Chris Okey
Christopher Campbell Okey
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 200 lb.
- School Clemson University
- High School Eustis High School
- Debut June 10, 2022
- Born December 29, 1994 in Altamonte Springs, FL USA
Biographical Information[edit]
Catcher Chris Okey was a star in college at Clemson University, playing on the USA College National Team and winning the Carl Angelo Award as the most popular player in the Haarlem Baseball Week in 2014. In 2015, he started all 61 games for Clemson at catcher. He was a two-time semi-finalist for the Johnny Bench Award (as it was called at the time) given to the best collegiate catcher in the country. He had been drafted in the 31st round of the 2013 amateur draft by the San Diego Padres coming out of high school, and again by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round in the 2016 amateur draft.
He was in his seventh professional season in 2022 when he made his major league debut with the Reds on June 10th, replacing Aramis Garcia at catcher in the 8th inning of a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. His minor league journey included three seasons in AAA with the Louisville Bats, and a full missed season, in 2020, when the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the minor leagues. While he had two seasons of 10 or more homers at Clemson, he had never reached double figures in the minors, and in fact had never played 100 games in any season, his high being 93 with the Daytona Tortugas of the Florida State League in 2017. His progress was slowed by the fact he seemingly lost his ability to hit after turning pro, struggling to stay above the Mendoza Line: at the time of his call-up, his batting average in 383 minor league games was just .210, and he had never reached either 30 runs scored or RBIs in any season. Ironically, his call-up came after one of his best days with the bat as a pro, as he had hit for the cycle against the Gwinnett Stripers on June 4th. His chance at the Show came following an injury to Reds regular catcher Tyler Stephenson.
Further Reading[edit]
- Todd Shanesy (Greenville News): "Clemson product Chris Okey says long-awaited call-up by Cincinnati Reds 'truly special'", Yahoo! Sports, June 10, 2022. [1]
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