Ford selected by Mariners from Yanks in Rule 5 Draft
Mike Ford will get his chance to make a major league roster.
It’s just going to be a long way from the Bronx.
The Seattle Mariners made Ford the 11th pick of Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 Draft on Thursday morning.
Ford will go to spring training with the Mariners and if he impresses, the AL West club has the option of keeping him on the big league roster for the entire season or offering him back to the Yankees for $50,000, half the price it paid to take him with a Rule 5 pick.
Ford, 25, is an intriguing first base/designated hitter option. He was blocked in the Yankees’ system by Greg Bird, but he’s been an on-base machine in the minor leagues and flashed the power numbers required this past season for the position he plays.
Ford slashed .270/.404/.471 with 20 home runs and 86 RBI in 126 games between the Thunder and Scranton.
“I thought anything 20 or over would be good,” Ford said. “That was probably my biggest goal of the year, to display some more power.”
In his five year career, the former Hun School and Princeton University standout has walked more times than he’s struck out (277 to 245) and has a career .380 on base percentage. His .410 OBP in 101 games with the Thunder was 41 points higher than the next closest player in the Eastern League.
Ford spent the majority of the summer in Double-A with the Thunder where he batted .272/.410/.451 with 13 homers and 65 RBI in the spaciously pitcher-friendly Arm & Hammer Park.
There is a connection between Ford and Mariners manager Scott Servais. Ford played with Servais’ son, Tyler, at Princeton.
In what turned out to be a raid of the Yankees’ highly-successful farm system, three other players who spent time with the Thunder were also taken in the Rule 5 Draft.
Right-handed pitcher Anyelo Gomez went seventh to the Atlanta Braves, left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes went ninth to the Orioles as did right-handed pitcher Jose Mesa Jr. as the 18th and final player selected.
Gomez, 24, posted a 3-1 record with a 1.72 and 43 strikeouts in 36.2 innings at DoubleA.
Cortes, 23, had an outstanding year bouncing between Trenton and Scranton. The Floridian went 7-4 with a 2.06 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 30 appearances (13 stars).
Mesa Jr., the son of the former big league closer, excelled in 29 appearances (eight starts) for the Thunder with a 5-1 record and 1.93 ERA. The 24-year-old had an 0.93 WHIP and limited opponents to a .132 average.