Everth Cabrera Made His MLB Debut Five Years Ago Today

This day five years ago two players made their major league debut with the Padres. One of them only lasted five more games, but you didn't click on a link about Walter Silva. Twenty-two-year-old Everth Cabrera, a 2008 Rule 5 draft pick from the Rockies organization, started at shortstop, batting eighth. In addition to getting his first game in the books, young Evy checked off a few more milestone firsts that Wednesday night at Petco Park.

Cabrera made his first defensive play early on, collecting an assist on a weak ground ball hit by Dodgers second baseman Orlando Hudson on the fourth pitch of the contest. Little did anyone know that two years later Hudson would sign with San Diego and take Cabrera's uniform number 1, leading him to take the 2 he wears to this day. Hudson was also involved in Cabrera's first at-bat; with two outs in the bottom of the second Everth tapped a 2-2 pitch to second for the 4-3 putout.

Everth got his second chance at the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning. He worked the count full before earning his first walk and eventually came around to score his first run on a sacrifice fly struck by David Eckstein. That run tied the game at twos, but it would be short-lived.

The Dodgers put three unanswered runs on the board by the next time Cabrera went to bat. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Everth ripped a liner to deep left-center for his first hit and first double. He moved to third base on a wild pitch, but that was as close to scoring he or the rest of the Padres would get the rest of the night, as Los Angeles held on for the 5-2 win.

After that impressive first game, Cabrera fell off a bit before hitting the 60-day DL with a fractured hamate bone, which he had removed. His game picked up when he returned, and he finished his rookie campaign with a .255 batting average to go along with eight triples and 25 steals in just 103 games.