Andre King

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Andre Omar King

BR Minors page

Biographical information[edit]

Andre King is a former minor league baseball outfielder who played from 1993 to 1997 in the farm systems of four different organizations. He was later a wide receiver and return man for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL from 2001 to 2004.

King hit .492 as a high school senior, earning him second-team High School All-American honors from Baseball America as Trot Nixon, Torii Hunter and Charles Peterson made the first team. Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the second round (66th overall) of the 1993 amateur draft, King began his professional career that year with the Danville Braves. In 60 games there, he hit .309 with no home runs, 18 RBI and 15 stolen bases. He led the team in runs scored (41) and hit by pitch (5). He was second on the team in hits (his 69 trailed Damon Hollins' 77), triples (his 6 trailed Michael Wieser's 8) stolen bases (he had 15, Ken Warner had 16) and walks (he had 40, Wieser had 76). He stole 36 bases to put his OBP around .405. He was 8th in the Appalachian League in batting average and made the League All-Star team as an outfielder, along with Hollins and Randy Warner. League managers rated him as the #3 prospect in the circuit, behind Hollins and Jay Witasick and ahead of players such as Preston Wilson, Alex Ramirez and Calvin Maduro. Baseball America ranked him the #9 prospect in the Braves system going into 1994.

King really slumped in 1994, playing in 129 games for the Macon Braves, collecting 122 hits in 496 at-bats for a .246 batting average. He had an OBP of .339 and slugged .313. He hit four home runs, drove 38 runs in and stole 31 bases. He led the team that year in strikeouts (139), sacrifice hits (12) and he tied with Jermaine Dye for the team lead in caught stealing (10). He was second on the team in games played (his 129 trailed Dye's and John Knott's 135), at-bats (his 496 trailed Dye's 506), runs (his 80 trailed Knott's 91), walks (he had 34, Knott: 66) and hit by pitch (he had 15, Knott - 18). He also tied Gator McBride for second on the team in triples. They both had 6, while Wonderful Monds had 12. King led the South Atlantic League in sacrifice hits.

In 1995, King started the season with the Durham Bulls. With the Bulls, he hit .252/~.315/.382 with 9 home runs, 33 RBI and 15 steals (caught 13 times) in 111 games. He led the team in at-bats (421), doubles (22) and strikeouts (126). He tied with Knott for the team lead in triples, with 3. He was second on the team in runs (his 59 trailed McBride's 60) and hits (his 106 trailed Randall Simon's 111).

On August 25, 1995, King was traded straight-up to the White Sox for outfielder Mike Devereaux. He played in only 9 games in the White Sox farm system that year, all for the Prince William Cannons. He hit .156 in 32 at-bats. King did not make an error the entire season, leading the Carolina League's outfielders in fielding percentage with his perfect mark.

The St. Louis Cardinals organization picked up King in the 1995 Rule V Draft but he never played a game in their system. Ron Schueler, Chicago's General Manager, said: "It's tough to lose him" but that they had other players they needed to put on the 40-man roster. That same day, on December 4th, King was involved in a three-team deal involving the Kansas City Royals, the Cincinnati Reds and the Cardinals. The Reds sent P Mike Remlinger to the Royals. The Reds then sent IF Luis Ordaz to the Cardinals. The Royals sent OF Miguel Mejia to the Cardinals and the Cardinals sent King to the Reds.

King would spend only one season in the Reds farm system - 1996. He split time with the Winston-Salem Warthogs (82 games) and Chattanooga Lookouts (13 games). Combined, he hit .174 in 304 at-bats - .192/~.285/.341 for the Warthogs and .070/~.091/.116 for the Lookouts. He hit 8 home runs with 32 RBI and 16 steals in 24 attempts.

He then found his way into the Tampa Bay Devil Rays farm system. He played one season - 1997 - in their system, with that year being his last in professional baseball. He played in only 48 games, batting .193 with only one home run, 11 RBI and eight stolen bases.

Overall in his career, King played in 452 games, collecting 377 hits in 1590 at-bats for a .237 batting-average. He scored 244 runs, drove in 135 runs, hit 66 doubles, 21 triples and 22 home runs. He stole 86 bases and was caught stealing 39 times. He walked 160 times and had 452 strikeouts.

Following his baseball career, he attended the University of Miami and played professional football for four years.

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