Here’s a look at one player’s 2022 roster moves.
Signed minor league contract with Seattle on 16 March
19 April Called up to the major leagues by Seattle
25 April Designated for assignment by Seattle
3 May Acquired via waiver claim from San Francisco
11 May Designated for assignment by San Francisco
12 May Traded to Seattle for cash considerations
5 June Designated for assignment by Seattle
10 June Acquired via waiver claim from Atlanta
10 August Designated for assignment by Atlanta
16 August Signed by Los Angeles Angels to a minor league contract
28 September Designated for assignment by Los Angeles Angels
Declared a free agent on 7 October 메이저사이트
Even in the Major Leagues, where trades big and small happen on a daily basis, it’s rare to see a player go through this route in a single season. Enter Mike Ford, currently with Seattle. The above list is based on major league clubs only, but when you add in the additional paperwork involved in moving to an affiliated Triple-A team between major league clubs, Ford’s status has changed a total of 32 times in that span.
In describing Ford’s 2022, MLB.com noted that “every verb applicable to a professional baseball player’s change of affiliation was used”: assigned (to a minor league team), activated (to the 26-man active roster), selected (by a big league team), optioned (for a minor league demotion), designated for assignment (off the 40-man roster), traded, moved through the waiver claim process, promoted (to a major league team), and released (from the team). Ford himself is quick to point out that 2022 is more like a player’s career than a season.
Ford’s 2002 journey covered in a feature story
In 2022 alone, Ford wore eight different uniforms, four major league and four Triple-A teams. Sometimes he played just three games in three weeks, and once he stayed home for 10 days without a team. With so many trades, anything goes. When I was traded to San Francisco, I got the call after midnight and had to be at the airport at 4.30am to make it to the 1pm game. On paper, it was just a few clicks away, but in the real world, it was a lot to handle.
He played just one game for San Francisco before being demoted to Triple-A Sacramento. He then went to an away game in El Paso, Texas, and got the news that he was back in Seattle. At the time, Seattle was preparing to play New York. He went to his home in Tampa, Florida, to get his affairs in order and then joined the team in New York the next day. When he got to the stadium, he was surprised to see that the pitcher was Max Scherzer. That day, Ford had a fly ball, a hit-by-pitch, and a walk against Scherzer.
When Ford joined the New York trip from Seattle, he didn’t have all of his luggage with him and had to stop back in Sacramento later. Ford remembers thinking, “I’ve got so many airline miles, I’m going to be able to travel for free at the end of the season.”
Along the way, he developed some tricks of his own. At the beginning of the season, he was carrying three suitcases, but as he pared down, he was able to get by with one. (He was happy to save the $150 he would have had to pay for an extra bag at the airport.) Baseball Prospectus summed up Ford’s 2022 season with a key statistic: “Five shirts, two pairs of pants, an extra pair of shorts, and a T-shirt. They also described Ford as “the juggernaut of juggernauts,” saying he was on a year-long project to “live in a city for more than two weeks at a time.” Just as celebrities are called “juggernauts” for their fame and popularity, Ford was called “the juggernaut of juggernauts” for the frequency with which he changed teams.
There are two ways to look at a player who moves around this much. There are two ways to look at a player who moves around this much: he’s a player who doesn’t have a clear strength and can’t stick with any team, or he’s a player who’s too good to pass up and is the first player a team thinks of when they have an opening. Ford’s reality is a mixture of both.
Like everyone, Ford had his moments in the spotlight. In 2013, he was named the best player and pitcher in the Ivy League after a stellar season for Princeton. It was the first time in the history of the Ivy League that a player had been voted best player in two categories side by side. Naturally, five teams offered him a contract, and he signed with the New York Yankees.
Ford’s professional career with the New York Yankees
Ford spent five years in the minors, hitting a decent .272 with a high on-base percentage of .380. He was perceived as a player who bucked the trend by drawing more walks (267) than strikeouts (245). He also caught some attention in 2014 when he hit four home runs in one game at Single-A. Overall, he’s a hitter who has a firmly established strike zone and knows what a strike is and responds to it. With some adjustment, the expectation was that Ford’s power would translate to the major leagues. (Of course, having solid fundamentals is one thing, but actual success is another.)
