He, his wife Lily, daughter Aide Rose (6/4/00) and son Ishmael (11/3/03) reside in Miami, FL during the off-season...Graduated from Santa Clara High School in Santo Domingo, DR in 1991...played baseball and was a two-time most valuable player in basketball...Attended Miami Dade Community College...Honored with the Stockton/Broeg Award by the St. Louis Chapter of the BBWAA for outstanding achievement in both 2000 and 2001...Actively participates with Tigers Dreams Come True and the Detroit Tigers Autographed Memorabilia Donation Program, served as a spokeman for Fiesta Tigres! with his wife Lily and he visited and interacted with patients at DMC Children's Hospital of Michigan along with his wife Lily.

Hit .307 in 141 games for the Tigers during the 2008 season, marking the third time in his four seasons with the club he has hit .300-or-better...Fanned once every 14.6 plate appearances -- hardest batter in the American League to strike out...Topped all league second basemen with 323 putouts...Tabbed the best hit-and-run artist and best defensive second baseman in the American League by Baseball America...Committed his first error at second base since July 1, 2006 at Pittsburgh on April 8 at Boston, snapping a stretch of 186 errorless games and 911 total errorless chances -- both established major league records for a second baseman...Connected for two home runs on April 30 at Yankee Stadium against New York to equal a career high -- according to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first Tigers player with a multiple-home run game at Yankee Stadium since Cecil Fielder on May 9, 1996...equaled the high with two home runs on August 5 at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field against the White Sox...Equaled a career best with five hits on May 7 versus Boston -- according to the Elias Sports Bureau, he became the first Tigers player with five hits and a walk-off RBI in the same game since Kirk Gibson on May 14, 1982 versus Minnesota...Tied for third in the American League with 10 doubles during May, while he tied for seventh with 35 hits -- hit .330 (35x106) in 27 games during the month...Collected multiple hits in five straight games June 8-12 -- matched his longest such single-season streak, established August 15-20, 2005...Posted a season-best 11-game hitting streak June 8-20, batting .500 (24x48) with nine runs scored, three doubles, a triple, home run and nine RBI -- equaled the high with an 11-game hitting streak July 12-27, batting .333 (17x51) with 13 runs scored, four doubles, a home run and three RBI...Led all American League players with a .386 batting average (39x101) in 24 games during June, while he tied for third with 39 hits...scored 16 runs during the month, while he collected four doubles, a triple, home run and 14 RBI...Batted .317 (33x104) with 20 runs scored, seven doubles, two triples, three home runs and 13 RBI in 25 games during August..Hit .321 (52x162) against lefthanded pitchers -- sixth in the American League with a .321 batting average versus lefties...batted .301 (126x418) with righties on the mound...Batted .315 (91x289) in 68 games on the road...hit .299 (87x291) in 73 games at Comerica Park.