A Blue Jay from the Past: Marco Scutaro

Do you remember Marco Scutaro?

This is “A Blue Jay from the Past”. Each week, I’ll spin every Blue Jays’ season in the Wheel of Names and pick a player who played a significant number of games for the Toronto Blue Jays, ideally a full season. This week, the Wheel of Names landed on the 2009 season, with the player we’ll look at in today’s article being Marco Scutaro. Last week, we looked at Tim Crabtree.

Born in San Felipe, Venezuela, Scutaro signed with Cleveland in 1994. He never played for them, nor the Milwaukee Brewers, after he was traded there in 2000. Eventually, the Brewers designated the infielder for assignment, with the New York Mets picking him up.

Scutaro made his Major League Baseball debut in 2002 with the Mets as a 26-year-old, slashing .222/.216/.361 with one home run in 38 plate appearances. He had limited plate appearances with the Mets in 2003, before being waived once again.

This time, Scutaro was picked up by the Oakland Athletics, where he became a regular. In his first season there, the infielder slashed .273/.297/.393 with seven home runs in 477 plate appearances. The following season saw him slash .247/.310/.391 with nine home runs in 423 plate appearances.

In 2006, Scutaro slashed .266/.350/.397 with five home runs in 423 plate appearances for a 98 wRC+. He also made his playoff debut with the Athletics that season, where he had not-so-great results in 27 plate appearances. His final season in Oakland saw him slash .260/.332/.361 with seven home runs in 379 plate appearances.

Following the 2007 season, Scutaro was traded the the Toronto Blue Jays for Kristian Bell and Graham Godfrey. Scutaro’s 2008 season was his career norm, slashing .267/.341/.356 with seven home runs in 592 plate appearances for an 88 wRC+.

However, he broke out in 2009.  That season, he slashed .282/.379/.409 with a career-high 12 home runs in 680 plate appearances, walking (13.2%) more than he struck out (11%) and posting a 112 wRC+ and a 4.2 fWAR, both career bests. Playing third base and shortstop, Scutaro posted 24 Defensive Runs Saved that season, while stealing a career-best 14 bases in 19 tries.

That was it for Scutaro’s time with the Blue Jays, signing with their American League East rivals, the Boston Red Sox. In 2010, he slashed .275/.333/.388 with 11 home runs in 695 plate appearances for a 93 wRC+. He had another good season in 2011, slashing .299/.358/.423 with seven home runs in 445 plate appearances for a 112 wRC+.

Starting the 2012 season with the Red Sox, Scutaro was traded before the trade deadline to the San Francisco Giants. That season, he slashed .306/.348/.405 with seven home runs in 683 plate appearances. The infielder had a strong postseason, slashing .328/.377/.391 with no home runs in 70 plate appearances, winning the National League Championship Series MVP and helping the Giants win the World Series.

In 2013, Scutaro slashed .297/.357/.369 with two home runs in 547 plate appearances, earning his first and only All-Star bid in his aged-37 season. That was his last full season in the big leagues, earning just 13 plate appearances in 2014 due to a back injury.