Shawn Wooten (born July 24, 1972 in Glendora, California) is a catcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the Boston Red Sox since 2005. Previously, Wooten played with the Anaheim Angels (2000-03) and Philadelphia Phillies (2004). He bats and throws right handed. In a five-season career, Wooten has compiled a .272 batting average with 18 home runs and 86 RBI in 266 games played.
A valuable utility player who can play catcher, first base and third, Wooten showed some nice flashes early at his career, but might have been more than a journeyman if a pair of injuries did not occur. After parts of eight seasons in the minors (he was drafted and signed by the Detroit Tigers), Wooten made it to the majors with the Angels in 2000. He was part of their World Series championship team in 2002 and really earned his ring. Wooten batted .474 in the postseason, third best among all hitters in the playoffs.
In 2001, Wooten spent his first full season in major leagues with Anaheim (qualifying as rookie) after making 25-man roster out of spring training. He opened campaign batting .385 (10-for-26) with three HR and six RBI in April, leading all American League rookies in HR for the month. In June, he led Angels hitters with a .386 average (17-for-44) and was batting .328 (42-for-128) at the All-Star break, second to Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki among AL rookies (based on 125 at-bats). Wooten hit safely in 47 contests, including 17 multi-hit games. His season ended when doctors discovered torn cartilage in his left wrist in September 5 and underwent arthroscopic surgery. At the time, he was hitting .312 (69-for-221) with eight HR and 32 RBI in 79 games, and ranked second among AL first-year players with a .466 slugging percentage. Nevertheless, he was selected for the Baseball Digest and Topps MLB Rookie All-Star teams. At time of injury, his .312 average was second best among AL rookies and tops on Angels' club.
Coming off disabled list in July 2002, Wooten hit .338 (26-for-77) from August-September, including three doubles in a game to tie a team record. He finished with a .292 average in 49 games. In the postseason against the Yankees, Twins and Giants, he hit .474 (9-for-19) with one home run and three RBI in nine games.
In 2003, Wooten posted career highs in games (98), at-bats (272), runs (25) and walks (24), hitting .243 with seven home runs and 32 RBI. Anaheim pitchers posted a 3.81 ERA with him behind the plate. After a knee injury, Wooten was used mainly as a pinch hitter. His .350 pinch-average (7-for-50) tied for 2nd in AL. He signed with the Phillies before the 2004 season, but he missed entire first-half of season due to recurrent injuries which placed him on 60-day disabled list since March 21.
On May 19, 2005, the Boston Red Sox placed reserve catcher Doug Mirabelli on the 15-day DL prior to the interleague series opener with the Atlanta Braves. To replace Mirabelli on the active roster, the Red Sox purchased the contract of Wooten from Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. At this time, Wooten had seven home runs and 27 RBI in 39 games for the PawSox, and was hitting .225 (34-for-151) when he got the call. More important, he was playing every day.
