Corey Hart (minors)

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Corey David Hart

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Not to be confused with major league outfielder Corey Hart, Corey Hart was an infielder and outfielder in the minor leagues from 1998 to 2005, spending parts of three seasons in AAA.

Hart hit .347 with 69 runs as a college senior, winning All-Big 12 Conference honors. The Kansas City Royals chose him in the 23rd round of the 1998 amateur draft. He made his pro debut with the Spokane Indians and batted .242/.431/.338 with 50 walks in 58 games. He was third in the Northwest League in walks. In 1999, Corey batted just .190/.324/.264 for the Charleston Alley Cats and fielded only .906 at third base, his primary position. The next year, he drew 64 walks in 88 games and put up a .218/.384/.272 line as a utility man for the Wilmington Blue Rocks.

In 2001, Hart was Angel Berroa's backup at shortstop for Wilmington (.287/.408/.379 in 75 G) and he also saw 17 games with the Wichita Wranglers (.220/.373/.268). He pitched three games as well, retiring all nine batters he faced with Wilmington, impressive work for a position player taking a turn on the hill. Corey split 2002 between Wichita (.238/.340/.317 in 79 G) and the Omaha Royals (3 for 30, 6 BB).

The Oklahoma City native hit .275/.369/.338 in 2003 for Wichita. He played every infield position, outfield and pitcher (another perfect inning). He split 2004 between Wichita (.229/.345/.296, 1 shutout inning but he finally allowed a baserunner on a hit) and Omaha (.262/.294/.354 in 21 G). He split his final year, 2005, between the Nashville Sounds (.179/.304/.263 in 54 G, one shutout inning) and the independent Bridgeport Bluefish (.305/.466/.402, 51 BB in 51 G).

Overall, Hart had hit .242/.371/.317 in 714 minor league games. He had pitched six shutout innings, giving up only one hit and one walk.

From 2006-2009, Hart was a hitting coach in the Brewers organization, with the Brevard County Manatees in 2006, West Virginia Power in 2007 and Brevard County again in 2008-2009. [1] [2]. He was a hitting coach with the Jacksonville Suns of the Southern League in 2010-2011 and the Jupiter Hammerheads in 2012-2015 in the Florida Marlins/Miami Marlins system. Moving to the Toronto Blue Jays' chain, Hart was a hitting coach for the Dunedin Blue Jays in 2016-2017 and Buffalo Bisons in 2018-2019. He was scheduled to coach Buffalo in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19 then coached Buffalo in 2021-2022. Hart was then a hitting coach for the FCL Blue Jays in 2023.

In addition, Hart served as a hitting coach for the 2011 Surprise Saguaros and 2017 Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League.

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