Ian Stewart

Ian Kenneth Stewart is a professional baseball played from the United States of America and plays as an infielder. Stewart went to the La Quinta High School and straight out of high school, he was picked in the first round of the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft by the Colorado Rockies.

Stewart began with a wonderful sense of promise about him, in the Rookie League. Soon his .401 on-base percentage and .558 slugging percentage propelled him into the Low A-League where Stewart had a .398 on-base percentage and a .594 slugging percentage. He was ranked fourth on the best prospects list of the Colorado Rockies, by Baseball America in 2004.

In 2005, with the Modesto A’s, Advanced A-League didn’t go as planned for Stewart as he began slowing down in his journey. He attended an extended Spring Training session and returned in June 2005 to the Modesto A’s. Despite poor hitting, Stewart had been consistently improving in defense however that too saw a downturn in the new season.

Towards the end of the season, there was a late surge by Stewart that saw him finish with a .353 on-base percentage and a .497 slugging percentage. Despite his improvement, all scouts and managers noticed his innate tendency to strike himself out in an almost self-destructive manner.

At the end of the minor league season in 2005, Stewart went to play in the Arizona Fall League and ended up injuring his wrist. That was the end of his 2005 season.

Stewart returned to action in 2006 and was invited by the Colorado Rockies to attend the Spring Training session. Stewart played well, hitting 6 homers and averaging over .400 in his first few games. That led the Rockies to assign him to the AA Texas League at Tulsa. Stewart continued his early Spring Training form but soon fell back into a slump. He was averaging .235 in May when injury struck again. 10 games later, Stewart was back stronger than before and finished the season with a .351 on-base percentage and a .452 slugging average.

In 2007, he continued in the minors and made it to the All-Star Futures Game. After Jeff Baker was injured in August 2007, The Rockies called up Stewart and ten days later, he repaid them with a grand slam home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates, his first home run in the majors.

Stewart juggled his time between the Rockies and the Colorado Spring Sky Sox. In 2008, he had his official rookie year in the Majors and was named Rookie of the Month in July 2008. Stewart had a .432 batting average in the month with 1 homer, 8 runs scored and 15 RBI in 12 games. He had a .614 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage, clearly deserving the award.

Stewart has since become a regular with the Major League team.