Nicholas Paul Punto (born November 8, 1977) is an American professional baseball utility player with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. He has played second base, third base, shortstop, and center field with several teams. Punto is a switch hitter and throws right-handed.

Punto is a 1996 graduate of Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, California. After high school, he attended Saddleback College, also in Mission Viejo. His father, Lou, was drafted by the Boston Red Sox. Nick and his wife, Natalie have two children, Nicole Jayne born on May 30, 2008 and a son, Nash.

Punto was drafted in the 21st round of the 1998 MLB Draft and made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies on September 9, 2001.

After playing in a career-high 64 major-league games in 2003, he was acquired by the Minnesota Twins in the 2004 offseason (along with Carlos Silva) for Eric Milton. He started the season with the team, but he was injured twice and spent the majority of his time in 2004 on the disabled list. In 2005, he competed for the starting job at second base, which he eventually won, and in 2006 became the starting third baseman.

Adrian Gonzalez (born May 8, 1982) is a Mexican-American professional baseball first baseman with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball.

Gonzalez was the first overall pick in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft by the Florida Marlins. He was traded to the Texas Rangers, and later to the San Diego Padres, where he was an All-Star selection four times and two-time Gold Glove winner. The four-time Padres team Most Valuable Player (MVP) was traded to the Boston Red Sox before entering the final year of his contract during the 2010 offseason.

Gonzalez was born in San Diego, but played for Mexico in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic. His nicknames include Gonzo and A-Gon.

Gonzalez was projected to be a late first-round pick out of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California, but he advanced with his senior year performance. In June 2000, Gonzalez became the first infield position player to be drafted first overall since Alex Rodriguez in 1993. He was given a $3 million signing bonus by the Florida Marlins. While in the Marlins organization, Gonzalez played with the Gulf Coast League Marlins, Kane County Cougars, Utica Blue Sox, Portland Sea Dogs (2002), Albuquerque Isotopes (2003), and Carolina Mudcats (2003). With the A level Kane County Cougars in his 2nd professional season, Gonzalez hit .312 with 17 home runs and 103 RBI's in 127 games.

Joshua Patrick Beckett (born May 15, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. During his career in the playoffs, he won the 2003 World Series MVP Award with the Florida Marlins, and received the 2007 ALCS MVP award with the Red Sox.

A resident of Spring, Texas, Beckett was discovered by Florida Marlins scout Bob Laurie. Beckett had signed a letter of intent to play with the Texas A&M Aggies but went pro. Beckett spent most of his early years with the Marlins as a member of the team's young staff, but injuries (most frequently blister problems) limited him to only 99 starts (102 appearances) from 2002 to 2005.

Beckett's major league debut was on September 4, 2001, against the Chicago Cubs, in which he gave up one hit over six shutout innings. He finished 2001 with four games started, a 2-2 record, and an ERA of 1.50.

Beckett won the 2003 World Series MVP Award with two strong performances on three days' rest. Teamed up with catcher Iván Rodríguez, he helped the Marlins win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees. During Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, he shut out the Yankees in a complete game, striking out 9 batters and clinching the series by making the tag for the final out.

Carl Demonte "The Perfect Storm" Crawford (born August 5, 1981, in Houston, Texas) is an American professional baseball outfielder who plays for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball. He bats and throws left-handed. Crawford has more triples (110) than any other active baseball player.

Crawford, a native of the Fifth Ward area of Houston, attended Jefferson Davis High School in Houston, Texas, and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In baseball, he batted .638 as a senior. Crawford was offered scholarships to play basketball as a point guard at UCLA. He also had an option to play college football as an option quarterback at Nebraska,USC, Oklahoma, Florida, and Tulsa. He had originally signed a letter of intent to play football for Nebraska but he turned down both offers in favor of a baseball career.

Crawford was drafted by the Devil Rays in the second round (52nd overall) of the 1999 Major League Baseball Draft.

In 2002, the Tampa Bay chapter of the BBWAA named Crawford the Devil Rays' Most Outstanding Rookie and he earned International League Rookie of the Year playing for the AAA Durham Bulls.^{[citation needed]}

David Richard Freese (born April 28, 1983) is an American third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). For the Cardinals, Freese batted .545 with 12 hits in the 2011 National League Championship Series (NLCS), and set a MLB postseason record with 21 runs batted in (RBIs), earning the NLCS MVP Award, World Series MVP Award, and the Babe Ruth Award, naming him the MVP of the MLB postseason.

A star high school player, Freese declined a college baseball scholarship from the University of Missouri, a Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) baseball program in the Big 12 Conference. Needing a break from baseball, he sat out his freshman year of college before feeling a renewed urge to play the game. He transferred to St. Louis Community College-Meramec, a junior college, where he played for one season before transferring to the University of South Alabama.

The San Diego Padres drafted Freese out of South Alabama in the ninth round of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft. Before the 2008 season, the Cardinals acquired Freese for Jim Edmonds. He made his MLB debut on Opening Day 2009 due to an injury to incumbent third baseman Troy Glaus. Despite suffering injuries in his minor league career and first two MLB seasons, Freese emerged as the Cardinals' best hitter during their 2011 World Series championship season.