Dwight Britton

Dwight Elry Britton

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.

• Born July 17, 1987 in Corn Island Nicaragua

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Dwight Britton peaked at AA. His father Elry Britton played for the Nicaraguan national team, as did Dwight.

Britton signed with the Seattle Mariners on his 16th birthday; the scouts were Luis Molina and Nemesio Porras. He debuted as a pro with the 2004 Aguirre club, hitting .233. He batted .254 with the 2005 DSL Mariners and .251/.329/.366 for the 2006 VSL Mariners. He had 11 assists and just one error in 58 games in center field in 2006. Coming to the US, he put up a .263/.318/.288 line for the 2007 AZL Mariners and stole 9 bases without getting caught. In 2008, Dwight batted .253/.312/.424 for the Pulaski Mariners.

Britton split 2009 between Pulaski (.288/.352/.466) and the Clinton Lumber Kings (5 for 26, 4 BB). In 2010, his 7th pro season, he hit only .216/.288/.345 with 50 strikeouts in 148 at-bats for the Everett AquaSox, though he was 9-for-10 in steal attempts. He got a one-game look at AA with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx and went 2 for 3 with a homer, 2 runs and 3 RBI.

His US career over, he played for Matagalpa in Nicaragua in 2011 and hit .352/.462/.597, leading the league in slugging. In the 2011 Baseball World Cup, Britton was a one-man show for the Nicaraguan national team, hitting .478/.586/.565. He had four runs; none of his teammates had more than two. He had 11 hits; Sandor Guido at 6 was next for Nicaragua. He led the team with two doubles and his six walks were double anyone else. His two steals were half the team total. He finished second in the Cup in average, 11 points behind Cuban Rusney Castillo. During 2012, he produced at a .336/.461/.560 clip for Costa Caribe. His 14 home runs tied Renato Morales for the league lead.

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, he was 2 for 8 with a hit-by-pitch for Nicaragua. In the summer of '13, he drove in 78 runs in 82 games for Costa Caribe, while hitting .402/.492/.636. He led the league in runs (73), RBI and slugging while falling .011 shy of Darrell Campbell in the batting race. He led the 2013 Central American Games in average, at .716, joining his father as the first father-son duo to lead the Central American Games in average (his father had done it in 1986). His performance helped Nicaragua win a Gold Medal. He started in center for Nicaragua when they won the Silver Medal in the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, batting .200/.333/.250 and handling 8 chances error-free. He drove in 3 runs in 5 games, including a big one that helped them make it to the finals, connecting off Jose Soler to drive in Guido to tie it at 1 against Puerto Rico with two outs in the 7th.

Britton had another strong season in Nicaragua in 2014 - .380/.497/.683, 22 HR, 16 SB, 72 R, 76 RBI in 89 G. He won his third slugging title, led in total bases (196) and led in home runs. In 2015, he batted .381/.508/.665. He struggled in the 2015 Pan American Games, producing at a .150/.227/.350 clip and fielding .846 with two errors in center. A highlight was a home run off the Dominican national team's Leonel Santiago. In 92 games during 2016, he hit .377/.500/.610 with 16 steals and 16 homers but did not lead the league in any major category. He hit .364/.462/.635 with 3 runs and 3 doubles in 4 games in the 2016 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers; he led the team in runs and doubles and was second to Alex Blandino in slugging and OPS. For all four qualifiers, he tied Logan Wade and Frédéric Hanvi for second in doubles, one behind Trent Oeltjen. He also tied for 10th in runs. In the finale, a 12-1 loss to host Mexico, he got Nicaragua's lone run, doubling off Arturo Barradas and coming home on a two-bagger by Elmer Reyes.

The Corn Island native struggled when Nicaragua won the 2017 Central American Games, a far cry from his performance of four years prior, hitting .167/.167/.167 with two runs and one RBI in six games, including an 0-for-3 turn against Panama in the Gold Medal Game.