Antoan Richardson

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Antoan Edward Richardson

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Biographical Information[edit]

Antoan Richardson was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 35th round of the 2005 amateur draft. He was signed by scout Lee Elder and made his pro debut that summer. In four-plus seasons in the Giants chain, Richardson could not get past Class AA. He played in the independent Northern League for part of 2009 and at the beginning of 2010. The Atlanta Braves then signed him to a Double-A contract.

When the speedy outfielder made his big-league debut in 2011, he became the first man from the Bahamas to reach the majors since Wil Culmer. Richardson's mother was expecting her baby when Culmer's brief stay with the Cleveland Indians ended.

Richardson spent the 2012 season in the Baltimore Orioles organization, mostly at Class AA. Richardson was 1 for 10 with a walk and a run as the center fielder for Britain in the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers played in September of 2012; despite being their lone position player with major league experience, he was one of their weakest hitters. He then moved to the Minnesota Twins chain for 2013, making it back to Triple-A once again. He made it back to the major leagues with the New York Yankees at the end of the 2014 season after hitting .271 in 93 games for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. On September 25th, he was on second base as a pinch-runner when Derek Jeter ended his final game in his home ballpark of New Yankee Stadium with an opposite-field single off Evan Meek of the Orioles; Antoan ran home with the winning run in a 6-5 win, sending the huge crowd into a frenzy.

Back with Britain for the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers (and again their only position player who had been in the majors to that point), he again struggled, going 0 for 7 with two walks, a hit-by-pitch and a run, outperformed by his backup LF, Reshard Munroe, a 20-year-old who had not played above rookie level.

He has very little power: he has hit just 16 home runs in more than 4,500 plate appearances as a pro (through 2016), with a slugging percentage of .341. Yet his lifetime on-base percentage is over .390, and he has been successful on more than 80% of his stolen base attempts.

After his playing career ended, the Toronto Blue Jays hired Richardson in 2018 as a Baseball Operations Fellow. This one-year introduction to player development led to a position with the San Francisco Giants the following year when he served in the dual role of minor league field coordinator & outfield coordinator. In 2020, he was named first base coach of the Giants. On April 12, 2022, he made an unplanned contribution to baseball history when he was ejected from a game against the San Diego Padres following a verbal altercation with Padres third base coach Mike Shildt. When the Giants came to bat in the top of the 3rd after the ejection, he was replaced by coach Alyssa Nakken who thus became the first woman to appear in uniform in a major league game. After the game, he accused Shildt of yelling profanities at him that "reeked undertones of racism." Richardson remained the first base coach through the 2023 season, then moved to the New York Mets in the same position in 2024.

Richardson gained some international coaching experience by serving as the bench coach for Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Jesse Yomtov: "After ejection, Giants' Antoan Richardson says Padres coach Mike Shildt's profanities had 'racial undertones'", USA Today, April 13, 2022. [1]
  • Donnie Collins: "Antoan Richardson is one of the few Professional Baseball Players from the Bahamas", "The Times-Tribune", July 19, 2014. [2]

Related Sites[edit]

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