Harry Ford (minors02)

Harrison Michael Ford

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 200 lb.

• High School North Cobb High School

• Born February 21, 2003 in Atlanta, GA USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Harry Ford was a first-round pick in 2021 who played for the British national team.

Ford was the 12th pick of the 2021 amateur draft, chosen by the Seattle Mariners, the second catcher taken after Henry Davis. The scout was John Wiedenbauer. He signed for a $4,366,400 bonus. He hit .291/.400/.582 in 19 games for the ACL Mariners in a fine pro debut. He started 2022 well for the Modesto Nuts at .274/.425/.439 with 89 runs, 11 homers, 23 steals (in 28 tries) and 88 walks in 104 games. His defense at catcher was so-so, fielding .986 and throwing out 27% of those who tried to steal; he spent about half the year at DH. Only Justin Farmer drew more walks in the California League that year while he tied for fifth in runs. MLB.com named him Seattle's top prospect.

He then joined Great Britain for the 2023 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers; both of his parents were born there. He sure put on a show as Britain won a spot in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, their first stint in a World Baseball Classic. Down 1-0 in their opener against France, he took Kevin Canelon deep with Anfernee Seymour aboard and Britain never relinquished the lead; he reached in five of six plate appearances. Against Germany, he opened by getting plunked by former major leaguer Brian Flynn then scored on a Justin Wylie homer that put Britain ahead for good against the hosts. In the 8th, he took Maurice Wilhelm yard, again with Seymour aboard. Facing Spain with the winner going to the Classic, he came to bat in the bottom of the first with a 4-0 deficit and homered off Lowuin Sacramento to begin Britain's comeback; he added a two-run single off Fernando Baez in the 4th as Britain won 10-9 in 10 innings. For the tournament, he had hit .455/.588/1.364 with five runs and eight RBI in three games. He tied Engel Beltre and Vojtěch Menšík for 4th in the qualifier in runs, led in homers (seven players had two in a high-flying event), tied for the most RBI (with Noelvi Marte, Edison Valerio and Jesús Ustariz), tied for fourth in walks (3), was 5th in average among those with 10+ PA, was third in OBP (after Seymour and D'Shawn Knowles), led in slugging (.364 ahead of William Germaine) and led in OPS (490 ahead of Germaine). It was the second straight year Seattle's top prospect had dazzled on the international stage, following Julio Rodríguez for the Dominican national team in 2021.

He again played for Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and was in fact used as his team's clean-up hitter. While teammate and MLB player Trayce Thompson had the distinction of hitting the country' first-ever homer at the WBC in Britain's opening game against the U.S., Harry followed suit the next game with a three-run blast off Evan Rutckyj of Canada on March 12th. As had been the case for Thompson, his feat resulted in his being "knighted" by teammates, who had him don a crown and purple cape to celebrate his feat, and then tap him on both shoulders with a ceremonial sword. He was assigned to the Everett AquaSox of the Northwest League to start the season and was named to the American League team for the 2023 Futures Game. In his final game prior to traveling to Seattle for the Futures game on July 6th, he set an AquaSox single-game record by walking five times. He also scored twice in the AquaSox' 12-10 win over the Spokane Indians in Spokane; Everett walked 11 times in total.

Further Reading

• Michael Clair and Daniel Kramer: "How Harry Ford became the future of British baseball: 'The new standard is Harry Ford'", mlb.com, March 12, 2003. [1]
• Adam McCalvy: "Dad beams as Ford leads breakthrough for Britain: Mariners' top prospect, father overjoyed as team qualifies for Classic for first time", mlb.com, March 8, 2023. [2]
• Brian Murphy: "'Home run hero' Ford feted by British school kids", mlb.com, March 14, 2023. [3]