Former Seattle Mariners Utility Player Willie Bloomquist Has Lived a "Blessed" Baseball Life
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PEORIA, Ariz. -- Former Seattle Mariners utility player Willie Bloomquist spent parts of nine seasons with the M's over the course of his 14-year big league career. In addition to the Mariners, he also played for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals, hitting .269 with 18 homers and 133 stolen bases.
A solid defender, Bloomquist played all over the field during his career, and he was a valuable chess piece for managers to deploy. He even represented Team USA in the World Baseball Classic (2013).
Now, Bloomquist is the head baseball coach at Arizona State University (his alma mater), working at one of the most prestigious programs in the country.
Considering that Bloomquist is a Washington native who got to play for the Mariners and a Sun Devil alum who now oversees the program, it seems as if he's had a very full circle career.
He joined the most recent episode of the "Refuse to Lose" podcast to discuss his baseball life, which he calls "blessed."
It's been, I guess, blessed for lack of a better term and, you know, three years in there with a Diamondbacks too. So I feel like I got to really play in the major leagues for my two hometown teams. I grew up being a Mariners fan, I'll always be a Mariner fan at heart. And getting an opportunity to play there was second to none. I really enjoyed, obviously, my time up in Seattle and playing amongst friends, family and people that I knew. And then, coming down to Arizona State as a college player and those are the best three years of my life and I wouldn't trade that for the world. And to get the opportunity to come back to the Valley and play for the Diamondbacks was huge. And I arguably had my best three years with those guys, numbers wise and career wise. And then to come back to myalma mater and get a chance to coach here, man, I couldn't dream up a better scenario. So, I'm where I'm supposed to be....
You can hear the full interview with Willie Bloomquist in the most recent pod
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