 6, 2007. This also proved to be the deciding hit in this game, as the Cardinals held up to win, 85. We do put them in Yadi's hands. Widely considered one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time for both his blocking ability and his caught-stealing percentage, Molina won nine Rawlings Gold Gloves and six Fielding Bible Awards. [215], In a 2013 semifinal game against Japan, Molina alertly took advantage of a baserunning mistake to record an unusual putout. However, Molina managed the team to four more victories in the group stage and consolation round. St. Louis Cardinals' Yadier Molina reacts after Texas Rangers' David Murphy flies out to end Game 7 of baseball's World Series Friday, Oct. 28, 2011, in St. Louis. [89][90] On September 4, Molina collected his 1,000th career hit, an infield single against the Mets at home in the second inning. His batting average led the Cardinals and was eighth in the NL. This time, however, Molina hit a two-run home run off Aaron Heilman over left field that was too high for Chvez to catch and gave the Cardinals a 31 edge. "[6] In 2013, a scout pronounced Molina the "one piece the St. Louis Cardinals cannot lose" while another commented that he is "irreplaceable. It was also the first game of the first of two 13-game hitting streaks for the season. [152] He was winner of the Darryl Kile Good Guy Award. [c][115][116], The Cardinals squared off against the Pirates in the NLDS. From July 2225, he homered in three consecutive games, the second time in his career he had done so. 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On September 4, 2008, they had a son; on July 4, 2010, a daughter; and on February 6, 2016, another son. On December 4, he won his first GIBBY Award for Defensive Player of the Year. [63] After the All-Star break, his hitting improved, as he stroked 63 hits in 200 at bats for .315 batting average. Molina was among the best in the game at throwing out base runners with pickoffs and during steal attempts. That's what happens when you're caught up in the race and trying to win. Currently he sits at 209 on the all time list from B-Ref at 40.43%. His 32 baserunners caught stealing topped MLB, 47.9 caught stealing percentage ranked second, and three pickoffs tied for first in the NL and were second in MLB. He was named the catcher of 2017 All-World Baseball Classic team, his second All-WBC honor. What are Yadier Molina's tattoos? [131] However, he still had not fully recovered, as he batted .250 in September with a pronounced drop in power production. [192] He was the second-oldest player in the NL, and had the slowest sprint speed of all major league catchers, at 23.0 feet per second. [176] Molina homered twice in a loss to Philadelphia on June 20 for his fifth career multihomer game. In combination with an improved ability to pull the ball and hit it up the middle, he improved his batting average, batting .293 or higher in five of his last six seasons. He's a quick study. Developed by the organization that awards. The only thing you have to think about is making the pitch, because you know Yadi's going to catch whatever you throw. A 454 play is a scenario involving the second baseman and third baseman. He hit into 27 double plays in 2009, but in 2012 reduced that figure to 10. [132] His 110 appearances were his fewest since his rookie season in 2004. However, he sustained his second significant injury of the season in that same game, straining his left abdominal oblique muscle during another at bat,[135] due in part to compensation in his swing for lost power following his thumb injury earlier in the season. Molina made a strong case to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the entire tournament, batting .333 with two home runs and a .583 slugging percentage in six games. [57] He finished the season with a .293 batting average, six home runs, 54 RBIs, and a major league-leading 136 games caught, the highest franchise total since Ted Simmons' total in 1977. [30] Combined with his ability to put the bat on the ball quite frequently (87%) and his improved approach at the plate, he increased his career-high single-season batting average five times between 2006 and 2013. Further, wOBA finds that OBP is 1.8 times more valuable than slugging percentage. [178], Batting .279 with 13 home runs, Molina was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game to replace the injured Buster Posey. As Molina recalled, he left the session with the impression that Cincinnati intended to draft him. [169] As batterymates, Wainwright and Molina had accumulated more starts together than any other in franchise history. It's a career that includes 10 All-Star Games, nine Gold Gloves, four Platinum Gloves, two World Series titles and plenty of adulation from the St. Louis area and beyond. On August 9 against the Kansas City Royals, Molina came in with two outs and the bases loaded. He also led all NL catchers with 12 three-hit games, and collated 39 multi-hit games and 13 multi-RBI games. [209][210], Four World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournaments have been held 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2017 and Molina has participated in all of them for the Puerto Rican team.
