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Anthony Alford

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Anthony Alford
Alford with the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2015
Toronto Blue Jays
Outfielder
Born: (1994-07-20) July 20, 1994 (age 30)
Columbia, Mississippi
Bats: Right
Throws: Right

Anthony Joseph Alford (born July 20, 1994) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He is ranked 3rd on Major League Baseball's Top 30 Blue Jays prospects list,[1] and 95th on the Top 100 MLB prospects list.[2]

High school & college

Alford attended Petal High School, where he was the quarterback of the football team in addition to playing baseball. As a senior he recorded 2,058 passing yards and 20 passing touchdowns, in addition to 1,731 rushing yards and 24 rushing touchdowns,[3] and played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.[4] In the same year, he batted .483 with 4 home runs and stole 14 bases in 14 attempts.[5]

Minor league career

Alford was projected as a first-round talent going into the 2012 Major League Baseball draft, but made it clear that his intention was to continue playing football, leading many teams to pass over him due to signability concerns. The Toronto Blue Jays drafted Alford in the third round, 112th overall.[6] He signed a contract with Toronto which paid him a $750,000 bonus and allowed him to attend university to play football, and then play baseball in the summer.[6]

Alford made his professional baseball debut as a member of the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays in 2012 and played in five games, where he hit .167 with one home run and four stolen bases.[7] Following the baseball season, he began attending the University of Southern Mississippi as a member of the football team, but transferred to the University of Mississippi after one year following an on-campus fight.[4] Alford played six games in the Gulf Coast League in 2013, batting .227 with two RBI and two stolen bases.[7] Due to NCAA transfer rules, he was not allowed to play football for the Ole Miss Rebels in 2013. The following year, Alford played nine games for the Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League and was then promoted to the Class-A Lansing Lugnuts for five games. In total, he batted .259 with two home runs, five RBI, and five stolen bases.[7] He was relegated to a backup safety role for the Rebels in 2014, and made just six tackles in four games.[4] On September 30, 2014, it was announced that Alford was leaving Ole Miss to join the Blue Jays organization full-time, and planning on attending their fall instructional league before playing in the Australian Baseball League.[6] He would go on to play 36 games with the Canberra Cavalry, and batted .200 with 3 home runs, 8 RBI, and 7 stolen bases.[8]

Alford opened the 2015 season with the Lansing Lugnuts. On June 5, he was named a Midwest League midseason All-Star. At that time, Alford led the league with a .446 on-base percentage.[9] He was promoted to the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays on June 25, and played the remainder of the season there. Alford played in 107 total games in 2015, and batted .298 with 4 home runs, 35 RBI, and 27 stolen bases.[7] He was invited to Major League spring training on January 12, 2016,[10] and reassigned to minor league camp on March 12.[11] Alford was assigned to the Dunedin Blue Jays to open the 2016 minor league season.[12] On June 10, Alford suffered a concussion after colliding with a teammate in the outfield, and needed to be stretchered off the field.[13] He returned from injury on June 22. Alford struggled in 2016, batting at or near the Mendoza line for the first half of the year. Near the end of July, he appeared to find his stroke, raising his season batting average to a high of .249 on August 16.[14] He finished the season with a .236 average, nine home runs, 44 RBI, and 18 stolen bases.[7]

References

  1. ^ "MLB 2016 Prospect Watch". MLB.com. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  2. ^ "2016 Prospect Watch". MLB.com. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  3. ^ Stephens, Mitch (July 16, 2012). "MaxPreps 2011-12 Boys Athlete of the Year: Anthony Alford of Petal". maxpreps.com. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Kellenberger, Hugh (September 30, 2014). "Anthony Alford is leaving the Ole Miss program". clarionledger.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  5. ^ Chisholm, Gregor (October 1, 2014). "Prospect Alford no longer playing football". MLB.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c Lott, John (October 1, 2014). "Toronto Blue Jays prospect Anthony Alford gives up football, will start immediately to catch up on baseball". sports.nationalpost.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Anthony Alford Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  8. ^ "Anthony Alford Stats, Highlights, Bio". web.theabl.com.au. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  9. ^ Goldberg-Strassler, Jesse (June 5, 2015). "Four Lugs named Midwest League All-Stars". milb.com. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  10. ^ "Blue Jays Invite 14 to Spring Training". bluebirdbanter.com. January 12, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  11. ^ "Ben Nicholson-Smith on Twitter". Twitter. March 12, 2016. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  12. ^ Rosenbaum, Mike (April 7, 2016). "Where the Blue Jays' Top 30 prospects are starting the season". MLB.com. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  13. ^ Kennedy, Brendan (June 11, 2016). "Blue Jays' top prospect Anthony Alford suffers concussion". thestar.com. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  14. ^ "Anthony Alford Stats, Highlights, Bio". MiLB.com. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
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