By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
OVER the past few years, Albert Cartwright and Antoan Richardson have been miles apart as they pursued their professional baseball careers. This year, as they continue to ink their names on permanent contracts in the Major League, they will be spending plenty of time together as roommates.
“I get to stay with Antoan (Richardson) for spring training in Arizona, so that is pretty exciting,” said Cartwright, who is still home helping out with the MaxD Baseball Camp. “I’m just trying to go to a new place and try to make a name for myself.”
While Cartwright, 27, will report to the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 5, Richardson has already left to go to the Texas Rangers camp, but they share an apartment, something that they have never had the opportunity to do in the past. They are also expected to be joined by outfielder Brandon Murray, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies last year.
“We will be talking about baseball and all that other stuff that we can talk about and just have fun,” Cartwright said. “It’s always good to go somewhere new and to have a familiar face there that you could talk to every day. We know we have to meet new guys, new coaches and new friends. But to have a familiar face from the Bahamas could make a whole lot of difference.”
Cartwright was drafted by the New York Mets in the 43rd round of the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft from American Heritage High School in Delray Beach, Florida and the Houston Astros in the 36th round of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft from Polk Community College in Winter Haven, Florida.
The second baseman spent the past two seasons with the Reading Fightin Phils, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. In 119 games, he had 445 at-bat, ripping 108 hits, 19 doubles, two triples and three home runs, while scoring 54 times. He also drove in 23 runs (RBI), stole 28 bases and caught nine times. Additionally, he walked 29 times and got struck out 111.
As he looks ahead to his new location, Cartwright said he hopes to improve on his performance from last year.
“It’s baseball. You get up and play the game for money, so that is all you could ask for,” he said. “You just have to go out there and have fun.”
Since 2007, Cartwright has been playing in the minor league so he admitted that he can’t complain.
“I’ve been waking up and living out my dream,” he said. “There’s not very much I can complain about. I just have to continue grinding and eventually I will get to the next level. The ultimate goal is to make it to the major league, but I feel I liked it through Antoan when he made it twice, so you try not to worry about what goes on in the transition. You just go out there and have fun and it will happen.”
For him to get to the majors, Cartwright feels that he will have to improve on some minor things in his game like running the bases, playing defence and doing whatever it takes to help the team win.
“If I had my choice, I would be there tomorrow,” said Cartwright about moving up the ladder. “I would catch a flight in the morning and head out. But you can’t put a time limit on it. I think when you do that, you kind of stop playing the game the way you should and you stop having fun. So I just want to have some fun and do my best and wait on my time to come.”
Playing in the minor league from 2005 as he started with the San Francisco Giants, Richardson eventually made it twice to the majors, the first with the Atlanta Braves when he got called on September 4, 2011 and he recorded his first career hit, a single to right field off Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw in his first career Major League at-bat.
Returning back to the minors with a few teams, Richardson then went back to the Majors with the New York Yankees on September 2, 2014 where on September 25, he pinch ran for Jose Pirela in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles, scoring the winning run on a walk-off single by Derek Jeter in his final Yankee Stadium at-bat of Jeter’s career.
After the season, Richardson was outrighted off the Yankees roster, but he signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers on December 11, 2014.
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID