| Bill Mueller | |
|---|---|
 Mueller with the Boston Red Sox in 2005 | |
| Third baseman | |
| Born: (1971-03-17)March 17, 1971 (age 54) Maryland Heights, Missouri, U.S. | |
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 18, 1996, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 11, 2006, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .291 |
| Home runs | 85 |
| Runs batted in | 493 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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William Richard Mueller (/ˈmɪlər/MIL-ler;[1] born March 17, 1971) is anAmerican former professionalbaseballthird baseman who played inMajor League Baseball (MLB). Mueller's MLB playing career was spent with theSan Francisco Giants (1996–2000, 2002),Chicago Cubs (2001–2002),Boston Red Sox (2003–2005), andLos Angeles Dodgers (2006).
Many of Mueller's accolades came during the 2003 season, when he won theAmerican Leaguebatting title and aSilver Slugger Award. Aswitch hitter, he became the only player in major league history to hit onegrand slam from both sides of the plate in the same game on July 29, 2003. Mueller was the starting third baseman for the Red Sox'2004 World Series championship team that beat theSt. Louis Cardinals. Since his playing career, he has served in MLB as a front office assistant and hitting coach.
Mueller was born inMaryland Heights, Missouri, and attendedDe Smet Jesuit High School. He attendedSouthwest Missouri State University, was a four-year starter for theBears baseball team, and in 2004 inducted into the school's athletics hall of fame.[2] He was named theMVC Player of the Year in 1993, and inducted into their hall of fame in 2020.[2]
In 1992, Mueller playedcollegiate summer baseball in theCape Cod Baseball League for theBourne Braves and was named a league all-star.[3][4] He was drafted by theSan Francisco Giants in the 15th round of the1993 MLB draft.
Mueller made his professional debut with the Giants low A team, theEverett Giants, in 1993 and quickly rose through the Giants farm system, with stops inSan Jose,Shreveport, andPhoenix before making his major league debut with the Giants as apinch hitter on April 18, 1996, against theChicago Cubs. He got his first career hit the following day, also as a pinch hitter, againstTerry Adams.
Mueller played third base for the Giants fairly regularly for five seasons, until he was traded to the Chicago Cubs before the 2001 season for pitcherTim Worrell. (Given that Mueller had by then settled into the Bay Area year-round, the Giants, out of respect for Mueller, delayed the trade several days so that Mueller could attend the Cal-Stanford football game one last time as a local star.[5]) He returned to San Francisco in September 2002 in a trade for minor league pitcher Jeff Verplancke. Before the 2003 season, Mueller was signed by the Boston Red Sox as afree agent. In his first year in Boston, he won theAmerican League batting title with a .326average. He also set career highs with 45 doubles and 19 home runs. Before 2003, he had never hit more than 10 home runs or 29 doubles in any season.
He contributed nearly half of his career home runs during his three years with the Red Sox. Mueller developed a reputation for consistency throughout the major leagues. For five of his ten years in the major leagues, his batting average was between .290 and .295. His minor league numbers were very much the same, consistently between .290 and .310.
Mueller joined the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2006 season and was reunited with former Boston teammateNomar Garciaparra, but played only 32 games before undergoing his third knee surgery, which would prove to be career-ending. Doctors ruled out all known procedures to repair the deteriorating condition in his right knee.[6]
In 1,216 games over 11 seasons, Mueller posted a .291batting average (1229-for-4223) with 663runs, 265doubles, 22triples, 85home runs, 493RBI, 543bases on balls, .373on-base percentage and .425slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .958fielding percentage playing at third and second base. In 36 postseason games, he hit .234 (34-for-145) with 14 runs, eight doubles, one home run, four RBI and 13 walks.
On November 17, 2006, the Dodgers announced that Mueller was retiring as a baseball player, and had been hired as a special assistant to the general manager.[7]
On June 15, 2007, Mueller was named Los Angeles Dodgers interim hitting coach whenEddie Murray was fired. After a month on the job, managerGrady Little announced that the Dodgers would be removing the "interim" tag and that Mueller would remain the teams's hitting coach through the end of the season.[8]
After the season, it was announced that Mueller would be giving up his role as hitting coach to return to a front office position.[9]
Mueller served as a special assistant to General ManagerNed Colletti through the 2012 season, when he left that position to become a full-time scout.[10]
On November 22, 2013, Mueller was named hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs under new managerRick Renteria. On October 7, 2014, he subsequently resigned that position, a week after his assistant,Mike Brumley, was dismissed by the Cubs.[11]
On November 17, 2014, Cardinals GMJohn Mozeliak announced "We have an upcoming deal with Billy Mueller." on the hiring of a Cardinals new assistant hitting coach.[12]
Mueller was named the first-base coach after third-base coachJose Oquendo was placed on medical leave of absence on March 27, 2016.[13] After being named assistant hitting coach for the 2017 season, he missed part of the first half after taking a personal leave of absence, but returned on June 27.[14] Mueller was fired by the Cardinals along with managerMike Matheny on July 14, 2018.[15]
On January 17, 2022, Mueller was hired by theWashington Nationals as part of the team's player development staff.[16]
On January 19, 2024, Mueller was hired as the assistant hitting coach for theMiami Marlins.[17] On October 2, 2024, Mueller was fired alongside the entirety of the Marlins coaching staff.[18]
Mueller became anevangelical Christian in 2000.[19]
| Preceded by | Los Angeles Dodgershitting coach 2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chicago Cubshitting coach 2014 | Succeeded by |
