Troy Tulowitzki · Biography

On April 29, 2007, at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado Rockies rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki recorded all three outs of a single play against the Atlanta Braves: an unassisted triple play, the 13th ever turned in the major leagues. Troy Trevor Tulowitzki, known as “Tulo,” was born on October 10, 1984, in Santa Clara, California. He batted and threw right-handed and played thirteen major league seasons between 2006 and 2019 for the Rockies, the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees.

Growing up in California

He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and played high school baseball at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale. He then spent three seasons at California State University, Long Beach, with the Long Beach State Dirtbags. In 2004 he was part of the United States team that won gold at the World University Baseball Championship in Tainan, Taiwan. The Rockies took him seventh overall in the first round of the 2005 draft and signed him for a $2.3 million bonus. He made his professional debut that summer with Modesto and spent 2006 at Double-A Tulsa, earning the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year award.

Debut and the 2007 World Series

He reached the majors on August 30, 2006, against the New York Mets. In 2007, his first full season, he hit 24 home runs and set the record for runs batted in by a rookie shortstop. He finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting, 128 points to 126 behind Ryan Braun. On October 1, 2007, he scored the tying run in the 13th inning of the tiebreaker game for the NL Wild Card, which Colorado went on to win. The Rockies reached the World Series for the first time, where the Boston Red Sox swept them in four games.

Colorado’s shortstop

In January 2008 he signed a six-year, $31 million extension. On August 10, 2009, he hit for the cycle. In 2010 he made his first All-Star team, was named National League Player of the Month for September and won both the Gold Glove and the Silver Slugger, a double he repeated in 2011. On November 29, 2010, the Rockies extended him again with a six-year deal worth about $120 million. He returned to the All-Star Game in 2011, 2013 and 2014, and won the Fielding Bible Award in 2007, 2010 and 2011.

Toronto and the 2015 postseason

On July 28, 2015, Colorado traded him and reliever LaTroy Hawkins to the Blue Jays for José Reyes, Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesús Tinoco. That year brought his fifth All-Star selection. With him in the lineup, Toronto went 43-18 and won the American League East. In Game 3 of the Division Series against the Texas Rangers, with the Blue Jays one loss from elimination, he hit a three-run homer; in Game 3 of the Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals he added another three-run shot in an 11-8 win. Kansas City took the series in six games. Injuries cost him much of 2017 and all of 2018, when he underwent surgery, and Toronto released him on December 11, 2018.

New York and retirement

On January 4, 2019, he signed a one-year contract with the Yankees for the league minimum of $555,000. He played five games before a left calf strain sent him to the injured list, and he announced his retirement on July 25, 2019. He finished with 1,291 games, a.290 batting average, 1,391 hits, 225 home runs and 780 runs batted in.

Coaching at Texas

Within hours of retiring he joined the staff of the Texas Longhorns, where he served as an assistant coach from 2020 to 2022, working with hitters and infielders. In 2021 he also coached the USA Baseball collegiate national team. He spent the 2024 season as Texas’ director of player development and that year was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. In June 2024, after Michael Earley left to become head coach at Texas A&M, new head coach Jim Schlossnagle brought him back as the Longhorns’ hitting coach.