Elvis Augusto Andrus Torres (born August 26, 1988) is a Venezuelan-American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago White Sox. He was a two-time All-Star.
Andrus was born in the city of Maracay in Venezuela. As an international prospect, he signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves at the age of 16 in 2005. Entering 2007, he was rated by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect in the Atlanta Braves organization. Midway through the 2007 season, Andrus was traded to Texas. Andrus debuted in the major leagues in 2009 as the Rangers' Opening Day starting shortstop at the age of 20. After the season, he finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
Andrus earned the first All-Star selection of his career in 2010, later receiving a second selection in 2012. Andrus defended the left side of the Rangers' infield next to third baseman Adrián Beltré for eight years, forming a friendship that was noted for the former's practical jokes on the latter. After 12 seasons with the Rangers, Andrus was traded to Oakland in February 2021.
Andrus was starting shortstop with the Athletics for one-and-a-half seasons before being released in 2022. He was then promptly signed by the White Sox, with whom he scored his 1,000th career run. In 2023, he recorded the 2,000th hit of his career and played in his 2,000th game.
Andrus was born in Maracay, Venezuela, the son of Emilio and Elvia Andrus. Emilio Andrus was a university professor; he died when Elvis was seven years old. He has two older brothers, Erold and Erikson. Some Venezuelan families name their children after famous non-Venezuelan people, but Andrus said that he is not sure whether he was named after Elvis Presley. Andrus said, "I asked my mother a lot of times, but she never told me. Maybe my dad liked Elvis Presley. I'm not sure about that."
At the age of 16, Andrus signed with the Atlanta Braves and received a signing bonus of $600,000. He started the 2005 season with the Orlando Braves of the Gulf Coast League, and was promoted to Danville late in the season. He spent 2006 with Class-A Rome, being named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team.
In 2007, Andrus joined the Class A Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League. Andrus was selected to the All-Star Futures Game in 2007 and 2008.
On July 31, 2007, Andrus, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and three minor league pitchers (Matt Harrison, Neftalí Feliz, and Beau Jones) were traded from the Braves to the Rangers for Mark Teixeira and Ron Mahay.
With Rangers shortstop Michael Young agreeing to move to third base in 2009, Andrus earned the starting job on Opening Day. He was the second-youngest player in the American League (AL) at the time, older than only pitcher Rick Porcello. As Andrus was only 20 years old, Texas signed shortstop Omar Vizquel, then 41 years old, for insurance, but Vizquel played only 27 games at shortstop. On May 20, Andrus and second baseman Ian Kinsler turned a triple play, with Kinsler catching a line drive and throwing to Andrus, who stepped on second base to put out a runner who failed to tag up and then tagged a runner who had left first base. Andrus stole his 20th base on July 28, 2009. Andrus was the tenth player in major league history to steal 20 bases under the age of 21. The last player to do so was his then-teammate Andruw Jones, who had accomplished the feat in 1997 with Atlanta. Andrus finished the 2009 season hitting .267 with 6 home runs and 33 stolen bases, finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting, behind reliever Andrew Bailey.
Andrus was named to the 2010 American League All-Star team. That year, he batted .265 with no home runs. He led the AL in sacrifice hits (17), was 2nd in caught stealing (15), and 9th in stolen bases (32). In the postseason, Andrus hit well in the Rangers' first two series, batting .333 with seven steals in 11 games. In the World Series, his performance plummeted, batting .176 with zero extra base hits as the Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants.
In 2011, Andrus batted .279, with 5 home runs. He was 3rd in the AL in sacrifice hits (16), 4th in caught stealing (12), and 5th in stolen bases (37). Defensively, he led all AL shortstops in errors with 25 and was second among league shortstops with 245 putouts and third with 407 assists. In the 2011 postseason, he hit .235 with one double and one base on balls as the Rangers again won the American League pennant but lost the World Series, this time to the St. Louis Cardinals.
In 2012, Andrus earned his second All-Star selection, batting .286 while leading the AL in sacrifice hits with 17. In the 2012 American League Wild Card game, he hit two singles and grounded into a double play as the Rangers fell to the Baltimore Orioles.
On April 1, 2013, Andrus signed an eight-year, $120 million extension with the Rangers. He finished the year again leading the AL in sacrifice hits (16) while batting .271 and scoring 91 runs. He had a career-high 42 stolen bases, which tied for third in the AL.
Andrus began the 2014 season with an 11-game hitting streak that ultimately ended when he was ejected on April 13. On June 8, Andrus had a 39-game hitting streak against the Cleveland Indians snapped as he went 0 for 4. That game marked the first time in his career where he did not get a hit against Cleveland. Only Vladimir Guerrero had a longer streak against one team (with 44, against Texas). Andrus became the Rangers' all-time stolen base leader in 2014, surpassing former teammate Kinsler's 172 steals. However, he led the AL in caught stealing in 2014, with 15 for the season, while batting .263.
Andrus finished 2015 with career lows in batting average (.258), on-base percentage (.309), and sacrifice hits, while posting a then-career-best seven home runs and stealing 25 bases for the AL West champion Rangers. Defensively, he led the major leagues in assists with 516. He batted .182 in the Division Series against the Toronto Blue Jays and made two of the team's three errors in the pivotal seventh inning of Game 5, won by the Blue Jays.
In 2016, his offense bounced back, with a .302 batting average, eight home runs, and 69 RBIs.
In 2017, he posted a career-best offensive season, hitting .297 with 20 home runs and 88 RBIs and 25 steals in 158 games. He led the major leagues in fielding assists with 490.
On April 11, 2018, Angels reliever Keynan Middleton hit Andrus with a pitch on his right arm. X-rays and CT scans showed that Andrus had a fractured right elbow. He was placed on the injured list for the first time of his MLB career. He did not need surgery but had to stop baseball activities for several weeks. He was activated on June 18 from the injured list. Andrus finished 2018 hitting .256/.308/.367 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI.