Pedro Julio Feliz (born April 27, 1975), is a Dominican former professional baseball third baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, and St. Louis Cardinals. Feliz hit 20 or more home runs in four of his first five seasons as a starting third baseman and was an above-average fielder at that position. He spent the first eight years of his MLB career with the San Francisco Giants (–), before signing a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, in . Baseball career Minor leagues Feliz was signed by the San Francisco Giants, as an amateur free agent, on February 7, 1994. He spent parts of seven seasons in the Giants' farm system before being called up to the Giants when the rosters expanded, in September 2000. San Francisco Giants Feliz played for the Giants from 2000 to 2007 and was their only homegrown position player, from through 2007. After a few seasons coming off the bench and starting occasionally, a number of Giants players sustained injuries, allowing him to become a regular player, in . Feliz filled in for regular Edgardo Alfonzo for 51 games at third base, spelled J. T. Snow for 70 games at first base, appeared in 20 games at shortstop, and played four games in the outfield. With the bat, Feliz posted career highs in batting average (BA) (.276), HR (22), runs batted in (RBI) (84), at-bats (AB) (603), and games played (G) (144), that season. Feliz had moved around defensively throughout his early big league career, especially during the Giants' injury-riddled season. By 2007, he had settled into the role of the Giants' starting third baseman. Although Feliz was a decent power hitter, his career batting average prior to the season was only .255, and he seldom walked, as evidenced by his on-base percentage (OBP) never surpassing the .305 mark, and his OPS never exceeding .793. He has often been criticized for his lack of patience at the plate. In 2006, Feliz struck out a career-high 112 times. On June 8, 2007, in a game against the Oakland Athletics, Feliz played catcher for the first time in his major league career. During that game, the Giants' starting catcher Bengie Molina was lifted from the game, as part of a double switch. Their backup catcher, Eliézer Alfonzo, was injured on a play at the plate and