Cory Harris

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Cory Anthony Harris

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Cory Harris is a former Olympic performer who played his 11th and final season in the minors in 2009.

Harris began his journey after being picked by the New York Mets in the 40th round of the 1999 amateur draft. He hit .259/.324/.400 that year for the GCL Mets. He led all Gulf Coast League outfielders with a 1.000 fielding percentage. Cory played for the 2000 Pittsfield Mets and batted .320/.422/.500 with 23 steals in 27 tries and 34 walks to 28 strikeouts, finishing 8th in the New York-Penn League in batting average.

In 2001, the Iowan produced at a .258/.356/.395 rate for the Capital City Bombers. He began 2002 with the St. Lucie Mets and hit .277/.358/.361 in 26 games before being released.

Cory then began a long affiliation with the independent leagues. Signing with the Lincoln Saltdogs, he batted .316/.376/.467 over the remainder of 2002. In 2003, he hit .344/.444/.503 after 39 games for the St. Paul Saints, which would have put him second in the Northern League in average behind Eddie Pearson.

His performance for St. Paul won him a contract with the Baltimore Orioles. They assigned him to the Delmarva Shorebirds and he hit .286/.366/.446 in 37 games there in '03. He was third on Delmarva in OPS behind Randy Ruiz and Val Majewski.

Harris played for the Greek national team in the 2003 European Championship and did a great job. He hit .414/.500/.517 with 5 runs and 6 RBI in eight games, finishing second on Greece in average behind former major leaguer Erik Pappas. Harris hit cleanup in the Gold Medal game and was 0 for 1 but drew three walks in a 2-0 loss to the Dutch national team. Cory tied for 10th in the event in runs, tied for 7th in RBI, tied for 3rd with 3 doubles, tied Giovanni Pantaleoni for 4th with 15 total bases (behind only Xavier Civit, Pappas and Gaspard Fessy), tied Fessy and Sharnol Adriana for 3rd with 12 hits (one behind Civit and Pappas), was 6th in average, 8th in slugging and tied Pappas and Maxim Yudaev for 4th in OBP. He made the All-Star outfield alongside Bryan Engelhardt and Pantaleoni; Chris Demetral was the only other player on the Greek squad picked as an All-Star.

In 2004, Harris split time between Delmarva (.311/.381/.529 in 55 G) and the Frederick Keys (.224/.316/.379 in 34 G) to wrap up his Organized Baseball career. He also represented Greece in the 2004 Olympics. He hit .200/.286/.560 in the Athens Games with a team-high two homers for Greece. He had 3 assists in center field and no errors. He was 2 for 5 with a homer, 2 runs, 2 RBI and an assist in Greece's lone Olympic win ever, 12-7 over Italy.

Cory was back in the indies for 2005, batting .341/.421/.597 for Lincoln with 99 runs, 40 doubles, 7 triples and 21 home runs in 96 games. He drew 50 walks to 47 strikeouts. He was 5th in the Northern League in average, 3rd in OBP, 3rd in slugging, second in OPS, first in doubles, tied Jermaine Allensworth for 4th in triples, tied Bryan Warner for 5th in home runs and easily led in runs scored, 14 ahead of Warner. Harris joined Warner and Richard Austin as the All-Star outfielders. Warner beat him out for Player of the Year honors. He was listed on Greece's roster in the 2005 European Championship but did not play due to a bureaucratic delay on his passport.

In '06, the 26-year-old produced at just a .257/.308/.444 rate with 15 homers between Lincoln and the St. Joe Blacksnakes for a major drop-off. He rebounded in 2007 to bat .297/.362/.503 for the Joliet Jackhammers with 16 home runs and 76 runs in 89 games.

Harris hit .312/.390/.493 for the 2008 Jackhammers. He led the club with 70 RBI. In '09, the Pensacola alumnus batted .307/.378/.440 for the Sioux Falls Canaries to bring his career batting line to .296/.373/.474 with a .307 career average in the independent leagues.

Sources[edit]

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