Drafted: Selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 19th round of the 1986 free-agent draft.
Acquired: Traded by the Detroit Tigers with Cesar Mejia and Robinson Garces to the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 9, 1988, to complete and earlier trade in which the Orioles got Fred Lynn.
Pre-Majors Highlights: Established a school record with 34 career home runs ... Was named All-Mid-American Conference in 1986 ... His uniform number (32) was retired in Jan. 1994 at an EMU basketball game ... He joins former EMU players Bob Welch ('79), Bob Owchinko ('79) and long-time coach Ron Ostrike ('87) as the only baseball alums who have had their numbers honored.
Personal Information: Is believed to be the only catcher to receive an inaugural pitch from two different Presidents (Bush in 1992 and Clinton in 1993).

Scouting Report

1997 Season
Chris Hoiles is the Orioles' version of a Timex watch: he takes a licking and just keeps on ticking. A sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee landed him on the disabled list from mid-June to mid- July, and he caught just 87 games, the fewest since Hoiles became a regular in 1991. He maintained his mediocre career average while his strikeout/at-bat ratio grew disturbingly higher.


Hitting
Hoiles has a compact, uppercut stroke. He has a very high fly ball/ground ball ratio, lofting the majority of balls he puts in play into the air. He's a good fastball hitter who likes the ball down at his knees, but will also chase high heaters with much less success. Hoiles likes to be patient in an effort to run the count high while waiting for a fastball. He has power to all fields and is intelligent enough to go the other way with an outside pitch, but isn't effective against breaking balls and changeups.


Baserunning & Defense
Any catcher with knee problems won't scare too many basestealers basepaths, and Hoiles is no exception. His arm often has been criticized during the last few years. Last year he threw out just 15 percent of runners attempting to steal, the worst percentage in the American League.


1998 Outlook
Hoiles long has been the subject of trade rumors in Baltimore, but unless the Orioles sign a free-agent catcher, he's likely to return. The organization has no depth behind the plate, and because Hoiles was signed to a lucrative long-term contract extending through 1999, he will be extremely difficult to trade.
 

Career Notes

1995
Was third on the Orioles in home runs (19) and walks (67) and fifth in RBI (58)...The 67 base on balls marked the third straight year he was registered over 60 and was two short of his career-high....Led all American League catchers with a .996 fielding percentage.

1994
Led the AL in innings-caught with 838.2 ... Hit .556 with the bases loaded.

1993
Increased his batting average, homers and RBI for the fifth straight season ... Voted Most Valuable Oriole by team writers and broadcasters ... Hoiles and New York's Mike Stanley joined Carlton Fisk, Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey as the only American League catchers to bat .300 or better with at least 25 homers in a season ... Led AL catchers in batting average, runs, homers, RBI (tied with Stanley) and slugging percentage ... Averaged a homer every 14.4 at-bats, sixth-best in the majors ... His .310 average was the highest by an AL catcher with a qualifying number of at-bats since California's Brian Downing hit .326 in 1979 ... Batted .333 (61-for-183) with men on base ... Named AL Player of the Month for hitting .364 with eight homers and 22 RBI in September ... Selected to UPI postseason AL all-star team ... Hit six homers June 20-26, batting .615 (16-for-26) during the week ... Threw out 31 of 98 would-be base stealers, a marked improvement over his 16-of-103 mark in 1992.

1992
Finished with the fewest RBI (40) in major league history for a player with at least 20 homers ... Spent 51 days on the disabled list after fracturing a wrist on a pitch by New York's Tim Leary June 21 ... Hit his second career grand slam May 4, off Texas' Todd Burns.

1991
Started 91 games behind the plate and led AL catchers in fielding percentage (.998) ... Led the Orioles in hitting in July (.319) but batted only .224 the rest of the season ... Caught Baltimore's four-man no-hitter July 13 at Oakland and drove in the game-winning run with a fifth-inning single ... Hit his first career grand slam June 23, a ninth-inning blow off Kansas City closer Jeff Montgomery that tied the game.

1990
Was recalled from Class AAA Rochester three times during the season ... Hit his first major league home run June 27 vs. Cleveland in the bottom of the 10th inning, a game-winning, three-run shot off Sergio Valdez.

1989
Appeared in six games with the Orioles, spending the rest of the season at Rochester ... Made his major league debut April 25 at California, grounding out as a pinch-hitter against Bob McClure ... Started at catcher in the Oct. 1 season finale and picked up his first major league hit, an RBI double off Mauro Gozzo.

1988
Traded by the Detroit Tigers with Cesar Mejia and Robinson Garces to the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 9, 1988, to complete and earlier trade in which the Orioles got Fred Lynn.