BIOGRAPHY
Steven Souza Jr. was born April 24, 1989, in Everett, Washington. He is an outfielder in the MLB.
On December 19, 2014, the Nationals traded Souza and Travis Ott to the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-team trade, in which the San Diego Padres traded Joe Ross and a player to be named later (Trea Turner) to the Nationals, the Padres traded Jake Bauers, Burch Smith, and René Rivera to the Rays, and the Padres received Wil Myers, Ryan Hanigan, and Jose Castillo from the Rays.
In 2015, Souza started the season as an opening day starter, with his first home run as a Ray hitting the hotel in Rogers Centre. In August 2015, Souza was placed on the disabled list with a broken hand. Overall, Souza played in 110 games, batting .225/.318/.399 with 16 home runs, 40 RBIs, and 12 steals, playing mainly in right field.
In 2016, Souza once again saw daily playing time, playing in 120 games with the club. Overall, Souza saw improvements in nearly every statistic, batting .247/.303/.409 with 17 home runs and 49 RBIs.
In 2017, Souza started the season by batting .330/.411/.543 in the month of April winning American League Player of the Week for the week of April 23. On May 26, Souza comically made national media after he dove for a ball in Target Field that was almost 30 feet away from him, his next at-bat he received a standing ovation from Twins fans, then promptly launched a home run up into the second deck. On July 15, Souza set a new career-high after hitting his 18th home run of the year into the camera well in Angels Stadium.
In 2021, Souza signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He hit .279 in 22 games with six home runs and 16 RBI for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers before he was called up to the major leagues on June 16. In 13 games, he had four hits in 25 at-bats with one home run before being designated for assignment on July 6. On the season in AAA, he hit .274 in 56 games. Souza was on the Dodgers' roster for their Wild Card victory, flying out in a pinch-hit appearance.
