Featuring my favorite moment from #4 himself.
Yadier Molina was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB Amateur Draft. On June 3, 2004 at the age of 21 Molina made his MLB debut where he went 2-4 with a double and one run scored.
It was the beginning of what would be a 19-year career with the Cardinals where Molina won 9 Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger, a Roberto Clemente Reward, was a 10-time All Star and a 2-time World Series Champion. Molina played 2,184 games at catcher for the Cardinals, the most in Cardinals history and the fourth most in Major League Baseball behind Hall of Famers Iván Rodríguez (2,427) and Carlton Fisk (2,226), and Bob Boone (2,225).
It is four days until Opening Day and in honor of Yadier Molina, here is one of my favorite Molina moments — and as a bonus it took place during a Spring Training Game.