Donnie Sadler

Who is Donnie Sadler?

Donnie Lamont Sadler is a former right-handed Major League Baseball utility player. An alumnus of Valley Mills High School in Valley Mills, Texas, Sadler is small in stature, standing at only 5'6" tall and weighing 175 pounds. His cousin, Ray Sadler, is an outfielder in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

Drafted 229th overall by the Boston Red Sox in 1994, Sadler quickly displayed impressive speed in the minor leagues. From 1994 to 1996, for example, he averaged nearly 36 steals per season, while playing in an average of only 95 games each year. He earned a spot on the Midwest League All-Star team in 1995 because he not only stole 41 bases, he batted a respectable .283 with nine home runs and 55 RBI.

Sadler made his big league debut at the age of 23 in the second game of the 1998 season, April 1. Although Sadlers' Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 that game, he went 0 for 3 at the plate.

After starting the season without collecting a single hit in his first 11 at bats, he was quickly sent down and did not see any Major League action until July of that year. The first hit of his career was quite impressive-it came in his second game after being recalled from Pawtucket in July-off of pitcher Jason Bere on July 3, he smacked a triple in the sixth inning. Although he finished the game one for five, he did help the Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox 15 to 2-he scored one of the Red Sox' many runs in that game.