Early life

Roberts is the son of a retired Marine in Japan (Waymon Roberts) and a Japanese mother (Eiko). He also has a sister (Melissa). His childhood was spent moving from one military base to another before settling in San Diego, California.

Roberts attended Vista High School as a freshman and was the MVP of the junior varsity baseball team. He transferred to Rancho Buena Vista High School when it opened the following year, where he was a standout in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, he was a three-year starter at quarterback; as a senior, he helped lead his team to the San Diego Section Class 3A championship. Roberts was recruited to play football for the Air Force Academy as an option quarterback, but declined because he wanted to play baseball.

Roberts decided to attend UCLA and joined the Bruins baseball team as a walk-on outfielder after impressing coaches with his speed and enthusiasm. He hit .331 as a sophomore with 36 stolen bases and as a junior he hit .296 with 28 steals. The Cleveland Indians drafted him in the 47th round of the 1993 MLB draft. He was disappointed with being drafted so low, behind seven other UCLA juniors, and his coach told him that he needed to improve his defense, and that his weak throwing arm was hurting his draft stock. He improved by getting to the ball quicker and was able to lead the Bruins in outfield assists as a senior, while also hitting .353 with 45 steals. He left UCLA as the school's all-time stolen-base leader and graduated with his Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1995.

Professional baseball career

Detroit Tigers

Roberts was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 28th round of the 1994 MLB draft and signed with them on June 9, 1994. He began his career with the Jamestown Jammers, the Tigers short-season class "A" team in the New York-Pennsylvania League. Roberts hit .292 with 12 steals for the Jammers, who won the division title with a 42-32 record. For the 1995 season, he was promoted to play for the Lakeland Tigers in the Florida State League, where he hit .303 in 92 games with 30 stolen bases, fourth best in the league.

In 1996, Roberts was assigned to the Visalia Oaks of the California League. The Oaks were a co-op team made up of players from several organizations. He was frustrated with the assignment and thought about quitting baseball but his father talked him out of it. In 126 games, he hit .272 with 65 stolen bases, which led all of minor league baseball and he scored 112 runs, tops in the Cal League. He appeared in three games for the AA Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League at the end of the season and had two hits in nine at-bats. He also hit a three-run home run in the 15th inning to help the Suns win game 1 of their playoff series. The following season, he remained at Jacksonville and played in 105 games for them, with a .296 average and 23 steals. In 1998, Roberts once again began the season with the Suns. He played in 69 games and hit .326 with 21 stolen bases and was named to the Southern League mid-season all-star team.

Cleveland Indians

In June 1998, Roberts and Tim Worrell were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Gerónimo Berroa. Roberts was traded just prior to the Southern League all-star game and played in the game wearing an Indians hat even though the Indians did not have a Southern League team at the time. He was assigned to the Akron Aeros of the Eastern League where he batted .361 in 56 games with 28 steals. He was promoted to the Buffalo Bisons, the Indians Triple-A team in the International League late in the season. He had only two hits in fifteen at-bats for the Bisons but remained with the team in the playoffs, as the Bisons won their first Governors' Cup in nearly 40 years and made it to the Triple-A World Series. Roberts would later say that his promotion to Buffalo was exciting to him because he realized he was getting close to the big leagues and his time there really allowed him to become a better ballplayer.

Roberts was a non-roster invitee at Indians spring training in 1999 but was assigned to Buffalo to start the season. In 89 games for the Bisons, he had a .271 batting average with 39 steals. He earned International League all-star honors for the season. He had his contract purchased by the Indians on August 7, 1999 and he made his major league debut batting leadoff and playing center field for the Indians against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In his debut he had three hits in five at-bats and stole a base, though he was also picked off once. His first MLB hit was a double to center field in his second at-bat, off of Bobby Witt of the Devil Rays in the second inning. He hit his first home run, on August 30 off of Ramón Ortiz of the Anaheim Angels. On September 24, he hit a grand slam homer off of John Hudek of the Toronto Blue Jays. Overall, he was in 41 games for the Indians in 1999 and hit .238 with two homers, 12 RBI and 11 stolen bases. He also appeared in two games of the 1999 American League Division Series (ALDS), going hitless in three at-bats.

Roberts spent most of 2000 back in the minors with Buffalo, where he had a .292 average in 120 games with a career high 13 homers, 55 RBI and 39 steals. He also was second in the league with 93 runs scored. He was called up to the Indians briefly from May 26-29 and then was called up when rosters expanded in September. In 19 games for the Indians, he had only two hits in 10 at-bats while being used primarily as a late-game defensive replacement. After the season, he had surgery on his left shoulder to repair a torn labrum and fraying around his rotator cuff, which caused him to begin the following season on the 60-day disabled list. When he returned on June 24, he was optioned back to the Bisons where he hit .303 in 62 games. His 97 career steals in parts of four seasons in Buffalo ranks as the tops in franchise history and he would eventually be selected to the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame. He was again recalled to the majors in September and had four hits in 12 at-bats in 15 games for the Indians. In parts of three seasons with Cleveland, he hit .242 in 75 games.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On December 22, 2001, Roberts was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league pitchers Christian Bridenbaugh and Nial Hughes. The 2002 season with the Dodgers was Roberts first full season on a major league roster and he was the Dodgers leadoff hitter and starting center fielder. He finished the season with a .277 batting average in 127 games with 45 stolen bases. He missed the final seven games of the regular season with a partially torn oblique.

