Ryan Theriot

Ryan Theriot is a former professional baseball player who played both shortstop and second base for eight years in the MLB, including parts of six seasons with the Chicago Cubs.

Theriot was a brilliant college player for Louisiana State University (LSU), where he actually had quite a few run-ins with future Cubs teammates. On June 12, 2000, Theriot broke up a no-hitter that was being thrown by Mark Prior, then pitching for the University of Southern California (USC). He moved off second base that season to shortstop in order to accommodate Mike Fontenot. For what it's worth, he also scored the game-winning run in the 2000 national championship game, marking the fifth CWS title for LSU in nine seasons.

Selected in the third round of the 2001 MLB Draft by the Cubs, Theriot toiled away in the minors for a few seasons before breaking out at Double-A in 2005 with a .303 batting average and .755 OPS in 120 games. He was promoted to the majors for an end-of-season cup of coffee, but it wasn't until 2006 that Theriot became a cult hero. After spending most of the season at Triple-A, Theriot got 53 starts worth of action at second base and hit like an MVP, slashing .328/.412/.522 with 13 steals in just 134 at-bats.

Ostensibly, he was tasked with winning a starting job in the infield for the 2007 season, but César Izturis didn't provide much resistance. For the second time in his life, Theriot moved off second base to shortstop for the sake of second baseman Mike Fontenot, and the two would form the double-play tandem for the Cubs for the next three years. Theriot kind of peaked in that 2006 spurt, though he did rank first in the NL for most singles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, coming in sixth in the NL Batting Title race in 2008 (.307 average).

Unfortunately, the good times came to an end in 2010, when the Cubs took Theriot to an arbitration hearing, marking the first time since 1993 they had done so with a player (the Cubs won the case). Theriot moved back to second base once Starlin Castro debuted in May, and the writing was on the wall. At the trade deadline, the Cubs dealt Theriot and Ted Lilly to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Blake DeWitt (and, just a few weeks later, sent Fontenot packing in a separate trade). The second baseman lasted just a half-season with the Dodgers before getting traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for the 2011 season.

Of course, Theriot won the 2011 World Series with the Cardinals, notching eight hits in the postseason with St. Louis. In free agency that winter, he joined the San Francisco Giants on a one-year deal. Against all odds, Theriot competed with Fontenot for a job on the Giants' 2012 roster in spring training, ultimately winning out. He won his second straight World Series with the team, scoring the series-clinching run in Game 4 in what turned out to be his final MLB action. After sitting out the 2013 season, Theriot retired in January 2014.