Chris Aguila

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Christopher Louis Aguila (born February 23, 1979 in Redwood City, California) is a Major League Baseball player in the Florida Marlins organization, who has played parts of three seasons in the major leagues with the Florida Marlins. He plays all three outfield positions.

Aguila was chosen by the Marlins in the third round of the 1997 MLB draft out of McQueen High School in Reno, Nevada; he had set a single-season home run record while at McQueen. Although he was initially a highly-regarded prospect, he spent two seasons playing rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League and 2 1/2 more seasons in Class A before he was promoted to the Class AA Portland Sea Dogs. When he started playing for Portland in 2001, he was in his fifth professional season but was still only 22 years old. He batted .257 in 64 games with Portland. He returned to the Sea Dogs in 2002 and posted a .294 average.

The Marlins switched their Class AA affiliation to the Carolina Mudcats the following year, and Aguila spent 2003 with the Mudcats, posting a .320 batting average in 93 games. It was then that Aguila once again showed his potential as a hitter, and he played in spring training with the Marlins in 2004. Although he did not make the Marlins' opening day roster, he impressed Marlins manager Jack McKeon, and he batted .312 for Class AAA Albuquerque in 2004. He had two stints in the majors in 2004, paving the way for him to make the Marlins' opening day roster in 2005.

In 2005, Aguila was named the Marlins' fifth outfielder (behind Miguel Cabrera, Juan Pierre, Juan Encarnación, and Jeff Conine) but was used mainly in a pinch-hitting role. He logged only 16 at-bats in the first two months of the season, and he was sent back to Albuquerque on May 27. While in Albuquerque, he regained his everyday role as the team's center fielder. He batted .351 with 7 home runs and 25 RBI in 35 games with Albuquerque, and he was promoted back to the major leagues on July 7, when the Marlins placed Josh Willingham on the disabled list. He spent the rest of the season in the major leagues, mainly as a pinch hitter; he started only 12 games all year, most of them while Encarnación was injured. He finished the 2005 season with a .244 batting average, no home runs, and 4 RBI in 78 at-bats. Following the 2005 season, he played for Gigantes del Cibao in the Dominican Winter League^[1].

Several signs pointed to Aguila's receiving more playing time in 2006. Toward the end of the season, fellow then-Marlin A.J. Burnett ripped Marlins manager Jack McKeon for several reasons, one of which was that McKeon gave most of the available playing time to aging veterans, rather than to younger players such as Aguila, Willingham, and Jeremy Hermida, who had proven themselves already in the minor leagues but had not received extended playing time in the majors. Also, Encarnación became a free agent following the 2005 season, and Juan Pierre was traded to the Chicago Cubs, so Aguila may compete for a starting job in the Marlins' outfield in 2006. In addition, McKeon retired after the last game of the 2005 season, and the Marlins named 41-year-old Joe Girardi as his replacement.

Aguila made the Marlins' opening-day roster again in 2006. While Hermida was sidelined, Aguila got most of the at-bats in right field until the Marlins signed Joe Borchard; afterwards, Aguila was part of a platoon in center field with Eric Reed and Reggie Abercrombie. (Although Willingham occasionally started at catcher, he started most of the Marlins' games in left field.) Reed struggled mightily, going 4-for-35 (.114) at the plate, and was sent down to Albuquerque. Meanwhile, Abercrombie went on an 11-game hitting streak, which further decreased the amount of playing time Aguila was receiving; Aguila started in only three of the club's next 16 games after May 3. On May 26, the Marlins acquired Cody Ross from the Cincinnati Reds for a player to be named later; to free a roster spot for Ross, they optioned Aguila to Albuquerque. During his time with the Marlins up to that point, he had batted .229 (19-for-83) with two stolen bases, seven doubles, a triple, no home runs, and seven RBI. In 13 games with Albuquerque, he batted .383 (18-for-47) with one home run (a grand slam) and drove in 13 runs, before he was recalled by the Marlins to replace Willingham, who had gone on the disabled list. After a second stint with the Marlins, he returned to Albuquerque for the rest of the Isotopes' season, where he finished the year there with a .319 batting average, 11 home runs, and 59 RBI in 77 games. After the Isotopes' season ended, the Marlins placed him back on their major-league roster. He appeared in eight games with the Marlins in September, batting 3-for-9 to raise his batting average for the year to .232.^[2] He did not start any more games for the Marlins in 2006 after returning to the majors, but he did hit 2-for-3 with a single and a double in their season-ending win against the Philadelphia Phillies. ^[3]

On October 13, 2006, the Marlins outrighted Aguila to Albuquerque, which removed him from their 40-man roster. Since he is now out of options on his contract, he must make the Marlins' opening day roster in 2007 in order to remain in their organization for a 10th season.^[4]

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[edit] Trivia

Aguila comes from a widely varied ethnic background. His father is Filipino, and his mother is Samoan, Tongan, and Fijian. As of 2006, Aguila and Tony Solaita are the only known ethnic Samoans who has played in Major League Baseball.
Aguila has been doing Polynesian fire knife dancing since he was in the fifth grade.