Allen Thomas Craig (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals drafted Craig from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2006, and he made his Major League debut with them in 2010.
Each season in the minor leagues from 2007 to 2009, Craig finished with a batting average of over .300 with at least 20 home runs. A .306 career hitter in MLB through 2013, he increased his production with runners in scoring position (RISP). In 2012, he posted a .400 batting average with RISP. The next season, he raised that figure to .454, the third-highest average of all time.
Craig has appeared in two World Series and in both made history. In the 2011 World Series, he tied a record by collecting three hits that drove in the game-winning run. In 2013, he became the first player to score a game-winning run on an obstruction call.
He is currently an advisor to baseball operations for the San Diego Padres.
Playing career Early life and amateur career Allen Craig was born in Mission Viejo, California, to Ron and Kim Craig and raised in Temecula, California. He has one younger sister named Kendal. His parents had moved to the Temecula Valley in the 1970s so that Mr. Craig could secure employment with the Rancho California Water District. In addition to relocating from Mission Viejo in Orange County to Temecula in Riverside County after Craig's birth, the family shifted residences multiple times before finally settling in Temecula.
Craig's father was an early volunteer to help build the baseball fields that became the Ronald Reagan Sports Complex near Temecula Valley High School in Temecula, California. As soon as he was able to swing a baseball bat, his parents entered him into the national Tee Ball division of Little League Baseball where his father coached and his mother served on the board of directors. While participating on the 14-and-under USA Baseball team, he played games in Venezuela.
At Chaparral High School, Temecula, California, Craig was a two-sport standout athlete in baseball and basketball. As a senior in 2002, Craig was recognized in both sports. He earned first team all-league and all-valley honors in basketball while setting a school record with 94 three-pointers. In baseball, he was named All-Valley Baseball Player of the Year. At the Riverside All-Star Game, he earned the Most Valuable Player (MVP) accolade. His .585 batting average and eight home runs helped energize Chaparral to the Southwest League title. That summer, Craig played for the USA Junior National team, batting .485 with 11 runs scored in their effort to earn a bronze medal at the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) World Junior Championship in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
After high school, Craig attended the University of California, Berkeley, and was a four-year starter for the California Golden Bears baseball team at all four infield positions. Primarily playing shortstop as a freshman, he posted a .353 batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP). He earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors for February 4–10, 2003, after his 7-for-17 (.412) effort with two doubles, a grand slam and five runs batted in (RBI) at San Francisco and versus Loyola Marymount. Applying more time at first base in his sophomore season, Craig batted .285, led the team with 29 bases on balls (BB) and aggregated 19 multi-hit games. He was an honorable mention for the Pac-10 all-academic team. The next year, Craig started primarily in left field, batted .308 overall, and batted .338 with RISP. Against Washington State, March 22–24, 2005, he put together a 7–13 series (.538). One month later, on April 22, Craig collected three hits in three at-bats and two days later went 4–4; both games were against USC. Craig was an honorable mention for the All-Pacific-10 baseball team and again for the academic team. His career batting numbers at UC Berkeley included a .308 batting average, 27 home runs and 108 RBI.
During his off-season playing time at UC Berkeley, Craig played two campaigns for the Alexandria Beetles (Minnesota) of the Northwoods League (NWL), a collegiate summer baseball league. Craig spent most games at shortstop but also contributed in the outfield, at third base, and first base. His first season was in 2003, after his freshman season at UC. He batted just .229 in 15 games in which his playing time was cut short by injury. He returned in 2005 after his junior season and put together a landmark NWL season that included a 21-game hitting streak. In 49 games, Craig hit .362 with 12 home runs, 17 doubles and 40 RBI. Craig was named first-team shortstop for Baseball Americas 2005 College Summer All-America team.
Draft and minor leagues
The Cardinals drafted Craig as a shortstop in the eighth round of the 2006 draft (256th overall) and signed him for $15,000. However, he played just three games at shortstop with the State College Spikes in 2006 before spending the most games playing third base. As a hitter, Craig showed power at all levels of the Cardinal farm system, hitting 76 home runs in a three and one-half season span between 2006 and 2010 that comprised the bulk of his minor league playing time.
In the Florida State League in 2006, he posted an adjusted on-base plus slugging at 26% above league average. His 21 home runs in an environment of primarily humid air and large ballparks brought notice as one of the top minor league hitters. Baseball America ranked him as the Cardinals' number-15 prospect following the season. Each season from 2007 through 2009, Craig progressed from the high-A level to AAA and participated between 119 and 129 games while hitting at least .304 with 22 home runs and 80 RBI.
