- Tom Prince
Infobox MLB retired
name = Tom Prince
bgcolor1 =
textcolor1 =
bgcolor2 =
textcolor2 =
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caption =
position =Catcher
birthdate = birth date and age|1964|8|13
deathdate =
bats =Right
throws = Right
debutdate =September 22
debutyear =1987
debutteam =Pittsburgh Pirates
finaldate =September 28
finalyear =2003
finalteam =Kansas City Royals
stat1label =Batting average
stat1value =.208
stat2label =Home runs
stat2value =24
stat3label =Runs batted in
stat3value =140
teams =
*Pittsburgh Pirates (1987-1993)
*Los Angeles Dodgers (1994-1998)
*Philadelphia Phillies (1999-2000)
*Minnesota Twins (2001-2003)
*Kansas City Royals (2003)
highlights =Thomas Albert Prince (b.
August 13 1964 ,Kankakee, Illinois ) is a formerMajor League Baseball player. Primarily acatcher during his playing career, Prince batted and threw with his right hand. He was listed as 5'11" tall and 185 lbs.After a successful career at Bradley-Bourbonnais High School, Prince was drafted twice by the
Atlanta Braves : with the 195th pick of the 1983 January draft, as part of that draft's 8th round, and with the 76th overall pick of that same year's June draft, as part of that draft's 4th round. He elected not to sign both times, instead attendingKankakee Community College . There, he attracted the attention of thePittsburgh Pirates , who selected him with the 64th overall pick of the1984 January draft. This time, he signed the deal, and that summer began play with the Pirates' farm club in theGulf Coast League .Prince enjoyed a strong defensive reputation as a prospect, but his offensive production fluctuated wildly as he advanced through the system. With the
Macon Pirates of theSouth Atlantic League , he put up an unusually low .208batting average , but hit for moderate power and drew 96base on balls in only 360at bats . Two years later at AA, he put up a .307 batting average with theHarrisburg Senators of the Eastern League.After a promotion to the AAA
Buffalo Bisons of the American Association the next year, his batting average dropped back down to .260 and his walk rate collapsed, but he started hitting for substantially more power, putting up a .451slugging percentage . He was generally well regarded as a prospect, but talent evaluators weren't sure exactly which skills he would display after promotion to the majors.Prince ultimately settled in as a backup catcher, relying on solid defense to compensate for a weak bat. He would never total even 200 at bats in a single major league season, but he spent parts of seventeen years in the big leagues with the Pirates,
Los Angeles Dodgers ,Philadelphia Phillies ,Minnesota Twins , andKansas City Royals . During that time, he caught for some of the best pitchers in baseball, including Cy Young winnerDoug Drabek and six-timeAll-Star Curt Schilling . For his career as a whole, Prince played in 519 games and collected 248 hits. He had a batting average of .208, anon-base percentage of .286, and a slugging percentage of .331.After retiring as a player, Prince retained his connection with professional baseball. In
2005 , he became the manager of theWilliamsport Crosscutters in theNew York-Penn League and in his first year, led them to the playoffs.External links
* [http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/P/tom-prince.shtml Prince's career statistics - The Baseball Cube]
* [http://crosscutters.com/staff.htm Front office info for the Williamsport Crosscutters.]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/princto01.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=princto01 Baseball Almanac]
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