Cory Joseph Spangenberg is an American professional baseball second baseman for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball.
Education
Spangenberg graduated from Abington Heights High School in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, in 2009. Spangenberg attended the Virginia Military Institute (Virginia Military Institute) in 2010, and played college baseball for the Virginia Military Institute Keydets.
Career
His senior year, he led the Abington Heights Comets varsity baseball team to a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class American Automobile Association state championship. He was named the Big South Conference"s freshman of the year. He transferred to Indian River State College in 2011, stating that the military commitment of Virginia Military Institute took too much time away from baseball and his coursework.
He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the first round, with the 10th overall selection, of the 2011 MLB Draft.
Spangenberg signed with the Padres, receiving a $1.863 million signing bonus. Before the 2012 season, MLB.com rated Spangenberg as the 81st best prospect in baseball.
He played for two teams in 2011, the Lake Elsinore Storm in 2012, and Lake Elsinore and the San Antonio Missions in 2013. While playing for the Missions of the Class Associate of Arts Texas League in 2014, Spangenberg was named the league"s player of the month for July.
The Padres promoted Spangenberg to the major leagues on September 1.
He hit a walk-off home run off Brad Ziegler of the Arizona Diamondbacks in his second Major League game. By June 2015, Spangenberg began to gain playing time at second base, due to the struggles of Jedd Gyorko. He suffered a knee injury in late June and went on the disabled list, returning in mid-August.
Pat Murphy, the Padres" interim manager, had Spangenberg and Gyorko both play shortstop in addition to second base for the Padres later in the season.