Mike Ford

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Michael Harrison Ford

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Biographical Information[edit]

"That's not a season. That's a career!" - Tacoma Rainiers manager John Russell, when told about Mike Ford's travels during the 2022 season.

On May 25, 2014, Mike Ford hit four homers in a game while playing for the Charleston RiverDogs against the Hickory Crawdads in the South Atlantic League. He was only the third player in the circuit's history to record such a feat. He was playing in the New York Yankees system after having been signed as an undrafted free agent in 2013. The Seattle Mariners took a flyer on him in the 2017 Rule V Draft but he failed to make the team in spring training in 2018 and was returned to the Yankees. The next time a minor league player had a four-homer game came on April 18, 2019, by Will Benson of the Lake County Captains; coincidentally, this was also the date of Ford's major league debut, with the Yankees, against the Kansas City Royals. He had been called up a day earlier to replace an injured Greg Bird and started at DH, going 0 for 3 with a walk. He hit .259 with 12 homers and 25 RBIs in 50 games as a rookie, good for an OPS+ of 136 as an excellent power threat off the bench. However, he did not appear in the postseason.

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In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he was limited to 29 games - although that was almost half of the 60 games the Yankees played - and his production fell markedly as he hit just .135 with 2 homers and 5 RBIs. His OPS+ was just 37. Still he appeared in both rounds of the postseason, but had a total of 2 at-bats with no hits as the Yankeed exited after losing to the Tampa Bay Rays in the Division Series. In 2021, even with 1B Luke Voit missing most of the first three months to an injury, he was unable to contribute much, hitting .133 in 22 games. On July 1st, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, in return for a minor league pitcher, Aldenis Sanchez. He did not play any major league games for the Rays, playing 40 games for the AAA Durham Bulls before being claimed on waivers by the Washington Nationals on August 23rd and finishing the year with the Rochester Red Wings, playing another 29 games. He had played for the Yankees' affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders earlier that season, so in total he was with three teams in the International League, hitting .213 in 76 games with 14 homers and 44 RBIs.

His travels in 2021 were only a prelude to a truly unique 2022 season that saw him appear for eight different teams: four in the major leagues and four in AAA. A number of players had appeared for four different big league teams before him, and Oliver Drake had even pitched for five teams a few years earlier, but no one had also appeared for each of these teams' top minor league affiliate. His long strange trip began with the Mariners, who signed him as a free agent in March, once the 2021-2022 lockout was settled. On May 3, before he had appeared in the majors, he went to the San Francisco Giants then on May 12th was sold back to the Mariners, before being claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves on June 10th. After being released by the Braves on August 10th, he signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Angels on August 16th. His 28 games for the Angels were his longest big league stint (he hit .231 with 3 homers) and he appeared in just one game for the Giants. In addition he was with each of the four teams' AAA squad - respectively the Tacoma Rainiers, Sacramento River Cats, Gwinnett Stripers and Salt Lake Bees. With all the short stints mashed together, he hit .248 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs in 34 AAA games, and .206 with 6 homers and 10 RBIs in 50 big league games.

He was again on the move after that peripatetic season, re-signing with the Mariners on January 9, 2023. He was assigned to Tacoma to start the year, where he was hitting well, hinting at a likely return to the Show. He got the call in early June, taking part in his first game on June 2nd when he went 1 for 3 against the Texas Rangers in a 2-0 loss. He was hitting.302 in 49 games for Tacoma, with 13 homers and 56 RBIs. The next day, he was summoned to the mound to pitch the 8th inning of a game in which the Mariners were trailing 15-3; he gave up a run on a solo homer by Mitch Garver in what was the third pitching appearance of his career.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Ben Hill: "Have bat, will travel: Mariners Mike Ford's tumultuous '22", mlb.com, May 25, 2023. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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