Dane Sardinha Career Tracker

From the tigers MLB site they list
http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/team/player_career.jsp?player_id=400154

Dane Sardinha | C

Current Status: Active

Full Name: Dane K. A. A. Sardinha Born: 04/08/1979 Birthplace: Honolulu, HI Height: 6'0" Weight: 215 Bats: Right Throws: Right College: Pepperdine MLB Debut: 09/06/2003

Biography:


Resides in Kailua, HI during the off-season...His brother Bronson is an outfielder in the New York Yankees organization, while his other brother Duke is a third baseman in the Colorado Rockies organization...Selected by the Kansas City Royals in the second round of the June 1997 draft out of Kamehamena High School in Kahuku, HI, but he did not sign...Saw action with Hawaii in the Alaska League during the summer of 1998, batting .333 (49x147) with 19 runs scored, nine doubles, four triples, a home run and 26 RBI to earn league all-star honors...An All-West Coast Conference selection as a sophomore at Pepperdine University in 1999, he batted .365 (95x260) with 51 runs scored, 26 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs and 63 RBI -- led the conference with 95 hits and 26 doubles...tabbed a Third-Team
All-American by Baseball America...Selected an All-American by Baseball America following his junior season at Pepperdine University in 2000 -- batted .353 (82x232) with 52 runs scored, 14 doubles, 17 home runs and 72 RBI to earn All-West Coast Conference and Co-Player of the Year honors...Played for Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League following the 2002 season, batting .311 (33x106) with 16 runs scored, eight doubles, four home runs and 24 RBI...Hit .346 (18x52) with five runs scored, seven doubles, three home runs and nine RBI for Scottsdale in the Arizona Fall League following the 2003 season.

2006 Career Highlights:

Spent the entire season with Triple A Louisville in the Cincinnati Reds organization...Tied for the lead among all International League catchers with 10 double plays...second among league catchers by throwing out 49.2 percent of baserunners attempting to steal (31x63)...Batted .457 (16x35) over an 11-game stretch May 16-June 16 -- collected six doubles and four RBI during the stretch...Sidelined May 24-June 5 with left hamstring strain...Collected a season-best four hits on June 10 versus Indianapolis.

You guys will LOVE this!!

He went to the St. Louis School for Boys in Honolulu when I was teaching Band there in the early-mid 90's!!

I never KNEW him (obviously, he didn't take up Band) but he was already a campus legend!!

Same school as Colt Brennan, current Hawaii QB and Heisman Candidate!!

tigersaint wrote:

Same school as Colt Brennan, current Hawaii QB and Heisman Candidate!!

You mean second runner up?

gogetemtigers wrote:

Maybe our future Pudge replacement????

I think Skelton is more promising since he's quite a bit younger but maybe...

No, he is ugly I like Mike better! He isn't that nice either.

Seriously me and my friend waved at him and he just stared at us I still like Mike better

What a jerk... wave at mrsrabelo you jerk! Man, I like Mike better too!!

Well I guess I will just have to get used to him being gone. Mike is going to be the next Pudge I bet you, and they will all be sad that they got rid of him!

Yeah!! And Miller is going to be the next Randy Johnson and THEN THEY WILL BE SAD!!!

:haha: g'night girl

mrsrabelo wrote:

Seriously me and my friend waved at him and he just stared at us I still like Mike better

uhh.....he doesn't speak English real well. Did you wave in Pidjin??

You shoulda given him da SHAKA sign.....

Monday, March 3, 2008
Tigers' Sardinha emerges as possible backup catcher
Tom Gage / The Detroit News

LAKELAND, Fla. -- A day after Brandon Inge caught in a game for the first time this spring, manager Jim Leyland said he has no plans to catch him regularly from this point on.

That doesn't mean, however, that Inge is no longer a backup candidate. It only means that the issue is still complex.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with him," said Leyland, "but the one thing I can tell you for sure is that he'll be the starting centerfielder on Wednesday afternoon at Joker Marchant Stadium."

That's also not to say Inge won't make another appearance behind the plate. But it's clear that Inge's comments from Sunday, that "catching absolutely 100 percent reinforces that third base is my all-time love," made an impression.

"Brandon Inge does not want to catch, he's made that plain and simple," said Leyland. "I don't know why people keep talking about it. Will he do it for us? Yes, but he does not want to be a catcher.

"I'm not going to push someone to catch who doesn't want to do it. I want him to play third base somewhere every day, but will that happen? I don't know.

"When we leave this camp, I will have a second catcher. But I have no clue who it's going to be.

"Could it be Brandon Inge?" added Leyland. "That's possible. Could it be Dane Sardinha? That's possible. Could it be Vance Wilson? That's possible. Could it be Max St. Pierre? That's probably a longer shot, but it's possible.

"But I can't give you answers right now because I don't honestly know."

It's still uncertain who'll be the Tigers' second catcher because, as Leyland said again on Monday, Wilson "isn't close to throwing. He's not ready, that's for sure."

Will he be ready for the start of the season?

"From what I've seen so far," said Leyland, "I'd have to say no. But that's a guess."

If Wilson isn't ready, and if Inge does indeed get traded, the Tigers will have to come up with a backup catcher for Pudge Rodriguez. But they might not have to look elsewhere.

"I'm looking at Sardinha a lot," said Leyland. "I think he can really catch and throw.

"We don't know what's going to happen with Inge. We don't know how it's going to play out. But I'm looking at Sardinha as a definite major-league, backup-type catcher."

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

Brandon Inge does not want to catch, he's made that plain and simple,

No, he hasn't! If that were the case he'd void his contract. Send Brandon to AAA (anyone can claim him) and let him start at 3B there (assuming nobody takes him). Let Sardinha catch - he wants to.

