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Dave Roberts Biography & Facts

David Ray Roberts (born May 31, 1972), nicknamed "Doc", is a Japanese-American professional baseball manager and former outfielder who is the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for five MLB teams over a ten-year career and then coached for the San Diego Padres before being named Dodgers manager in 2016. Although he played for the Boston Red Sox for only part of one season, his most notable achievement as a player was a key stolen base in the 2004 American League Championship Series that extended the Red Sox's postseason, which culminated in a championship in the 2004 World Series. Roberts batted and threw left-handed. The son of a Japanese mother and an African American father, Roberts became the first manager of Asian heritage to lead a team to the World Series in 2017, when the Dodgers captured the National League pennant. He also led the Dodgers to the World Series in 2018 and 2020, winning in the latter year. Roberts is both the first manager of Asian heritage and second African American manager to lead a team to a World Series title. Early life Roberts was born in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. His father, Waymon, was a United States Marine stationed in Japan when he met and married Eiko, Roberts's mother. Roberts has a younger sister, Melissa. His childhood was spent moving from one military base to another in two and three-year sequences, first in Okinawa where he was born, then to multiple bases in California, to Okinawa again, to North Carolina, to Hawaii and finally back to California, eventually settling in San Diego. Roberts attended Vista High School as a freshman and was the most valuable player of the junior varsity baseball team. He transferred to Rancho Buena Vista High School when it opened the following year, where he was a standout in football, basketball and baseball. In football, he was a three-year starter at quarterback; as a senior, he helped lead his team to the San Diego Section Class 3A championship. Roberts was recruited to play football for the Air Force Academy as an option quarterback, but declined because he wanted to play baseball. Roberts decided to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and joined their Bruins baseball team as a walk-on outfielder after impressing coaches with his speed and enthusiasm. He hit .331 as a sophomore with 36 stolen bases and as a junior he hit .296 with 28 stolen bases. The Cleveland Indians drafted him in the 47th round of the 1993 MLB draft. He was disappointed with being drafted so low, behind seven other UCLA juniors, and his coach told him he needed to improve his defense and that his weak throwing arm was hurting his draft stock. He improved by getting to the ball quicker and was able to lead the Bruins in outfield assists as a senior, while also hitting .353 with 45 steals. He left UCLA as the school's all-time stolen-base leader and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1995. Professional baseball career Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers selected Roberts in the 28th round of the 1994 MLB draft and signed him on June 9, 1994. He began his career with the Jamestown Jammers, the Tigers' short-season class A team in the New York–Pennsylvania League. Roberts hit .292 with 12 steals for the Jammers, who won the division title with a 42–32 record. For the 1995 season, he was promoted to play for the Lakeland Tigers in the Florida State League, where he hit .303 in 92 games with 30 stolen bases, fourth best in the league. In 1996, Roberts was assigned to the Visalia Oaks of the California League. The Oaks were a co-op team made up of players from several organizations. He was frustrated with the assignment and thought about quitting baseball but his father talked him out of it. In 126 games, he hit .272 with 65 stolen bases, which led all of minor league baseball and he scored 112 runs, tops in the Cal League. He appeared in three games for the AA Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League at the end of the season and had two hits in nine at-bats. He also hit a three-run home run in the 15th inning to help the Suns win Game 1 of their playoff series. He remained at Jacksonville the next season, playing in 105 games for them, with a .296 average and 23 steals. In 1998, Roberts once again began the season with the Suns. He played in 69 games and hit .326 with 21 stolen bases and was named to the Southern League mid-season all-star team. Cleveland Indians In June 1998, Roberts and Tim Worrell were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Gerónimo Berroa. Roberts was traded just before the Southern League All-Star Game and played in the game wearing an Indians hat even though the Indians did not have a Southern League team at the time. He was assigned to the Akron Aeros of the Eastern League, where he batted .361 in 56 games with 28 steals. He was promoted to the Buffalo Bisons, the Indians' Triple-A team in the International League, late in the season. He had only two hits in 15 at-bats for the Bisons but remained with the team in the playoffs, as the Bisons won their first Governors' Cup in nearly 40 years and made it to the Triple-A World Series. Roberts later said his promotion to Buffalo was exciting because he realized he was getting close to the big leagues and his time there made him a better player. Roberts played with the Cañeros de Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific League during the 1998–99 season before playing for the Criollos de Caguas in Puerto Rico, where he played with Alex Cora, and had Joey Cora as general manager. Almost 20 years later Roberts, as manager of the Dodgers, would go on to meet Alex Cora as manager of the Red Sox in the 2018 MLB World Series. Roberts was a non-roster invitee at Indians spring training in 1999 but was assigned to Buffalo to start the season. In 89 games for the Bisons, he had a .271 batting average with 39 steals. He earned International League all-star honors for the season. His contract was purchased by the Indians on August 7, 1999 and he made his major league debut batting leadoff and playing center field for the Indians against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In his debut he had three hits in five at-bats and stole a base: he was also picked off once. His first MLB hit was a double to center field in his second at-bat, off of Bobby Witt of the Devil Rays in the second inning. He hit his first home run on August 30 off of Ramón Ortiz of the Anaheim Angels. On September 24, he hit a grand slam homer off of John Hudek of the Toronto Blue Jays. Overall, he was in 41 games for the Indians in 1999 and hit .238 with two homers, 12 RBI and 11 stolen bases. He also appeared in two games of the 1999 American League Division Series (ALDS), going hitless in three at-bats. Roberts spent most of 2000 back in the minors with Buffalo, where he had a .292 average in 120 games with a career high 13 homers, 55 RBI and 39 steals. He also was second in the league with 93 runs scored. He was called up to the Indians br.... Discover the Dave Roberts popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dave Roberts books.