Although for a time Craig appeared to play adequately at third base, his throwing motion raised questions whether he could play there in the Major Leagues as he was promoted through the minor leagues. With David Freese one step further up the Cardinals depth chart and having the better-regarded glove, Craig was shifted more to the outfield in 2009. He further increased his versatility by playing first base. Despite the defensive transitions, his hitting remained steady as he posted a .921 on-base plus slugging percentage with the AAA Memphis Redbirds. His consistent hitting and increased positional coverage prompted Craig to be named Cardinals system Player of the Year. The club added him to their 40-man roster that November.
After making his Major League debut in April 2010, Craig spent significant time on the Cardinals roster. In addition, he amassed 83 games at Memphis, batting .320 with 14 home runs, 81 RBI and a .549 slugging percentage. The next two seasons, he made 19 more appearances at Memphis, Springfield and Palm Beach, accumulating 20 hits in 69 at-bats with four home runs and 14 RBI.
St. Louis Cardinals
2010–11 Allen Craig made the Cardinals big-league club out of spring training in 2010 and appeared in his first MLB game on April 8. He started in right field and went 0–4 at the plate against the Cincinnati Reds. Craig hit his first home run on July 19 off the Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Kendrick. His second home run came on August 22 in the Cardinals' 9–0 drubbing of the San Francisco Giants' Barry Zito. One month later, he hit his third home run in a 7–1 defeat of the Chicago Cubs on September 24 in support of Adam Wainwright's bid for his first 20-win season. In 44 total games in 2010, Craig saw 124 plate appearances (PA), batted .246, hit seven doubles and four home runs with 18 RBI.
By 2011, it became apparent that Craig was able to hit major league pitching as well he had in the minor leagues. However, the situation was less than ideal for him to realize regular playing time. Lance Berkman, Matt Holliday, and Albert Pujols each already occupied corner positions first base, left field and right field – positions Craig was best suited to play. To get his bat in the lineup more, manager Tony La Russa began playing him at second base near the end of May.
In June, after batting .336 with 23 RBI in 107 at-bats, he suffered a small knee cap fracture against the Houston Astros by running into the wall tracking a fly ball in right field. The team placed him on the disabled list (DL) with an expected intermission of about six weeks. The healing of the fracture stagnated throughout the season, however, and swelling persisted around the knee, slowing Craig's rehabilitation. Nevertheless, he regularly strengthened the muscles around his patella and was cleared to play after passing a battery of medical tests. He also spent extra time warming up his knee before each game. After his return, Craig hit .290 in 35 games. He ended the regular season with a .315 batting average, 15 doubles, 11 home runs, 40 RBI, and a .555 slugging percentage in 75 games and 219 PA.
The Cardinals made the playoffs that year. Craig struggled in his first ten games covering 21 plate appearances against the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series (NLDS) and the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), collecting just three hits in 17 at-bats. However, he delivered the go-ahead pinch-hit single in Game 6 to send the Cardinals to the World Series.
In the World Series, Craig debuted in Game 1 by hitting a two-out, go-ahead pinch-hit single off Texas Rangers' pitcher Alexi Ogando's fastball. The next night, La Russa again summoned Craig to pinch hit against Ogando. This time, he lined a fastball to right field to break a scoreless tie. On that single, he joined Dusty Rhodes, Del Unser and Hal McRae as the only players to collect pinch-hit RBI in three consecutive postseason at bats. He also joined Duke Snider and Amos Otis as the only hitters with the go-ahead hit in the sixth inning or later in consecutive World Series games. Further, Craig became the first player with two go-ahead RBIs as a pinch-hitter in World Series play. After hitting the go-ahead home run in Game 7, which tied a World Series record Kiki Cuyler and Hank Greenberg shared with three game-winning RBI, Craig caught the last out of the Series, securing the Cardinals' eleventh World Series championship. For the series, Craig appeared in all seven games and collected five hits in 19 at-bats (.263 batting average), three home runs and five RBI for a .737 slugging percentage. His totals in the 2011 postseason included a .622 slugging percentage and 1.013 on-base plus slugging (OPS). However, with his knee cap still not fully healed, Craig elected to have surgery to repair the fracture the following November.
2012
Despite his strong 2011 performance and World Series exploits, new manager Mike Matheny assigned Craig the role of utility player in the outset of 2012, with the likes of veterans Carlos Beltrán, Berkman, and Holliday already stationed at first base and in the outfield corners. Further, Craig spent all of April on the disabled list (DL) recovering from knee surgery. However, when he returned to play May 1, the Cardinals designated outfielder Erik Komatsu for assignment to make room, and Craig found a windfall of playing time with Berkman now on the DL. After hitting five home runs in a seven-game stretch, injury quickly struck again when he pulled a hamstring in a game against the San Francisco Giants on May 18 and landed back on the 15-day DL. To that point, Craig made a convincing argument for forcing his way into the starting lineup with a combination of top prospect Matt Adams' slumping and hitting .373 with a .424 on-base percentage and .765 slugging percentage in thirteen games.