I agree with you cat, I think Dane may be our backup and Inge gone, one way or another. I really liked him, but this poison attitude has got to go, hopefully to another team.

Void your contract Brandon, and then you will find a team willing to hire you.

GoGetEmTigers wrote:

I agree with you cat, I think Dane may be our backup and Inge gone, one way or another. I really liked him, but this poison attitude has got to go, hopefully to another team.

Void your contract Brandon, and then you will find a team willing to hire you.

LOL. I think a lot of Inge fans are switching to the other side. I never cared for Inge's abilities, but I used to like him a lot - players don't have to be good for me to like them. For some reason Zach Miner is probably one of my 5 favorite Tigers despite not being one of the five best.

All this complaining has made Inge pretty low on my list.

I know Tiger management has sure had enough of him, you can tell from their double speak: "I hope he finds another team soon -- I really wish he would stay"...... They are still trying to make him sound important, so someone else would take him off the Tigers hands!!!

LOL! It does sound that way.

Poor Sardinha - even in a thread dedicated to him there's nothing to say....

Umm....Dane is Hawaiian

He is the one TigerSaint said to get excited about, when he was first brought up, by management.

We should stop paying attention to the whiners and focus on up & coming potential!

Brandon...uh, I think Toledo is calling!

Dane spanks his first TIGER hit, a Triple to win the game and help complete the SWEEP of Colorado.

Leyland must have secretly enjoyed sweeping those guys....

01/12/09 2:04 PM EST
Tigers invite 13 non-roster players

...

Right-handers Rudy Darrow, Casey Fien and Ryan Perry, left-hander Jon Kibler and catchers Alex Avila, Jeff Kunkel, Dan(e) Sardinha and Max St. Pierre will all report to camp Feb. 13, along with the rest of the Tigers' pitchers and catchers.

...

Laird catching
Beck's Blog

Gerald Laird is now starting at catcher. Dane Sardinha is not at the park at the moment, dealing with a personal issue.

* Posted on March 11, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Sardinha is currently on the active roster, so he gets the privileged on being in the "current players" section.

Tigers glad to have Sardinha in the fold
With Treanor likely out for year, catcher to see plenty of time

By Jason Beck / MLB.com

05/04/09 8:24 PM ET

DETROIT -- Call Dane Sardinha a Minor League journeyman. Call him a light-hitting third catcher, too, if you want. But for the foreseeable future, call him a Major Leaguer.

He isn't going to argue he's getting disrespected or underestimated. He knows his track record and he's self-deprecating about it, even after his double Sunday set up the go-ahead run to beat the Indians.

"They don't expect much from me offensively," Sardinha said, "so that was a plus. I still need to get better. No one wants to hit under .200. I need a lot of work."

With Matt Treanor possibly out for the season after hip surgery, Sardinha is going to get quite a bit of work while he backs up Gerald Laird. And he won't be getting any disrespect from the Tigers.

Not only are the Tigers not looking for another catcher, they're grateful to have brought back Sardinha over the offseason, especially manager Jim Leyland.

"He's a tremendous backup catcher, in my opinion," Leyland said, "because he can catch and throw as good as anybody. He's good. He's really good. Defensively, he's as good as there is in the league, in my opinion."

That fits the Tigers' resume for an ideal backup catcher, especially with plenty of offense here. The offensive expectations are pretty low.

Yet even if Sardinha hadn't started Sunday's winning rally, his impact was all over that game. His cohesion with staff ace Justin Verlander was almost seamless.

"We were pretty much on the same page the whole [game]," Verlander said afterward. "He called a great game. There were a lot of situations where I was thinking I would have to shake to a pitch because of something I saw or felt, and he went right to it."

When asked if that might be unusual for a third catcher, Verlander stopped the question in mid-sentence.

"It's not because he can't catch," Verlander answered.

On the contrary, even with prospect Dusty Ryan ticketed for Triple-A Toledo, the Tigers brought back Sardinha as Major League insurance because they knew he could catch well. And Leyland was very glad when they did.

Sardinha knows that reputation, which is why he makes his work behind the plate his priority over anything at the plate.

"My main goal is just to keep the pitchers' ERAs down," he said, "because we've got a really good offensive team. We're going to put up runs. I just try to get pitchers to throw strikes. I'll take giving up two runs a game, because I think we'll score more than that."

He still works on his hitting, and it's paying off. Both Leyland and hitting coach Lloyd McClendon noted Sardinha hit better in Spring Training than he did last year, showing the tools for at least better hitting than he has shown to date.

"He's making strides," McClendon said. "He still has a ways to go, but when he stays inside the ball, he's not bad. He could be a productive player for us, but he's got to continue to work and believe in what he's doing."

Sardinha's willing to work, even if his belief is relative.

"We'll see," he said. "I might need a miracle."

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Sardinha day-to-day
BECK'S BLOG

Dane Sardinha was slated to have x-rays on his injured right ring finger tonight to make sure there's no fracture. They don't believe that there is. The expected diagnosis is that he has a sprain.

Sardinha injured his finger on a pitch in the dirt Thursday against the Twins and had to leave the game because he couldn't throw. He was optmistic it wouldn't be a major injury when he could feel it loosening up after the game, but he said Friday that it was worse.

If it keeps him out a few days, the Tigers can get by with Brandon Inge backing up Gerald Laird, and Ryan Raburn as an emergency catcher. Any lengthy absence, however, could put the Tigers in a bind.

* Posted on May 15, 2009 at 7:49 PM