Athletics watch 2009: Cliff Pennington
The 2005 Major League Baseball Draft is recognized as one of the better drafts in recent years, with players like Justin Upton, Ryan Braun, and Troy Tulowitzki all being drafted.
With their first pick in the draft, and 21st overall, the Oakland Athletics selected middle infielder Cliff Pennington from Texas A&M.
“It made me feel great,” said Pennington. “Obviously, somebody thought you were a good player and wants you to be part of their organization.”
Fast forward to 2008, Pennington began the year in Double A Midland, but was called up to the Sacramento River Cats after just two months. He was an every day contributor with his .426 on-base percentage and scoring 47 runs in just 65 games.
The River Cats went on to repeat as division, league and class champions. However, Pennington was not on the roster for the event.
Pennington was called up again, this time to the Oakland Athletics. He made his Major League debut on August 12, 2008. It was a moment he says has been his best experience to date in his short career.
“It’s kinda surreal. Your first couple of games just kinda blur on you. You just gotta try to soak it all in, do the best you can remember that it’s the same game you’ve been playing your whole life.”
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At age 24, Pennington was the second member of the A’s organization to wear number 56 in 2008. Oakland’s Opening Day bullpen featured a young hurler named Fernando Hernandez who spent a week with the team before being designated for assignment and sent off to the White Sox, making number 56 available for Pennington as a late-season call-up.
In his first game, Pennington went 0 for 3 in a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Between that game and the end of the season, he had racked up 24 hits with five doubles and collected nine RBI. He had a .339 on-base percentage as well. While being a natural shortstop, he split time filling in there and at second for the big league club to finish off the season.
After an invitation to the Oakland A’s 2009 Spring Training camp, Pennington was optioned back to Sacramento for the start of the 2009 season, and has been playing every day among a small handful others.
“[I’m ] trying to be better; being more consistent and getting better at all things that I need to get better at to prove that I should be [in Oakland] and stay up there.”
Among those every day players, Pennington is second on the team in batting average and hits, with an on-base percentage hovering around the .360 mark.
“I see myself as a one or two guy, right up there getting on base trying to make those guys behind me who hit the homers; make them two, three run homers instead of a solo shot.”
Born on June 15, 1984 in Corpus Christi, Texas, Pennington started playing baseball at a very young age, flourishing as he matured and feeling the influence of his father and school coaches as he did.
“I’ve always been told to play the game hard and play the game right. That’s what I try to do. My college coach Mark Johnson was a huge influence. Playing for him was awesome. He taught me how to play the game.”
Off the field, Pennington spends much of his time with his wife and dog. The couple is expecting a child in the near future.
“My wife is pregnant so I got a kid on the way. That will be taking up a lot of the time.”
“I think the baseball lifestyle is a lot tougher on the players’ wives than it is on the players. But when you have a great woman behind you, supporting you, it makes it all that much better.”
His relationship with God has also helped him during the highs and lows of his career.
“My faith is definitely number one. I think it has definitely helped me along the way. I had a major injury my first full year, and dealing with that without my faith and my wife, I don’t know where I would have been.”
Based on his fast rise through the Oakland organization and his consistent play to date in Sacramento, it is only a matter of time before the young Texan finds a permanent job in the majors.
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