Alford’s big-league dreams with Jays delayed — for now
Outfielder loses job to McKinney, will start season with triple -A team in Buffalo
Anthony Alford knew exactly what he wanted to be when he grew up:
A superhero.
“I wanted to be Bo Jackson,” the Blue Jays outfielder said a couple of days ago at his locker in Dunedin Stadium. “Bo Jackson is my all-time favourite athlete. I idolized him. I said, ‘I’m going to play football and baseball at the highest level.’”
The dream died for Alford in the fall of 2014, when he finally decided to leave the gridiron after three seasons in the NCAA.
The half that still exists suffered a setback Tuesday, when the Jays informed Alford that he would be starting the season with their triple-A team in Buffalo.
“It just goes to show it takes a different kind of breed to do that,” Alford had said about being a two-sport star. “Bo, he’s like a once-in-a-lifetime talent. You don’t see somebody like him every day. You get someone like him once every 100 years or something. He’s like a super hero.
“I realized how hard it was when I tried to balance it out. I was not close to him.”
The 24-year old native of Columbia, Miss. would almost certainly be a full-time bigleaguer by now had he committed to baseball from the get-go. He was projected as a first-round pick in the 2012 MLB draft, but because his desire to keep playing football was known, he slipped to the Jays in the third round. They gave him a $750,000 signing bonus and did not stand in his way when he wanted to play quarterback at the University of Southern Mississippi or when he transferred to the University of Mississippi, where he switched to defensive back.
“Growing up in the south, football is definitely the sport,” said Alford. “It was kind of easier for me to pick football at that time … and I didn’t really have guidance as far as baseball and what I should do because nobody in my area has been in that situation. I just knew I wanted to get a degree and have that college experience because that’s something you never get an opportunity to do again.
“But, yeah, it was a real difficult choice. About three years down the road, I realized baseball was going to be the best decision for me.”
Quite possibly the nicest individual on Earth, Alford was the feel-good story of the spring for the Jays early on. Going 6-for-11, including three homers, it looked like he was ready to push management into a difficult decision.
“It’s been fun,” GM Ross Atkins said at the time. “He’s such an easy guy to pull for, for very obvious reasons. His perseverance, the person that he is, to see the three home runs in a couple of days was very exciting. It put a big smile on my face.”
But it was also an impossible pace to maintain.
It’s so hard to predict exactly what he’s going to be. He could be a star, and he could end up not having a great major-league career.
“Players like Anthony Alford, there’s so much volatility,” said Atkins. “It’s so hard to predict exactly what he’s going to be. He could be a star, and he could end up not having a great majorleague career.
“It’s because of the time missed in baseball.”
Alford wound up hitting .242 with eight hits and four homers, but also striking out 11 times in 33 Grapefruit League at-bats.
While Dalton Pompey (who is out of options) and Jonathan Davis (who has an ankle injury) are still with the big team, Alford essentially lost his shot at the fourth outfielder job to Bill McKinney, who was told he had made the Jays roster Tuesday.
Alford, however, could position himself as the first call-up.
“He did a good job,” said manager Charlie Montoyo, who didn’t know Alford before this spring. “I give him a lot of credit. He got better playing defence, he got better at the plate. He’s got a new approach at the plate. He was impressive this spring, in my view.”
The new approach, Montoyo said, was the change in the position of his hands on the bat. The off-season work Alford did with hitting coach Guillermo Martinez was evident in the spring.
“It was a whole change. That’s not easy to do,” said Montoyo.