LANCE NIEKRO

'Lance Joseph Niekro' (born January 28, 1979 in Winter Haven, Florida) is a Major League Baseball player, nephew of Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, and son of former player Joe Niekro. Niekro attended Florida Southern College, and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the second round of the 2000 amateur draft.
Currently, Niekro is a first baseman for the Giants. He began his professional career as a third baseman, but moved to first base in the minor leagues due to injury. Like his father and uncle, Niekro can throw a knuckleball, and was first allowed to pitch professionally for the Fresno Grizzlies in August of 2007.
Niekro first reached the Major Leagues in 2003, but only had five at-bats. He saw more substantial playing time in 2005, when he split time with J.T. Snow at first base and played in 113 games, finishing the season with a .252 batting average, 12 home runs, and 46 RBIs in 278 at-bats.
Following the 2005 season, Snow and the Giants parted ways. As a result, Niekro was given his shot as the everyday first baseman, but has since been sent down. His replacements have been Mark Sweeney, Travis Ishikawa, Chad Santos, and Shea Hillenbrand.
On May 4, 2007, the Giants optioned Lance Neikro for assignment and recalled Scott Munter from Triple A Fresno. He was later optioned to Fresno when no other team claimed him.

Contents

See also

Career Stats

External links

See also

★ List of second generation MLB players

Career Stats

★ 2003/SFG: 0 HR, 2 RBI, .200 AVG

★ 2005/SFG: 12 HR, 46 RBI, .252 AVG

★ 2006/SFG: 5 HR, 31 RBI, .246

★ 2007/SFG: IN PROGRESS

★ TOTALS: 17 HR, 79 RBI, .248

External links

★

★ Lance Niekro Stats at RotoWire.com

★ Baseball Reference

★ MLB