[43], Before the 2009 season commenced, Molina participated with Puerto Rico in his second WBC. During Spring Training before the 2017 season, and the final guaranteed year on Molina's contract, the Cardinals began to negotiate an extension to keep Molina in St. Louis for the remainder of his career. [216], Puerto Rico advanced the finals again in 2017, falling to the United States 80 in earning their second consecutive silver medal, and only loss of the tournament. Capped by Molina's three-run home run, the Cardinals rallied and won 54 in the ninth. [212], On September 10, 2018, he was selected to be part of the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series as a member of the MLB All-Stars team. [4] Of a total of nineteen trios of brothers who have played in the Major Leagues including the DiMaggios and the Cruzes only one other trio of brothers has all appeared in a World Series: Matty, Flipe and Jess Alou.
[1] Other distinctions include selection to ten MLB All-Star Games, four Platinum Glove Awards, and one Silver Slugger Award. Second baseman Neil Walker caught his line drive with two runners on, then threw to third baseman Jung-ho Kang to double up Jhonny Peralta for the second out. Molina collected two doubles in a three-hit game on June 12, giving him 21 doubles for the season, a pre-All-Star break career high.
MLB fined Molina $5,000 without suspending him. The next day, on May 6, Molina underwent emergency surgery for a pelvic injury with traumatic hematoma. [1][105][106], Molina was also noted for his handling of the pitching staff. Further, those figures aligned with peak seasons of other catchers such as Johnny Bench, Elston Howard, Carlton Fisk, and Rick Wilkins. [39], The first multi-error game of Molina's career occurred July 13 against the Philadelphia Phillies on a catch and throw. Through 2012, he swung at more than 51% percent of the pitches he saw he has a reputation for swinging at pitches in and out of the strike zone, low and away and even in toward his hands. [54] On August 15, Molina picked off San Diego's Kevin Kouzmanoff at first on the way to a 74 victory, the 33rd of his career. [161] His hit total was also a career-high, leading the club,[162] and he was eighth in the league in batting and ninth in doubles. [83][84] The deal made him the second-highest-paid catcher in the majors. [184] He was placed on the injured list on May 31 with a thumb tendon strain. From May 15 to 18, he put together four consecutive multi-hit games. [208], In 2022 he batted .214/.233/.302 in 262 at bats, and was the slowest player in major league baseball, with a sprint speed of 21.8 feet per second. Since 1957, only Mike LaValliere's 1993 figure of 72.7% was higher. Cast a ballot for change. Ricketts had a reputation for becoming upset when minor league catchers allowed balls to bounce between their legs; for this, he removed Molina from the game and drove him to the batting cage. [17] Three weeks later, on August 29, the Cardinals were victorious over the Pittsburgh Pirates 64 thanks in part to two separate plays in which Molina tagged out the runner at home plate, including a collision with Ty Wigginton. [172] Molina doubled versus Cincinnati on April 22 to give him 338 for his career and tie Ozzie Smith for tenth place in Cardinals' history. [1][226] Fangraphs tallied his career DRS at 106, with a career-high of 20 in 2010. [227] The sabermetric stat defensive wins above replacement (DWAR) has also ranked Molina's defense highly; he has never had a full season with a negative DWAR, and he had a career-high 2.9 DWAR in 2010. [58] For the first time in his career, Molina earned Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) consideration. Molina ranked second all-time among catchers at the end of the 2014 season on Baseball-Reference.com's career defensive runs saved (DRS)[e] with 120, behind only Ivn Rodrguez (167), and ahead of Jim Sundberg (114), Bob Boone (107) and Gary Carter (106), the only catchers with over 100 on the list. [101] At the time he went on the DL, Molina was batting .330 with eight homers, thirty doubles, and 54 RBIs.
