page_title: Colby Rasmus
section_title: St. Louis Cardinals
hierarchical_section_title: Colby Rasmus / Professional career / St. Louis Cardinals
caption_attribution_description: Colby Rasmus
context_page_description: Colby Ryan Rasmus is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. He has also played for the United States national baseball team.
context_section_description: On January 23, 2009, the Cardinals gave out 20 non-roster invitations (including three free agents) to spring training, including their top minor-league players Rasmus and Brett Wallace. Rasmus was included in Baseball America's 2009 Top 100 Prospects list as the No. 3 prospect in MLB.
  On April 3, 2009, Rasmus was named to the opening day roster of the Cardinals. He made his major-league debut on April 7 against Pittsburgh at Busch Stadium. He earned his first major league hit in his second career at-bat, on a single to right field off Pittsburgh's Ian Snell. On May 2, he hit his first home run vs. the Washington Nationals while Pujols took a day off.
  On June 19, he had his first four-hit game, in a 10–5 victory against the Kansas City Royals in which Pujols scored his 1000th career run. On July 1, he hit his first career walk-off home run off Bob Howry, giving the Cardinals a 2–1 victory over the San Francisco Giants, leading all NL rookies with eight home runs and 29 RBIs. He was the first Cardinals rookie to hit a game-winning home run since Andy Van Slyke in August 1983. Rasmus hit his first career grand slam against the Cincinnati Reds' Bronson Arroyo. For the 2009 season, he batted .251/.307/.407 with 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 147 games.
  Rasmus returned to St. Louis in 2010. On September 5, 2010, it was reported that Rasmus requested a trade from general manager John Mozeliak because of a shortage of playing time, and a strained relationship with manager Tony La Russa. Rasmus attempted to downplay the rumor, and Mozeliak indicated he would not trade Rasmus. Rasmus finished his second full season with St. Louis with 23 home runs, 66 RBIs, and a .276 batting average in 144 games.
  In the first half of 2011 with the Cardinals, Rasmus batted .246/.332/.420 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs in 94 games.
caption: Rasmus with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011
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