Derek Bryant
Derek Roszell Bryant
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.
- School University of Kentucky
- High School Henry Clay High School
- Debut April 24, 1979
- Final Game September 19, 1979
- Born October 9, 1951 in Lexington, KY USA
Biographical Information[edit]
Derek Bryant and Rickey Henderson were both rookie left fielders on the Oakland Athletics in 1979. Rickey, of course, is enshrined in Cooperstown. Derek is enshrined in Monterey.
In 32 big league games with those '79 A's, Derek batted just .179/.246/.217 in 106 at bats. He batted over .300 in each of the next two seasons in Triple A, hitting .342 for the Ogden A's in 1980 and .304 with the Tacoma Tigers in 1981, but was unable to get another shot in MLB.
He headed south of the border in 1982 and became a Mexican League superstar. In 1984, Derek exploded with a .389 average and .806 slugging percentage with the Alijadores de Tampico, cracking 41 home runs and driving in 99 runs while scoring 98 times in 100 games. On May 14, 1985, he became the first LMB player to hit four home runs in a game (later matched by Roy Johnson, Miguel Ojeda, Ricardo Sáenz and Jorge Vázquez), finishing the season hitting .365 with a mammoth 77 extra base hits (38 doubles, 38 home runs and a triple) for a .713 slugging coupled with 121 RBI. In 704 games over seven seasons (1982-1988), Derek was a .355 hitter with 141 home runs, 519 RBI, 492 runs scored and a .608 slugging percentage.
With these numbers, it was hardly surprising in 2010 that Bryant received the call for induction into the Salón de la Fama, alongside three other players - Armando Reynoso, Gerardo Sánchez and Alonso Téllez. The last American inducted prior to Bryant had been Ralph Garcia in 2005.
Since his playing days, Bryant has managed the Sultanes de Monterrey (1988, 1995-1998, 2001-2002), High Desert Mavericks (1999), Acereros de Monclova (2003), Saraperos de Saltillo (2004-2007, 2012), Vaqueros Laguna (2009-2010) and Olmecas de Tabasco (2012).
Sources include: The Mexican League: Comprehensive Player Statistics 1937-2001 by Pedro Treto Cisneros
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