The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

YOUNG Bahamian minor league prospects have made impacts with their respective franchises throughout spring training, setting the stage for highly anticipated regular seasons.

The Tampa Bay Rays are looking forward to finally seeing extended playing time from highly touted switch-hitting shortstop Lucius Fox, who was traded to the organisation late last season.

The Tampa Bay Times recently featured the promise of his upcoming season.

On August 1, Fox was traded to the Rays along with Matt Duffy and Michael Santos in the deal which sent left-handed pitcher Matt Moore to the San Francisco Giants. He was limited to just a single game in the Instructional League with the Rays before he was sidelined with a foot injury.

Rays farm director Mitch Lukevics admitte he knows  “hardly anything” about Fox’s game at this point but is intrigued at his projection.

“We’re really anxious to see him (play) for more than a day,” Lukevics said. “We’re anxious to see him play now and see how the tools play. Other than rehab and doing some workouts, he’s relatively unknown to us.”

He made his much-anticipated pro debut last season for the Giants with the Augusta GreenJackets of the South Atlantic Class A League.

In 75 games, Fox hit .207 with 46 runs scored, 25 stolen bases, slugging .277, an on-base percentage of .305, an OPS of .582, two home runs, four triples and six doubles.

“That’s a tall task for a first-year player, and he handled his own,” Lukevics said.

Rays manager Kevin Cash and bench/infield coach Tim Foley each gave their take on their early indication of Fox.

“He has an ‘it’ factor,” Cash said.

Foley added: “He’s a good-looking kid. He’s got the actions to play shortstop. Good glove. I liked him. We liked what we saw.”

Fox plans to make good on the promise that saw the Giants they made him one of the highest paind international signees.

“People asked me all the time if I had a Plan B, because I always said I wanted to be a professional baseball player,” he said. “I told them I don’t have a Plan B, honestly. I was just thinking baseball, baseball, baseball. I never had a fallback plan, so I’m just going to work hard here and hopefully have a long career in the major leagues.”

In action on the field in the minor leagues, Jasrado Chisholm made headlines with an intriguing exchange with Giants star pitcher, Johnny Cueto in his last outing.

Chisholm’s at bats against the 2016 All-Star starter were chronicled through several media outlets because of the aggressive nature of the 19-year-old shortstop, one of the top prospects in the Arizona Diamondbacks organisation.

In the first at bat, Chisholm was struck out, caught looking on an inside fastball after which he smiled and nodded at Cueto. The second time up, he took a pair of major swings before Cueto offered some advice prior to another strikeout on a breaking ball.

“I was having fun with the kid,” Cueto said through translator Erwin Higueros. “I was telling him to keep his eye on the ball, because every time he would swing, he’d look away from the ball.”

Chisholm finally got the upperhand in the third at bat when he lined a sinlge to left center, but advantage would be brief. After Cueto laughed and pointed his glove to Chisholm following the hit, he promptly picked him off at first base.

“He probably doesn’t know I have a quick move,” he said. “I was having fun with a kid who wanted to actually hit against me.”

Cueto missed the first three weeks of camp to take care of his father.

The Diamondbacks currently list Chisholm as the No.3 prospect in the minor league pipeline headed into the 2016-17 campaign.

He excelled in Rookie League play and showed flashes of the potential the Diamondbacks looked forward to when they signed him as a free agent and was named to the annual Pioneer League vs. Northwest League All Star Game.

He appeared in 62 games for the Ospreys. and in 249 at bats, he hit .281 with nine home runs, 37 RBI and 13 stolen bases. He finished with an on base percentage of .333, slugging percentage of .446 and OPS of .779

Anfernee Seymour was also on the move last season and now with a full season in the Atlanta Braves’ deep talent pool of minor leaguers, has an opportunity to make his impact in the system.

Last August, Seymour was traded from the Miami Marlins to the Atlanta Braves in a three-player deal which also saw the Braves acquire pitcher Michael Mader in exchange for relief pitcher Hunter Cervenka.

He entered the Braves’ lists of prospects ranked at No.19, according to MLB.com’s 2016 Prospect Watch.

Braves minor league beat writers Jeff Jones tracked Seymour’s progress through camp headed into the season.

“Seymour walked in the first, promptly stole second and scored on a base hit. He is really really fast, he beat out a slow roller to the pitcher in his next AB and almost had another infield single in his third and final at bat. He started in CF and made some good plays but also misplayed a fairly easy pop up that should’ve been an out. He is raw period so that is to be expected though. With his true 80 grade speed the team will find a position for him to play.”

In 125 games last year, Seymour hit .257 with 72 runs scored, 43 stolen bases and 31 RBI. He has recorded a slugging percentage of .303, an OBP of .296 and an OPS of .599 and 149 total bases.