He has three tattoos. This distinction of having Molina retire as a Cardinal is something that carried weight for both parties throughout the negotiations. [246] Molina also owned a home in Jupiter, Florida, the home of the Cardinals spring training facilities, but sold it in 2020. What do they mean? [31] Molina threw from behind left-handed batters to obfuscate the runner's view of his motion to first base. On Opening Day 2019, versus the Brewers, Molina extended his team-record for Opening Day starts with 15. Yadier Molina is 40 years old. When was Yadier Molina born? Yadier Molina was born on July 13, 1982. Where was Yadier Molina born? Yadier Molina was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. How tall is Yadier Molina? Yadier Molina is 5-11 (180 cm) tall. How much does Yadier Molina weigh? Yadier Molina weighs 225 lbs (102 kg). A fidgeter with his batting stance early in his career, Molina mimicked and vacillated between more accomplished hitters such as Andrs Galarraga and Albert Pujols. He also hit .373 with runners in scoring position (RISP) in a season in which the Cardinals set the all-team team record for batting average with RISP at .330. Although described as "raw", the young catcher purposed with fascination to emulate Matheny. [74] Meanwhile, the Philles defeated the Braves 43 in 13 innings, giving the Cardinals the wild card title and eliminating the Braves from the playoffs. [133], During Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers, Wainwright hit Adrin Gonzlez with a pitch, and both benches cleared. [69] In Game 1 of the World Series against the Texas Rangers, Molina threw out Ian Kinsler attempting to steal in the first inning on the way to a 32 win. I just want to figure out how many batters Yadier Molina would have to throw out to reach number one in caught stealing percentage. Molina hit safety in 14 consecutive games from July 21 to August 11, one fewer than his career high. [203] He was nominated for a Gold Glove, making him one of six Cardinals to be nominated which led the major leagues. [197] However, his participation was shadowed by the poor performance of the team,[198] resulting in a sweeping 4-0 series with the Indios de Mayagez. When he retired after the 2022 season, Molina ranked first all-time among catchers in putouts and second all-time among catchers with 130 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS); among active players, he ranked first with 845 assists, 40.21% of runners caught stealing, and 55 pickoffs. [250][251] Molina's charitable organization, named Foundation 4, has helped to raise donations for childhood cancer patients in Puerto Rico. He has three tattoos. Defensively, he registered career-highs of nine pickoffs and a caught-stealing percentage of 64 from throwing out 25 of 39 would-be base-stealers. His .281 batting average after the All-Star break ranked fifth among NL catchers. [205] On May 22, Molina made his first career pitching performance as he closed an 184 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. On September 24, against the Milwaukee Brewers, he singled to right-center field for his 2,000th career hit. [164] He homered, making him the oldest catcher to hit a homer in an All-Star Game, in his age-34 season, and the first Cardinal to homer in an All-Star Game since Reggie Smith in 1974.[165]. [253], Molina's two older brothers, Bengie and Jos Molina, played a combined 28 seasons in the major leagues. [163], On June 26, Molina became the ninth catcher all-time to record 11,000 career putouts at the position. Yadier is a Hebrew name meaning Mutilates his own neck. Molina is generally regarded as the best defensive catcher in baseball, although it is unclear [222], The winner of eight consecutive Gold Gloves,[223] Molina has been widely praised for his preparation, defense and leadership, not just of the pitching staff, but also of the entire team, even from Johnny Bench. [124], Some, including Matheny, took the message literally. [14], Panning Molina's performance National League-wide, he ranked fourth in batting average,[1] tenth in on-base percentage, 14th in slugging percentage and tied for 18th with 46 multihit games. [217] In the semifinal game against the Netherlands, he picked two runners off base in one inning. [181] He won his ninth Gold Glove.[182]. [141], On July 7, he was selected to his seventh consecutive All-Star Game, played at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. His 44 doubles were the most in the Major Leagues among catchers since Ivn Rodrguez' 47 in 1996. However, he did win the prestigious and oldest award given to Latino players: the LatinoMVP award given by Latino Sports and the Latino Sports Writers & Broadcasters Association (LSWBA). Molina said the opportunity could open the door to managing a team in MLB, saying that Navegantes was "something different, and Id like to try it early and see how it goes.