Then, in 2019, Ford made his debut in the stripes of the New York Yankees, hitting 12 home runs in 50 games. It was a promising start for the Yankees, who didn’t have many left-handed hitters at the time. But that was it. Ford’s time with the Yankees quickly came to an end, as he batted in the low teens in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. It’s a classic story of a prospect who never really blossomed in the majors.
Ford’s Yankees career didn’t last as long as expected
After being traded and released during the 2021 season, Ford took on what might have been his last challenge in 2022, going through the aforementioned 32 player status changes. Teams had put their last hopes in him, and all had failed. With few options, Ford signed a minor league contract with Seattle in 2023 and attended spring training as an invitee. A 30-year-old first baseman with no defensive value. Seattle’s designated hitter spot was already reserved for A.J. Pollock. No one saw Ford as a meaningful addition to the team’s power.
Everyone thought it was over, but here was a new beginning for Ford. A Triple-A season that could be his last. He started off pretty well. He had a three-game homer streak to start the season, then exploded for three homers in one game. In April alone, he had an OPS of 1.214 with 37 RBIs, which is the level of a slugger. He cooled off a bit, but his May wasn’t too bad either, posting a 1.032 OPS with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs in 49 games.
You never know with these guys. If Seattle’s lineup hadn’t been struggling, the club wouldn’t have paid much attention to Ford’s performance in Triple-A. But the Seattle lineup “just happened” to be in serious trouble. The team’s overall hitting was a problem, but the designated hitter position was the worst. Through May, Seattle had a .169 batting average at designated hitter. While the rest of the team was batting in a position to bolster the batting order, it was the designated hitter that was killing any chance offensive opportunities and blowing wins.
By June, with nothing more to show for his time in Triple-A, Ford opted out and looked elsewhere. If Seattle didn’t keep him on the major league roster, Ford would become a free agent. If no other major league clubs make an offer, he has been touted in Korea as a possible source of replacement foreign players for KBO clubs.
Ford pounded out four hits on his birthday
Luckily, none of Seattle’s designated hitter candidates had shown any signs of rebounding, so the Mariners decided to give Ford a chance. Of course, they didn’t have high hopes. Most Seattle fans were of the mindset that Ford couldn’t possibly be any worse than the pathetic existing designated hitters.
When Ford returned to the big leagues on 2 June, he looked a little different. It took him three or four games to adjust, but then he put together two straight multi-homer games and began to emerge as Seattle’s designated hitter alternative. His June numbers were six home runs and a .204 batting average, still not good enough by any common sense standard, but hopeful for Seattle.
It’s not uncommon in sports for a stable environment to unlock a player’s potential. Once Ford started to get his chance, he really exploded in July. On 4 July, he had his first four-hit game of his career, with a home run and two doubles. One more triple and he would have had a cycling hit on his birthday. Three days later, he drove in three runs, including a home run, in a 10-1 win over Houston.
It was refreshing for Seattle fans to see a designated hitter give the offence a boost. Various internet memes have emerged praising Ford, and Seattle’s team archivist has found all sorts of records to encourage fans to sing his praises. For example. Ford’s 0.944 OPS in the first half was the best by an Ivy League player since legendary star Lou Gehrig posted a 1.124 OPS in 1937. It’s a record that was shared for laughs, considering there are only a handful of major leaguers who were Ivy League players.
It’s a bit childish, but the name is synonymous with cars.
Of course, things can always change. Ford’s struggles are far from over. He’s played less than two months in the major leagues this year, so don’t be surprised if he suddenly sinks and disappears. Seattle’s need for a designated hitter is far from resolved, but it’s still memorable to see a player who’s been shrinking his baggage and looking for every opportunity to make a splash in the majors. Ford said the 2022 experience reminded him that life has peaks and valleys. (He said there were more valleys than peaks.) He also said he learned more about who he is as a person while travelling to different places and gaining different experiences.
Rising stars