Richard Robnett

Richard Pryer Robnett, also known as Richie, is a minor league baseball player from the United States of America. Richie attended the Fresno State University, playing varsity baseball before being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers as 961st overall in the 2002 MLB Draft. Richie decided to stay back and not sign with the Dodgers and in 2004, registered for the Draft again, this time going 26th overall in the 1st round, to the Oakland Athletics.

He began at the low A-league with the Vancouver Canadians and had a .299 batting average with 4 home runs in 43 games. The following year, he moved to the Stockton Ports, at the high A-league and batted at .243 and hit 20 home runs.

In 2006, he played at three different levels, starting off initially with the Ports, but playing five games with AA-Midland RockHounds as well as 5 for the AAA-Sacramento River Cats. Overall, in 2006, he batted at an average of .264 with 12 home runs in all leagues. In 2007, he was mainly a part of the RockHounds team but also played for the River Cats on few occasions. He played a total of 131 games in 2007, and hit 18 home runs at an average of .261. Richie won the honour of being named to the Texas League midseason and post season All-Star games.

Towards the end of 2007, the Oakland Athletics purchased his contract to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft and subsequently traded him out to the Chicago Cubs.