[20] The following offseason, Matheny signed a three-year, $10.5-million contract with the San Francisco Giants, clearing the way for Molina to become the Cardinals' starting catcher. A continuously evolving core exceeded expectations by filling in for 52 games started, 36 wins, and five saves and Molina was credited with their success in a large part due to his pitch-calling skills and aptness to guide. Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina, who made their first start together in April 2007, made their 325th start together Wednesday to set a major league record. Web955K Followers, 1,335 Following, 2,961 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from (@yadier_marciano_molina) [155] While playing the Washington Nationals in the seventh inning of a 21 loss at Nationals Park on May 26, Stephen Drew hit a high infield fly that stayed over the pitcher's mound. [13] His strikeout rate of once every 13.9 PA was the second-lowest in the NL. Molina hit a single with two outs in the ninth inning in his last at-bat, with the sellout crowd of 48,515 serenading him with a standing ovation. Mainly a singles hitter who favored hitting the ball the other way, he batted .278 with 14 home runs and 133 runs batted in (RBIs) with 118 strikeouts in 1,044 at-bats in four minor league seasons. His 1,343 games started since the beginning of the 2005 season was the highest total in the major leagues. He led the major leagues with eight pickoffs and was second in the NL in innings caught. Molina prepared for the Classic by playing 14 games for the winter league team in Puerto Rico Rodrguez managed.
wOBA is based on the philosophy Tango developed that not all outcomes are proportionally weighted. [62], Before the All-Star break, Molina batted just .223. He doubled and scored on David Eckstein's go-ahead single on his way to three hits in a June 12 defeat of the New York Yankees, 53. [219], Molina's first experience managing was with Puerto Rico's U-23 baseball team, in both the qualifiers for and actual tournament of the 2018 U-23 Baseball World Cup. It was a culmination of a decline over his first three seasons; Molina's on-base plus slugging percentages (OPS) registered at .684 in 2004, .654 in 2005 and .595 in 2006. Still hoping to prevent the runner from scoring, he instead found Ricketts in the golf cart parked on top of home plate. The weight of each outcome also varies from season to season. [67] Nine days later, he was awarded his third consecutive Gold Glove Award. Yadier Molina has been the Cardinals' opening-day catcher since the 2005 Major League Baseball season. [2][3], Each day when he completed work, Molina's father went directly home, ate dinner with his family, and crossed the street from his family's home with his sons and his sons friend Carlos Diaz to Jess Mambe Kuilan Park, spending countless evening hours teaching them the fundamentals of the sport. After drawing a 10 count against Peter Moylan, a brief delay occurred when a stray kitten had made its way onto the outfield. Molina provided a spark to the offense in the close of the season, batting .342 in August and .341 in September. Molina called for a mound conference. Molina's father played second base as an amateur and worked as a tools technician 10 hours per day in a Westinghouse factory. Albert Pujols, who made his Cardinals debut in 2001, and Yadier Molina, who was called up in 2004, are heading into retirement after leading St. Louis to the playoffs one last time.
