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Royals went 17-20 with Hinch as the starting catcher...began the season as a backup catcher, but started 20 of 29 games from May 23-June 24, when the Royals acquired catcher Brent Mayne. Kansas City pitchers had a 4.04 ERA (331.2 IP, 149 ER) with Hinch behind the plate. 6 of his 1st 17 hits were for home runs. Hit a 3-run home run off Hector Carrasco vs. Minnesota on April 8 and finished with a season-high 3 RBI. Hit .160 (19-for-119) before the All-Star Break, seeing action in 43 games...all 6 of his home runs came before the break. Optioned to Omaha on July 11...batted .321 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI in 45 games for the Golden Spikes. Recalled on Sept. 4...made just 2 appearances down the stretch, going 0-for-2 at the plate.
PREVIOUS SEASONS:
2000- Hinch spent the first 5 months of 2000 at Sacramento (AAA) before he joined Oakland as a September call-up...was 2-for-8 (.250) in 6 games (2 starts) with the parent club...Hit .266 with 65 runs and 47 RBI in 109 games at Sacramento...caught a team-high 87 games...recorded 3 4-hit games and 2 4-RBI contests for the River Cats...Homered in his first 2 Triple-A games and hit safely in his first 7 contests for a .424 average...Belted 4 home runs and knocked in 17 runs over his first 24 games, but tallied just 2 homers and 30 RBI over his final 85 games...Put together a 9-game hitting streak from April 27-May 7 and hit safely in 10-straight games from May 28-June 9...Committed just 4 errors behind the plate for a .994 fielding percentage...also appeared in 1 game at 1st base and batted .270 with 3 homers and 12 RBI in 21 starts as the designated hitter.
1999-Was the A's Opening Day starter behind the plate but struggled offensively the first three months of the season...ended up splitting the second half of the season between Vancouver and Oakland and was used primarily as a back-up with the A's...went 0 for 10 to start the season and finished April with a .160 batting average...hit .204 in May but his average remained under .200 until a two-hit performance on June 19 at Detroit lifted it to .200 exactly...went 2 for his next 14 to drop back down to .194 on June 27...Hernandez was brought up from Vancouver that day and aJ ended up starting just one of the a's final 12 games before the All-Star break...was hitting .203 when he was optioned to Vancouver on July 12 with the return of MacFarlane...hit .364 during a 10 game stay with the Canadians but returned to Oakland on July 26 when hernandez went on the dl...snapped a 78 bat homerless streak on August 19 at New York and then hit his first career grand slam on August 14 at toronto...had a career high four RBI in that game...hit .259 with 4 HR and 12 RBI in 19 games before he was sent back down to Vancouver on August 27 when Hernandez returned...hit .412 in five games with the canadians and returned to Oakland on September 6 following the conclusion of the regular season for Vancouver...appeared in just 4 of the A's final 24 games and did not have an at bat until making his lone start in his final stink on October 1 against Seattle...was 0 for 4 and finished the year at .215...hit.242 in 23 games before the break...tossed out 10 of 52 attempted base stealers with the A's...tied for the team lead with nine sacrifice hits after leading the A's with 13 the year before...batted .377 with 2 HR and 7 RBI in his 15 games at Vancouver.
1998-AJ spent the entire year in Oakland and hit .231...also walked 30 times, fifth most among American League rookies...was the A's opening night starter behind the plate and started each of the A's first eight games...was 0 for 5 with a walk before collecting his first major league hit in his third game on April 4 against New York...singled in the sixth inning off David Cone...first home run came n April 14 at Boston, a second inning solo shot off Butch Henry...suffered a concussion on April 16 after he was hit in the face attempting to catch a foul ball by Hal Morris and missed two games...had three three-hit games in April and finished the month with a .284 batting average, 3 HR and 11 RBI...homered and singled on May 1 to bring his average to the .299 mark...then went into a 28-game slump from May 2-June 19 where he batted just .180 (16 for 89) without recording an extra-base hit...did have a career best eight game hitting streak from May 22 to June 6 (9 for 29, .310)...ended his 91 at bat homerless string with a two-run homer on June 20 at Seattle...that gave him five home runs in his first 52 games but he would go homerless in July, batting .178...snapped a 36-game, 83-at bat homerless streak by homering in consecutive games on August 16 at Detroit and August 17 against Toronto...had his fourth career three-hit game on August 27 at Boston and finished the month with a .286 batting average...then hit .189 in September, his third month under .200 in 1998, and finished the season at .231...homered nine times and six of those either tied the game or put the A's ahead as did 17 of his 35 RBI...led the A's with 13 sacrifice hits, a total which tied for second in the American League...tied for the league lead among all A.L. catchers with nine errors and his .986 fielding percentage was third lowest...his eight double plays also tied for the lead among all league catchers...tossed out 22 of 90 (24.4%) attempted base stealers...hit .280 during day games compared to .196 at night.
1997--named to the Howe SportsData All-Star team in his first professional season...began the year at Single-A Modesto but finished the year with the Pacific Coast League Champion Edmonton Trappers...batted .309 at Modesto which ranked 10th in the California League for the season...also finished second with a .583 slugging percentage...played in just 95 games at Modesto before his promotion but still finished second on the club in home runs (20) and third in runs (70, tie), doubles (25, tie) and RBI (73)...hit three home runs and added seven RBI on June 22 at High Desert...was promoted to Edmonton on July 21...earned PCL Player of the Week honors in his first week at Triple-A...was a perfect 5 for 5 on July 29 against Albuquerque to boost his average to the .680 (17 for 25) mark after nine games...went 30 for 100 (.300) over his last 29 games to finish the Triple-A portion of his season at .376...batted a combined .328 at both stops with 24 HR and 97 RBI in 134 games...also hit .360 with a home run and 11 RBI in seven playoff games with the PCL Champion Trappers...then batted .277 with 2 HR and 12 RBI in 25 games with Phoenix in the Arizona Fall League.
1996-was on the United States Olympic Team and did not play professionally in 1996...hit .337 overall for Team USA with 3 HR and 15 RBI...that included 5 for 21 (.238) with a home run and three RBI in the Olympic Games where the U.S. team won the Bronze Medal...signed with the A's on September 22.
Career info taken from MLB.com and the Oakland A's Media Guide