Athletes - David Newhan

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	Athletes - David Newhan

David Matthew Newhan (born September 7, 1973 in Fullerton, California) is a utility baseball player who currently plays for the Baltimore Orioles. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed. He made his major league debut in 1999. David was born as the son of Ross Newhan, a Hall of Fame baseball writer.

Newhan attended Cypress Junior College, Georgia Tech, and Pepperdine; as a collegiate athlete, he was All-West Coast Conference in 1995 after leading the league in slugging and home runs.

Professional career

David Newhan was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 17th round of the 1995 amateur draft. In three years as a member of the Athletics minor league system, Newhan never made his way higher than Oakland's Single-A team and, despite signs of improvement, was traded to the San Diego Padres organization during the 1997 season.

Newhan continued his improvement, batting .277 over two seasons with San Diego's AA team. He was promoted to the Padres' AAA team before the 1999 season, where, over 98 games, he batted .286 with 22 stolen bases. During the season, he was called up by the Padres. It was his major league debut.

However, Newhan did not perform up to standard. Over 32 games (where he saw limited action, collecting only 43 at bats), Newhan batted a mere .140.

David started the 2000 season as the second baseman for the San Diego Padres, for whom he hit .150. He was then demoted to AAA. While in the minors, he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, who briefly kept him at AAA before calling him up to the Majors. He was then traded back to the Padres, who then traded him back to the Phillies before the 2001 season.

During the 2001 season, David appeared in 7 games for the Phillies, going 2-6 with 1 RBI and 2 runs scored before injuring his shoulder; he had season-ending shoulder surgery on May 25.

2002 was a disastrous year for Newhan. After being released by the Phillies, he floated around until the Los Angeles Dodgers signed him on February 15, 2002. They released him on October 15 that same year.

Eventually, after passing through several organizations (including the Rockies and the Rangers), Newhan made his way to the Baltimore Orioles organization, who called him up the majors during the 2004 season.

Newhan truly had a breakout season during 2004. He started out blazing hot; through 100 at bats he had 42 hits. Were it not for a pinch hit appearance (in which he flied out) he would've had a 21 game hit streak. By season's end, he was being praised by fans and newspapers as a savior for the Orioles' season (the Baltimore Sun even dubbed him David "Roy Hobbs" Newhan). His final totals were: 95 games, .311 batting average, 8 home runs, 54 RBI, and 11 stolen bases. He was considered by many to be the AL Rookie of the Year (the award eventually went to Bobby Crosby).

2005 was a disappointment for Newhan. Due to the fact that there are so many "everyday" starters on the Orioles baseball team (Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts, Melvin Mora), Newhan was relegated to the bench. He saw very limited action and struggled at the plate; due to the fact that he rarely played on consecutive days, he claimed it was impossible to gain any consistency offensively. He was, even briefly, demoted to AAA before being recalled to the major league level.

Newhan re-signed with the Orioles on December 20th, 2005 for one-year. He will likely be the fourth or fifth outfielder for the team in 2006 though he is a darkhorse candidate to be a starting centerfielder or leftfielder.

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