Brad Corley

William Brad Corley

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 216 lb.
• School Mississippi State University
• High School Pleasure Ridge Park High School

• Born December 28, 1983 in Louisville, KY USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Brad Corley was a minor leaguer noted for his power and poor strikeout:walk ratio. As such, he is similar to Brad Eldred, who was a couple years ahead of him in the Pittsburgh Pirates system.

He was the Gatorade High School Player of the Year for Kentucky in 2002. Corley was drafted in the 16th round of the 2002 amateur draft by the Colorado Rockies but opted for college. In 2003, he hit .321/.377/.402 as a freshman and was 0-2 with a 4.38 ERA on the mound. He only homered once in 224 AB, not yet showing a power threat.

In 2004, the sophomore batted .380/.442/.678 with 19 homers and 60 runs in 59 games in a strong showing. He was 4th in the Southeastern Conference in average and was two home runs behind SEC leader Steve Pearce; Corley tied Landon Powell. He made the All-SEC team in the outfield. He tied for 13th in NCAA Division I in home runs. Baseball America named him as an All-American outfielder.

Corley slipped to .316/.370/.464 with 5 homers as a junior. The Pittsburgh Pirates took him in the 2nd round of the 2005 amateur draft, following one outfielder (first-rounder Andrew McCutchen) and preceding another (third-rounder James Boone). Corley was signed by scout Everett Russell for a $605,000 bonus and made his pro debut that summer.

Brad debuted in the pro ranks with the Williamsport Crosscutters, hitting .279/.331/.408 with 6 triples, tied for third in the New York-Penn League. In 2006, he played for the Hickory Crawdads and produced at a .281/.323/.438 clip with 87 runs, 32 doubles, 16 home runs and 100 RBI. He walked 18 times and struck out 109 times in 134 games, but was hit by 18 pitches so his on-base percentage was not too awful. He led Pirates farmhands in RBI and also paced the South Atlantic League. He was second in the SAL in hits, trailing Lorenzo Cain, 162-150. Corley made the league All-Star team at DH.

Corley split 2007 between the Hickory Crawdads (.285/.319/.462, 14 BB, 99 K, 36 2B, 14 HR, 89 RBI in 126 games) and the Altoona Curve (.256/.256/.308 in 10 games). He was second to Steve Pearce in home runs in the Pirates system, duplicating his second to Pearce in the 2004 SEC. He led the Carolina League in RBI and joined Mitch Einertson, Jordan Schafer and Jose Duarte on the league All-Star team. Despite his second straight All-Star team, Baseball America once again left him off the top 20 prospect list for his league, perhaps due to his poor strikeout to walk ratio or his age (24, old for a prospect in high A).

Brad hit .262/.309/.390 for the 2008 Altoona Curve with only 11 homers and 49 RBI. When he started 2009 batting .221/.255/.413 in 31 games for the Curve, Pittsburgh traded him to the Colorado Rockies for future considerations.

In 2012 Corley returned to MSU as an assistant coach [1].

Sources

• 2007 Pirates Media Guide
• 2004-2009 Baseball Almanacs
• The Baseball Cube
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette