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James Evan Gattis (born August 18, 1986) is an American professional baseball designated hitter for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the Atlanta Braves on April 3, 2013. Gattis has also earned the nickname of "El Oso Blanco" or The White Bear, due to his raw power capabilities, and his large beard. While with Atlanta, he played catcher and occasionally left field. Gattis was a premier amateur baseball player in the Dallas–Fort Worth area through high school. However, anxiety and substance abuse led him to abandon his scholarship to Texas A&M University. After wandering around the Western United States for four years, he returned to baseball, and was drafted by the Braves in 2010. After playing in minor league baseball for the Braves, Gattis made the team's Opening Day roster in 2013. Receiving playing time with Brian McCann on the disabled list, Gattis won the National League Rookie of the Month Award for both April and May 2013. He became the Braves' primary catcher in 2014, but was traded to the Astros before the 2015 season. ==Early life== Gattis grew up in Forney, Texas and began playing baseball at the age of six.〔 His parents divorced when he was eight years old, and at the age of 12, he moved from his mother's house to live with his father's new family. Busy playing baseball, Gattis never processed his parents' divorce.〔 Gattis played for the Dallas Tigers, one of the premier amateur teams in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.〔 Clayton Kershaw was one of his teammates. He played on traveling All-Star teams with Austin Jackson and in the Junior Olympic Games with Billy Butler, Homer Bailey, and Justin Upton. He attended high schools in the Dallas area, including R. L. Turner High School, Forney High School, and Bishop Lynch High School, in order to play for specific coaches.〔 Projected as a potential draft pick in the first eight rounds of the 2004 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft, Gattis instead intimated that he intended to attend college and play college baseball. While Rice University offered him a scholarship to play first base, he accepted an offer from Texas A&M University, who wanted him to play as their catcher.〔〔 However, the divorce of his parents and anxiety derived from the fear of failing at college baseball led Gattis into substance abuse.〔〔 He went undrafted in the 2004 draft.〔〔 Instead of going to college, Gattis' mother took him to a drug rehabilitation facility, where he had a 30-day inpatient stay. He then went to Prescott, Arizona, where he had three months of outpatient therapy while living in a halfway house.〔 Gattis enrolled at Seminole State College, a junior college in Seminole, Oklahoma, after receiving a recruitment phone call from the team's coach. Gattis redshirted as a freshman and played for half a season in 2006.〔 He injured his knee at Seminole State, became burned out on baseball, and quit. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Evan Gattis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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