Paul Lo Duca

Full Name: Paul Anthony Lo Duca	Primary Position: C
Height/Weight: 5'10"/205	First Game: June 21, 1998
Birthdate: April 12, 1972	MLB Experience: 10 years
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

Biography[]

Paul Lo Duca (Paul Anthony Lo Duca) was born on April 12, 1972 in Brooklyn, New York. He made his Major League debut on June 21, 1998 for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2001, his rookie year, he hit .320 with 25 home runs and 90 RBI. Lo Duca played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins and New York Mets over the course of his 9 year career.

Most people believe that Paul Lo Duca's best season was 2001, when he slugged 25 home runs, hit for a .320 average and knocked in 90 runs.

Lo Duca was also one of the players that was named in baseball's Mitchell Report. According to the report, Lo Duca met former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski through Todd Hundley. Radomski alleges that he completed at least 6 transactions with Lo Duca, including while he was with the Dodgers and Marlins. Radomski usually sent the packages by overnight mail and Lo Duca would pay by check approximately a week later. This is corroborated by 3 checks that Radomski provided the authorities with, all from Lo Duca and all in the amount of $3,200. Lo Duca's phone number and address were both contained within Radomski's address book.

When discussing the prospect of trading Lo Duca in 2003, Dodgers officials said that "Steroids aren't being used anymore on him...got off the roids...took away a lot of hard line drives," which showed Dodgers management were well appraised of Lo Duca's steroid use. Lo Duca declined to meet with investigators for the Mitchell Report.

Scouting Report[]

Statistics[]

Batting Stats[]

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1998	LA	N	6	14	2	4	0	1	.286	.286	.357	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
1999	LA	N	36	95	11	22	3	11	.232	.312	.337	1	0	10	9	2	1	1	4	3
2000	LA	N	34	65	6	16	2	8	.246	.301	.369	2	0	6	8	0	2	0	0	2
2001	LA	N	125	460	71	147	25	90	.320	.374	.543	28	0	39	30	6	5	2	2	11
2002	LA	N	149	580	74	163	10	64	.281	.330	.402	38	1	34	31	10	4	3	2	20
2003	LA	N	147	568	64	155	7	52	.273	.335	.377	34	2	44	54	10	7	0	6	21
2004	LA	N	91	349	41	105	10	49	.301	.351	.444	18	1	22	27	6	2	2	0	15
2004	FLA	N	52	186	27	48	3	31	.258	.314	.376	11	1	14	22	3	6	2	0	7
2004	TOT	N	143	535	68	153	13	80	.286	.338	.421	29	2	36	49	9	8	4	0	22
2005	FLA	N	132	445	45	126	6	57	.283	.334	.380	23	1	34	31	4	5	4	5	16
2006	NY	N	124	512	80	163	5	49	.318	.355	.428	39	1	24	38	6	7	3	0	15
2007	NY	N	119	445	46	121	9	54	.272	.311	.378	18	1	24	33	6	3	2	4	18
Total			1015	3719	467	1070	80	466	.288	.338	.414	213	8	251	284	53	44	19	23	128

Fielding Stats[]

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	PB	SB	CS	PkO	AVG
1998	LA	N	C	4	2	24	18	2	0	1	1	2	2	0	1.000
1999	LA	N	C	34	27	248	178	21	2	3	0	20	10	0	.990
2000	LA	N	OF	8	0	16	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2000	LA	N	3B	1	1	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2000	LA	N	LF	7	0	12	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2000	LA	N	C	20	14	135	114	13	1	0	0	8	9	0	.992
2000	LA	N	RF	2	0	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2001	LA	N	OF	5	2	28.2	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.900
2001	LA	N	RF	1	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2001	LA	N	C	99	91	801.1	643	53	6	8	4	48	31	0	.991
2001	LA	N	LF	4	2	25.2	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.857
2001	LA	N	1B	33	22	212.2	185	17	2	17	0	0	0	0	.990
2001	LA	N	DH	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
2002	LA	N	1B	18	2	45.2	45	1	1	3	0	0	0	0	.979
2002	LA	N	OF	9	3	34	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2002	LA	N	C	137	136	1184	965	76	8	9	12	93	42	2	.992
2002	LA	N	LF	9	3	34	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2003	LA	N	C	123	120	1080	1014	100	15	14	6	83	57	3	.987
2003	LA	N	LF	6	6	46	10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2003	LA	N	1B	22	17	160.2	158	11	1	14	0	0	0	0	.994
2003	LA	N	OF	6	6	46	10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2004	LA	N	OF	9	8	69	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2004	LA	N	C	81	78	691.2	513	42	3	4	7	54	21	1	.995
2004	LA	N	1B	3	2	19	11	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
2004	LA	N	LF	9	8	69	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
2004	FLA	N	C	49	47	413	330	23	1	5	5	39	15	1	.997
2004	TOT	N	C	130	125	1104.2	843	65	4	9	12	93	36	2	.996
2005	FLA	N	C	128	118	1033.1	815	60	8	8	4	89	29	1	.991
2006	NY	N	C	118	117	1027	802	59	11	4	9	84	27	1	.987
2006	NY	N	DH	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			1B	76	43	438	399	30	4	35	0	0	0	0	.991
Total			DH	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Total			RF	3	0	7	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Total			3B	1	1	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Total			LF	35	19	186.2	38	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.976
Total			C	793	750	6637.1	5392	449	55	56	48	520	243	9	.991
Total			OF	37	19	193.2	43	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.978

Transactions[]

Selected by Los Angeles Dodgers in the 25th round of the free-agent draft (June 3, 1993 - signed July 11, 1993).
Traded by Los Angeles Dodgers with Guillermo Mota and Juan Encarnacion to Florida Marlins in exchange for Hee-Seop Choi, Brad Penny and Bill Murphy (July 30, 2004).
Traded by Florida Marlins to New York Mets in exchange for Gaby Hernandez and Dante Brinkley (December 5, 2005).
Signed a $5 million, one-year deal with the Washington Nationals (December 10, 2007).

Trivia[]

At the start of each game, Lo Duca writes the initials "LL" in the dirt behind home plate, in memory of his mother, Luci.
As a child, Paul's mother Luci would toss pinto beans to him in the back yard and he would use a broomstick to hit them. This technique helped him develop his hand/eye coordination and as a result, he has a very low strikeout rate.
According to an article written by Tom Verducci in the July 17, 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated, Lo Duca was known as "Captain Red Ass" in the Mets clubhouse. The moniker, originally bestowed by then teammate Billy Wagner, refers to Lo Duca's hot temper.
In the 2006 Home Run Derby Lo Duca pitched to David Wright when he made it to the finals.
At times when Paul fouls off a pitch, you can usually hear a snippet of the song Volare, due to the fact that Lo Duca is of Italian ancestry.