Aaron Rowand (born August 29, 1977 in Portland, Oregon) is a center fielder in Major League Baseball who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies after spending several years with the Chicago White Sox. He attended Cal State Fullerton and was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the first round (35th pick) of the 1998 amateur draft.
In 2005 with the White Sox, he had a .270 batting average with 77 runs and 30 doubles. He also hit 13 home runs and stole 16 bases. He is developing his patience, as last year he walked just 32 times compared to 116 strikeouts. Despite that, he had a .329 on base percentage (OBP) and a .407 slugging percentage (SLG). He also collected 235 total bases. In 2005 at center field, he collected 388 putouts and had only three errors. He had a .992 fielding percentage.
The 2005 Chicago White Sox went on to win the World Series. In the postseason, he had a .267 batting average with 8 runs and 6 doubles. He also walked 4 times and had 1 stolen base.
On November 23, 2005, Rowand was traded by the White Sox along with two minor leaguers to the Philadelphia Phillies for first baseman Jim Thome.
On May 11, 2006, in the first inning of a game versus the New York Mets, Rowand made a spectacular play by smashing into the center field fence of Citizens Bank Park face first at full speed in order to reach a ball off the bat of Xavier Nady with the bases loaded, that would otherwise have scored three runs. Rowand suffered a broken nose and severe lacerations to his face. The Phillies won the game, 2-0, in a rain shortened 5 and a half innings of play.
