Marcus Lemon

Marcus Devon Lemon

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.
• High School Eustis High School

• Born June 3, 1988 in Lakeland, FL USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Infielder/outfielder Marcus Lemon, the son of Chet Lemon, reached AA in 2009 but has yet to play in the major leagues.

Marcus Lemon was the shortstop for the USA in the 2005 Pan American Junior Championship, leading the team in hits (14), runs (12), doubles (3), average (.500), total bases (17), slugging (.607) and OBP (.611). Among those he outperformed were Lars Anderson, Grant Green and Adrian Cardenas. The USA finished second in the event behind Cuba. In 2006, Lemon hit .451 as a senior and stole 23 bases in 24 tries. Baseball America rated him the #120 prospect going into the 2006 amateur draft. The Texas Rangers and scout Guy DeMutis chose him in the fourth round of the draft, their third overall selection after Kasey Kiker and Chad Tracy (also the son of a major leaguer).

Lemon had a solid pro debut with the 2006 AZL Rangers, batting .310/.405/.420 with 16 runs in 24 games. Baseball America rated the young shortstop the #4 prospect in the Arizona League after Hank Conger, Jeremy Jeffress and Cedric Hunter.

In 2007, Marcus hit .261/.364/.353 for the Clinton Lumber Kings. He made 31 errors but his 82 double plays at short tied for the Midwest League lead. Lemon missed the start of 2008 with a hamstring strain but did well upon returning, batting .295/.434/.374 for the Bakersfield Blaze with 80 runs and 30 doubles in 118 games. He led the California League with 14 sacrifice hits, but also led the leagye's shortstops with 43 miscues, third-most in the affiliated minors and second to Ryan Adams if you discard the low-level Latin American summer leagues.

Lemon hit .262/.333/.326 for the 2009 Frisco RoughRiders in his AA debut - he was at .309 as of June 22 but hit .207 the remainder of the way. He played primarily second base that year. He moved to the outfield with the Arizona Fall League's Surprise Rafters and hit .343.

Lemon spent the 2010 season as an outfielder with Frisco, where he hit .271/.325/.355 in 111 games. He seemed close to breaking into the big leagues at that point, but the following few seasons proved disappointing. He did reach AAA for 21 games in 2014, but most of his time from 2011-2015 was spent in Single A and AA, with three different organizations: the Atlanta Braves, the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago White Sox, the last two being teams associated with his father. He was mainly a back-up player, his lack of power preventing him from claiming a more prominent role as he only hit a handful of homers and around 10 doubles each year. His best stint was with the Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2012, where he hit .324 with 19 doubles, but this was achieved as someone older and more experienced than the average player in the Class A Florida State League. In his one taste of AAA, with the Toledo Mud Hens in 2014, he hit only .132.

Sources

• 2010 Rangers Media Guide
• 2006-2010 Baseball Almanacs