George joins the Cubs after spending all or part of the last six big league seasons with Boston (2008-09), Milwaukee (2010-12), Oakland (2012) and Kansas City (2013) ¡ in 295 big league games, is a .214 hitter (148-for-692) with 40 doubles, 29 home runs and 96 RBI... Has hit 26 of 29 career home runs vs. right-handed pitchers... Recorded the third cycle by a catcher in the live ball era September 3, 2011 at Houston ... was the seventh cycle in Brewers franchise history... Participated in the 2006 All-Star Futures Game in Pittsburgh... Was selected a Southern League All-Star with Double-A Mobile in 2006... Entered the 2006 season ranked as the second-best prospect in the Padres organization by Baseball America... In 2004, led the entire Padres organization with a .310 batting average (84-for-271) with Single-A Fort Wayne. Played for Greece in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens ¡ appeared in four games, batting .250 (3-for-12) with two RBI... Attended Connors State Junior College in Warner, Okla. ... signed with the Padres in 2003 as a draft-and-follow instead of attending the University of Florida on a baseball scholarship... Graduated from Milliken Mills High School in Markham, Ontario, Canada... Grew up just outside of Toronto, Canada, playing competitive fast-pitch softball, but transitioned to baseball.
2013
George served as Kansas City's back-up catcher after he was claimed off waivers from Oakland in January … started 29 games behind the plate, batting .180 (18-for-100) with five homers, 12 RBI and a .370 slugging percentage... Drew 24 walks in just 126 plate appearances, most in the majors among players with 150 plate appearances or fewer … .349 on-base percentage was sixth-highest among American League catchers (min. 40 games)... Went 2-for-8 with four walks as a pinch-hitter... Homered in three-straight starts (6/23 vs. CWS, 7/4 vs. CLE & 7/7 vs. OAK) ... homers on June 23 and July 4 were part of back-to-back jacks.
2012
Opened the campaign with Milwaukee, his third season with the Brewers...was traded to Oakland on July 29 in
exchange for pitcher Fautino De Los Santos...the A's were 17-8 in his 25 starts for the club as they captured the
A.L. West title on the final day of the season...Posted career highs in games, RBI, walks and on-base percentage and tied his career high with 9 home runs (2010)...Hit 6 home runs in 27 games for the A's following the trade, tying for the second-most home runs in Athletics
history by a player with fewer than 30 games in a season...only Mark McGwire, with 9 homers in 27 games in
1993, had more...Posted a .627 slugging percentage with runners on base overall and hit .368 (7-for-19) with a 1.000 slugging
percentage with runners in scoring position for the A's...Posted his first-career two-homer game on August 31 vs. Boston...went 3-for-5 with a career-best 5 RBI in the
20-2 A's rout of the Red Sox, one of his former clubs...Appeared in 4 games in Oakland's Division Series against the Tigers, going 0-for-4 with a sac bunt.
2011
Batted .252 with 5 HR and 17 RBI in 49 games.....made 31 starts, all behind the plate ... Made 22 of his 31 starts when Randy Wolf was pitching ... The team posted a 3.59 ERA when he caught (253ip, 101er) and was 20-11 when he started ... Began the season with Milwaukee before he was outrighted to Triple-A Nashville on 4/21 ... Returned on 6/15 after batting .343 with 4 HR and 21 RBI in 29 games at Nashville ... Notched the seventh cycle in franchise history on 9/3 at Houston as he went 4-for-5 with 2R, a
double, triple, home run and 2 RBI in the 8-2 win.....was his first career 4-hit game ... Signed a 1-year contract on 12/12, avoiding arbitration
2010
Batted .203 with 9 HR and 26 RBI in 67 games during his first season with the Brewers...Spent his first full season in the Major Leagues...Made 60 starts, all behind the plate...The Brewers went 30-30 when he started...The team posted a 4.44 ERA when he caught (541.2ip, 267er)...Threw out 4 of 48 runners attempting to steal (8.3%)...22 of his 43 hits went for extra bases (12 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs)...Tied his career high with 3 hits on 8/29 vs. Pittsburgh, going 3-for-4 with a double and 1 RBI...Appeared off the bench at first base on 4/25 vs. Chicago-NL and 7/28 vs. Cincinnati and in
right field on 7/27 vs. Cincinnati, marking his first career games at those positions
2009
Made his first career Opening Day roster and batted .237 with 1 HR and 10 RBI in 45 games with Boston...Made 25 starts behind the plate, including 18 starts when knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was on the mound...The Red Sox went 14-11 when he started...Red Sox pitchers had a 5.36 ERA in games he caught...(243.2ip, 145er)...Threw out 4 of 30 runners attempting to steal (13.3%)...His first Major League start was on 4/10 at LA of Anaheim as he went 1-for-3...Belted his first Major League home run on 7/3 vs. Seattle with a solo shot off Mark Lowe...Was on the 15-day disabled list from 8/1-8/31 with a lower back strain (retroactive to 7/30)
2008
Spent most of his 2nd full season in the Red Sox organization with Triple-A Pawtucket
but closed out the season in Boston after having his contract purchased on September 8...Made
his major league debut in the first game of a doubleheader on September 13 against Toronto at
Fenway Park...Replaced Jason Varitek as catcher in the 7th inning and scored Boston's only run in
the 8-1 loss...Went 0-for-2 at the plate...Struck out in his first career at-bat but advanced to first
on A.J. Burnett's wild 3rd strike...Collected his first major league hit on September 26, a double in
the 5th inning off New York's Phil Coke.