In 2003, Roberts only appeared in 107 games due to neck and hamstring injuries and hit .250 while stealing 40 bases He was the 10th Dodgers player in history with consecutive 40 steal seasons and committed his first career error on April 22 against the Cincinnati Reds, snapping a streak of 406 attempts without an error. He began the 2004 campaign with the Dodgers and hit .253 in 68 games with 33 steals despite missing most of May with a strained hamstring.

Boston Red Sox

On July 31, 2004, the Dodgers traded Roberts to the Boston Red Sox for minor league outfielder Henri Stanley. He played in 45 games for the Red Sox and hit .256. However, Roberts made a large contribution to the 2004 Red Sox' post-season, even though he did not play in the 2004 World Series. Most notable was his stolen base against the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series Game 4. The Red Sox were facing elimination in the bottom of the ninth inning, down 4 runs to 3. Kevin Millar drew a walk from Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Roberts, who had not played in ten days, came in to pinch run with Bill Mueller now at the plate. Rivera checked Roberts three times (the last of which almost picked the runner off) before throwing a pitch to Mueller. On the next pitch, Roberts stole second base, just beating the throw from Yankee catcher Jorge Posada. Mueller followed with a single, Roberts scored, and the Sox went on to win in twelve innings and began their run of eight straight wins, culminating in Boston's first World Series title since 1918. In 2006, the event was recognized as a Memorable Moment in Red Sox history by the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

San Diego Padres

The Red Sox traded Roberts to the San Diego Padres on December 20, 2004 in exchange for outfielder Jay Payton, infielder Ramón Vázquez, minor league pitcher David Pauley and cash.

Roberts played center field for the Padres in 2005, hitting .275 in 115 games. and then moved to left field when they acquired Gold Glove winner Mike Cameron from the New York Mets before the 2006 season. That 2006 season, Roberts established career highs with a .293 batting average, 49 steals, and 13 triples, the latter mark tying Tony Gwynn's 19-year single-season franchise record. In the 2006 National League Division Series, Roberts hit .438 to lead the Padres, though they still were eliminated from the playoffs by the St. Louis Cardinals.

San Francisco Giants

In December 2006, Roberts signed with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants, trying to acquire a center fielder, first tried to sign Gary Matthews, Jr. and Juan Pierre, but both players passed on the Giants in favor of other teams. Roberts agreed to a 3-year, $18-million deal with the team in early December 2006. The Giants backloaded the deal, agreeing to pay Roberts $5 million in 2007 and $6.5 million in 2008 and 2009.

Roberts' career with the Giants got off to a slow start because of injury. He spent most of May and early June on the disabled list. Roberts was batting only .216 before he went on the disabled list, but his swing had been hampered by the bone chips and spurs in his elbow that required surgery. He finished the season, hitting .260 in 114 games with 31 stolen bases. Continually bothered by injuries, he only played in 52 games in 2008, hitting a career low .224 with only five steals.

On March 5, 2009 Roberts was released by the Giants, despite the team still owing him the last year of his contract.

Player profile

Roberts had above-average knowledge of the strike zone. He had little power, but was a spray hitter who used raw speed to get on base and stretch singles to doubles. Once on base, he commonly "manufactured" runs by employing such tactics as stealing second base, moving to third on a grounder, and coming home on a sacrifice fly. When he was healthy, Roberts was widely known as one of the best base stealers in baseball. From 2002 to 2006, Roberts had 195 steals, as well as an 81 percent success rate, both of which were the second-best in the majors among base stealers with 175 steals just behind stolen base king Rickey Henderson in the career stolen base rate rankings. Roberts had exceptional range in the outfield, but his below-average arm occasionally allowed his opponents to take extra bases on him.

Post-playing career

Broadcaster and coach

In May 2009, Roberts retired from baseball and joined NESN as a studio analyst and occasional color commentator for Red Sox telecasts. After one season as a broadcaster, he left the network to join the Padres as a Baseball Operations Special Assistant, where he would work with players in the organization on outfield defense, base running and bunting.

On October 18, 2010, Roberts replaced Rick Renteria as the Padres' first base coach when Rentería was promoted to bench coach. When Rentería was named manager of the Chicago Cubs after the 2013 season, Roberts once again succeeded him, named as manager Bud Black's bench coach for the 2014 campaign.

On June 15, 2015, Roberts filled in as the Padres' manager for one game when Black was fired after starting 2015 at 32-33 and six games behind in the National League West. The Padres lost that game 9-1 to the Oakland Athletics. Pat Murphy was named as the new manager the next day and Roberts returned to his bench coach role for the rest of the season.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager

On November 23, 2015, Roberts was named the Los Angeles Dodgers' new manager.

Managerial record

As of May 25, 2016

Team	From	To	Regular season record			Post-season record
			W	L	Win %	W	L	Win %
San Diego Padres	2015		0	1	.000	0	0	-
Los Angeles Dodgers	2016		25	23	.521	0	0	-
Total			25	24	.510	0	0	-	Reference:

Personal life

Roberts married his high school girlfriend, Tricia, in 1997 and they have two children, Cole and Emmerson. The Roberts, along with former teammate Rich Aurilia and friends John and Noelle Micek, have been partners in Red Stitch Winery based in Cardiff, California since 2008.

In March 2010, Roberts was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. By June 2011, after receiving treatments for lymphoma, Roberts reported he had received a clean bill of health.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]