[104], For the year, Molina set new career highs in batting average (.319), doubles (44), runs scored (68), and RBIs (80). On the play, the center fielder, Mike Cameron started towards the outfield wall based on Molina's full swing, not immediately realizing that he had made only partial contact because of the broken bat. [31] For the season, he caught 41% of all base-stealing attempts and picked off seven runners. His line-drive pull percentage of 200911 increased by about 6% in 201213; BABIP increased from .280 in 200510 to .327 in 201113 and pull weighted on-base average (wOBA)[f] has increased from .290 in 2009 to over .520 in 2013. He was back in action on October 1 against Cincinnati, although he was removed from that game due to a "tweaked" knee. "[11] When the club did lose Molina midway through the 2014 season to a thumb injury, ESPN's Keith Law tweeted, "Yadier Molina missing two-plus months would be bad for the Cardinals, but also just bad for baseball, period." [69] With his 30th double on September 21, he became the fourth catcher in Cardinals history to reach that milestone, following Simmons, Bob O'Farrell and Walker Cooper.[73]. ', "St. Louis Cardinals: Yadier Molina to play 2,000th game Wednesday", "Molina returning for 19th season with Cardinals", "In good hands: Cardinals lead majors with six fielders named finalists for Gold Glove awards", "Waino, Yadi set wins record as Cards erupt", "Yadi follows Pujols' lead, takes the mound", "Yadi, strikeout pitcher: Catcher nets 1st K", "Time-tested Waino-Yadi battery sets record that may never be broken", "Is Ivn Rodrguez the greatest catcher in major league history? [45] To that point, Molina was batting .295 with three home runs and 24 RBIs. In an April 16 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he reached base in all five of his plate appearances in a 127 victory. [207], On September 14, Wainwright and Molina set another MLB record by starting alongside one another for the 325th time, surpassing Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Detroit Tigers for the most starts by a battery in MLB history. [166] He broke the tie with Bottomley on September 20, with his 1,728th hit, and tied his own career-high RBI total for a season with 80, reached in 2013. As of August 28, with a 7064 record, they faced a .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}10+12-game deficit to the Braves for the wild card playoff berth with 28 left to play. ", Mike Matheny, when he was still the Cardinals' starting catcher, to his wife, on Molina in 2001[14], The Cardinals invited Molina to major league spring training camp following his draft. [154] He made his 1,500th career major league appearance on May 14 in a 53 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Molina's ninth-inning, RBI double, tied the July 27 game against the New York Mets at 44, ending Jeurys Familias consecutive-saves streak of 52, the third-longest in major league history. Designed to rate a player's overall batting production by assigning different weights to certain outcomes, wOBA takes into account singles, doubles, triples, home runs, hit by pitches, and unintentional walks. [1] On November 1, he won his fourth consecutive Fielding Bible Award as the sole catcher. Many have reason to In 2021, Molina returned temporarily to Puerto Rico to play in the Liga de Bisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente to play as a reinforcement with the Atenienses de Manat in the semifinals. I'll have to write something to him. The product of a baseball family, Molina was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
Its impossible to think of one without the other. At that point, Molina led the vote total for NL catchers with more than two million, while Posey was second at 1.4 million and Lucroy third with 1.1 million. After returning to the Cardinals, he changed his jersey number from 41 to 4. [139] On May 10 against the Pirates, he was on the dubious end of a piece of MLB history: lining out into the first "454"[d] triple play in MLB history. [39], Along with three other players each separately displayed, Sports Illustrated featured Molina on the cover of their March 31 issue complementing the 2014 MLB season preview article. [a], In a May 27 game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego with the Cardinals holding a 43 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Molina picked Brian Giles off first to end the game,[31] the first pickoff to end a major league game in nearly four years. The second hitting streak spanned from August 16 to September 2, where he successfully hit 19 times in 50 at bats for a .380 average. From 200507, he led all MLB with a 47% caught-stealing rate and 18 pick-offs. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [117] In the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Molina became just the ninth player and the first in the expansion era in franchise history to appear in four World Series with the club, and the first since Stan Musial in the 1946 World Series, also against the Red Sox. [195], At the end of the 2020 season, Molina entered into free agency for the first time in his career.[196]. [231] Because of his free-swinging tendency, he naturally has a walk rate (7.1%) below the Major League average (8.4%). [47], Overall, Molina enjoyed a breakout offensive season, finishing with new career highs with a .304 batting average his first over .300 and in hits (135), OBP (.349), SLG (.392), runs (37) and RBIs (56). [48] Starting pitcher Joel Pieiro struggling with his fastball command in previous starts experimented with a sinker and shut out the New York Mets on June 24 with just two hits. Molina threw out pinch runner Josh Harrison attempting to steal second base in the eighth inning to help the Cardinals preserve a 21 lead.