OH, CANADA: Became the 22nd native Canadian to appear in a game for the Red Sox, the first to
make his big league debut for Boston since Adam Stern in 2005...Is the 3rd Canadian catcher in
Sox history, joining Art McGovern (1905) and Frank Owens (1905).
WITH PAWTUCKET: Hit .243 (96-for-395) in 107 games for Triple-A Pawtucket...Tied for 9th in the
International League with a career-high 22 home runs, surpassing his previous best of 11 set in
2005...Matched the career-high set in 2006 with 65 RBI, tops among IL catchers...Went 12-for-30
(.400) with 3 doubles and a homer to end the regular-season following an 0-for-22 skid...Was 55-
for-198 (.278) over his final 51 regular season games with 10 doubles, 13 homers and 34 RBI in that
span...Homered twice in a game on 2 occasions, June 25 vs. Richmond and April 14 at Louisville...
Ended the PawSox' longest game of the year with a 13th-inning, walk-off single vs. Louisville on
June 12...Started 70 games at catcher and 33 as the designated hitter...Threw out 15 of 80 (19%)
of attempted basestealers.
MORE 2008 HIGHLIGHTS: Went 0-for-8 in 3 post-season games for Pawtucket...Batted .308 (8-for-
26) with 2 RBI in 10 games for the Azucareros del Este of the Dominican Winter League...Was
8-for-19 (.421) with 4 doubles over his final 6 winter league contests...Hit .313 (5-for-16) with a
home run and 4 RBI in 12 spring training games for Boston.
2007
In his first season in the Red Sox organization batted .241 with 9 HR and 39 RBI in 87 games
at Triple-A Pawtucket
2006
SUMMARY: Acquired from San Diego on Sept. 5, Kottaras was added that day to Boston's
40-man roster and assigned to Double-A Portland, where he helped lead the Sea Dogs to the
Eastern League championship...prior to the trade, combined for a .255 batting average with 10
homers and 50 RBIs in 111 games at Double-A Mobile (Southern League) and Triple-A Portland
(Pacific Coast League)...had 29 doubles with a .361 on-base percentage and 62 walks with the two
Padres farm clubs...was named to the Southern League mid-season All-Star Team and played for
the World Team in the 2006 MLB All-Star Futures Fame on July 9...named by
Baseball America as San Diego's No. 2 prospect at the start of 2006, Kottaras hit .276 with eight homers and 33 RBIs in 78 games at Mobile while throwing out 24 of 76 runners (32%) attempting to steal to earn a
promotion to Portland on July 14...hit .210 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 33 games with Portland.
EASTERN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS: Went 8-for-29 (.276) with two doubles, two home runs, eight RBIs, five runs and six walks in eight games for the Sea Dogs in the EL playoffs...in his first game with the Sea Dogs in the Northern Division championship on Sept. 7 at Trenton, walked in his first plate appearance
and then homered in his first official at-bat, a two-run shot in the third inning in Portland's 10-3 victory...went 3-for-9 (.333) with a double, homer, three RBI and three runs in the series vs. Trenton and 5-for-20 (.200) with a double, homer, five RBIs and two runs in the EL championship series vs. Akron.
2005
In just his third minor league season, hit a combined .299 (131-for-438) for Single-A Lake
Elsinore and Double-A Mobile...started the year with the Storm and hit .323 (21-for-65) in April, including a
seven-game hitting streak from April 15-23 when he hit .429 (12-for-28)...hit .306 (57-for-186) in 50 games from
June 1-July 30 before earning a promotion to Mobile on August 2...appeared in 29 games for the BayBears,
hitting .287 with two home runs, seven doubles and 15 RBI...in August, his first full month at Double-A, hit
.310 (27-for-87) with a pair of home runs, including his first coming August 14 when he went 3-for-6 with a
double, a home run and two RBI vs. Montgomery...Caught a total of 109 games, committing just nine errors in 759 total chances (.988%)...
in 25 games with Mobile posted a .995 fielding percentage, allowing just one passed ball.
2004
Batted .310 (84-for-271) with 18 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 46 RBI in 78 games
at Single-A Fort Wayne...led the Padres' organization in batting average...ranked second on the Wizards
with 51 walks...posted a .360 average (31-for-86) with runners in scoring position and a .429 mark (3-for-7)
with the bases loaded...hit safely in a season-high eight consecutive games July 23-31, going 11-for-30 (.367)
with five RBI...the eight-game hit streak helped raise his July average to .345 (30-for-87) in 24 games...went
on to reach base safely via a hit or walk in his final 24 games with Fort Wayne July 10-September 6...played
for Greece in the 2004 Olympic Games...appeared in four games, going 3-for-12 (.250) with one double,
two RBI and one run scored.
2003
Debuted with Rookie-level Idaho Falls, batting .259 (37-for-143) with eight doubles, one triple, seven
homers and 24 RBI in 42 games...ranked second on the Padres in home runs and runs scored (27), and third
in slugging percentage (.476)...caught 12 of 33 would-be basestealers (.364)...drew a career-high five walks
and scored two runs in a 6-5 win August 30 vs. Casper...hit .357 (15-for-42) with five doubles, three homers,
six RBI and 14 runs scored over his final 12 games August 24-September 5.
