Gift Ngoepe
| Gift Ngoepe | |||
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| Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 61 | |||
| Shortstop / Second baseman | |||
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Born: 18 January 1990 Randburg, Gauteng, South Africa |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 26, 2017, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |||
| MLB statistics (through May 25, 2017) |
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| Batting average | .235 | ||
| Hits | 12 | ||
| Home runs | 0 | ||
| Runs batted in | 6 | ||
| Teams | |||
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Mpho' Gift Ngoepe (born 18 January 1990) is a South African professional baseball shortstop and second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB).
A native of Randburg, Ngoepe became the first black South African, and the sixth South African to sign a professional baseball contract when he signed in October 2008. When Ngoepe was growing up, his mother was a clubhouse attendant for the Randburg Mets, and they lived in one of the clubhouse rooms. He was invited to Major League Baseball's academy in Tirrenia, Italy, where the Pirates signed him.
In 2009, Ngoepe played for the Gulf Coast League Pirates, and batted .238 with 1 home run and 9 runs batted in (RBI) in 47 games. He was a member of the South Africa national baseball team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. At the 2009 WBC, he hit consecutive triples off of Mexico's Elmer Dessens in a 14–3 loss to Mexico. On 10 August 2009, Sports Illustrated published an article on Ngoepe titled "A Gift From Africa" which covered how he started his baseball career, his upbringing and time with the Pirates since moving from South Africa. In 2010, he played 64 games with the Short Season-A State College Spikes and 2 with the Advanced-A Bradenton Marauders, batting a combined .206 with 1 home run and 20 RBI. Ngoepe played only 27 games in 2011 due to a hamate injury. He batted .297 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI before the injury.
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