A two-time World Series champion, he played for Cardinals teams that made 12 playoff appearances and won four National League pennants. [228], "You don't ever have to worry about bouncing a ball to Yadier. [173] On May 5, Molina exited the game after a foul tip struck him in the groin. There were no indications of a concussion. Against the wishes of coaches, family members and friends, he scheduled Yadier for a workout with the Hatillo Tigres, an amateur league team. Molina instantly hunched over the ball, trapping it between the thigh and rib cage. The Cardinals' conquest of the NLCS gave them a return trip to the World Series after two years. Is Carson Kelly his eventual replacement or will someone else step into that void? One week later, he homered in back-to-back games against the Cincinnati Reds; he, Edmonds, and Rick Ankiel each drove in three runs in an 113 victory on September 2. He gave up all four of the Pirates' runs on four hits and two home runs. On February 8, 2021, the Cardinals announced that they had signed Molina to a one-year deal for a reported $9 million. [122], With a one ball, two strike pitch from relief pitcher Randy Choate incoming to Cubs outfielder Nate Schierholtz in a May 4 game, the batter foul tipped the pitch. Yadi needs to find out how they work. [79] In Game 3, Molina accumulated four RBI, and two more each in Games 6 and 7. However, during the play, he injured his right thumb. I Hate That I Love Yadier Molina. He bumped umpire Rob Drake in the chest multiple times and appeared to spit upon him. Nick Hall . "[35], "During the course of games, he would do something and I'd go, 'I can't believe he did that.' [12] Undeterred by the universal reservations about his offensive ceiling, the St. Louis Cardinals instead took Molina in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB draft and signed him for $325,000. [174], The Cardinals activated Molina from the DL on June 5. [249] His agent is Melvin Roman of MDR Sports Management, who has represented him since he signed his first professional contract with the Cardinals shortly after being drafted in 2000. However, it was a dip in his swing and an inability to get around on fastballs that sapped his efforts. [185] He batted .143 in the NLCS and .167 in the NLDS. [14] One of his first game-winning hits occurred on August 7. [143] When informed whose locker he was using, Molina replied, "This is Phillips' locker? [22] Molina returned from a 33-game absence on August 19 induced by a hairline fracture of his left fifth metacarpal bone from being hit by a pitch on July 7. The 10+12 games-won deficit marked the largest lead surrendered with 28 left to play in MLB history,[75] consummating what St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Bernie Miklasz termed an "improbable comeback,"[76] and one of the greatest sports history. The appointment created some controversy in Puerto Rico after the resignation of team general manager Eduardo Prez, who had reportedly sought to name Astros bench coach Joe Espada to the position. Other preparation includes handling ground balls at shortstop and third base, extending his agility for blocking pitches thrown in the dirt. Cardinals fans need to know that enough is enough. In 2012, a Sports Illustrated poll of 306 players found that Molina was the "toughest catcher to run on. [103] Eight days later, Molina was behind the plate to call rookie Michael Wacha's one-hit, 8 23 innings of shutout work in a 20 victory over the Washington Nationals. [88] In August, he batted .403 with a .453 OBP, both tied for third in the NL. Abe took a pitch from Romero inside for a ball as the runners went in motion. [140] Molina's first home run of the season and first in 95 games occurred against the Minnesota Twins on June 15; his previous home run dated back to June 27, 2014. [177] He homered twice again on June 23 versus Milwaukee to fuel a 32 win, giving him five home runs over his previous six games. [41] On Yadier Molina Bobblehead Night September 19 versus Philadelphia, he stroked three hits including the game-winning single in the tenth inning. "[70][71][72], Although the Cardinals stayed competitive, they were, at best, on the fringes of making the playoffs through August. The all-time hits leader in Liga de Bisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (or Doble-A Besbol) history, the elder Molina delivered a .320 career batting average and gained election to the Puerto Rican baseball hall of fame in 2002. Baseball in Puerto Rico is a significant part of the island's culture. By the time Cameron charged the ball, it was too late; it fell in for a hit, and Jim Edmonds was able to score. He was not interested in exercising his 2018 mutual option, which would have been worth $15 million. [224][232] To keep his bat in the lineup but allow respite from the rigors of his in-game catching duties, Molina has occasionally started at first base. Molina led the team and was sixth in the NL with a .340 batting average with runners in scoring position. [13] It was the highest World Series RBI total among catchers since Sandy Alomar Jr., drove in 10 in 1997.
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