1993 SP #179 Kevin Stocker

1993 Phillies - Shortstop

Uniform Number: 19

1993 Stats: In 70 games after his July call-up, Kevin hit .324 with 31 RBI.

1993 Notable: Kevin made his Major League debut on July 7th against the Dodgers, playing all 20 innings of the Phils' 7-6 win. He finished 6th in the 1993 NL Rookie of the Year voting (Mike Piazza won), but he struggled in the Postseason, hitting just .182 in the NLCS and .211 in the World Series.

How Acquired: Drafted in the 2nd round of the June 1991 draft.
Phillies Career: 1993-1997

How Departed: Traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bobby Abreu, November 18, 1997

After the Juan Bell experiment failed, Kevin Stocker was exactly what the team needed - a more reliable defensive shortstop who contributed at the plate. Kevin served as the club's regular shortstop from 1994 until 1997, but he never quite matched the success he had found in his rookie season. On expansion draft day in November 1997, the Phils shipped him to the Devil Rays for the relatively unknown Bobby Abreu. Kevin was the Devil Rays' regular shortstop for the franchise's dreadful first two years (1998-1999), but the team released him in May 2000. After playing out the duration of the 2000 campaign with the Anaheim Angels, Kevin signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets. In February 2001, before ever donning a Mets' uniform, Kevin Stocker announced his retirement from baseball at the age of 31.