The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT’S a dream come true for Lucius Fox as he prepares to become only the eighth Bahamian to play in Major League Baseball.

The Washington Nationals recalled Fox from Triple-A Rochester and will include him on their opening day roster on Thursday, filling a void that was left after utility infielder Ehire Adrianza (quadriceps) was placed on the injured list, and Alcides Escobar was held out of Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Cardinals due to a stiff neck.

As a result, the Nationals elected to reverse their previous transaction involving Fox, who was optioned to Rochester a week ago. The 24-year-old brings with him to the big league his ability to switch hit and play infield at second base, shortstop and third base. He also has the luxury of playing outfield in centre field.

“It’s special,” an enthusiastic Fox said Monday, running on three hours of sleep and adrenaline. “I’ve been working my whole life for this opportunity and this moment. I always envisioned how I’d feel, but I can’t put it into words.”

Fox Jr, who will join Miami Marlins’ infielder Jasrado ‘Jazz’ Chisholm in the Majors, along with San Francisco Giants’ first base coach Antoan Richardson, hit .400 with a home run in eight Spring Training games before being optioned to Triple-A.

“He’s full of energy,” said Nationals’ manager Dave Martinez. “He plays with a lot of emotions. He’s a joy to be around. He loves the game. He loves playing.”

Fox Jr was claimed off waivers from the Orioles just 11 says after Baltimore got him off waivers from Kansas City.

And his parents were overwhelmed that their son’s breakthrough has finally come.

“It’s been a long time and a long road, but we’re thanking God for it,” said his father, Lucius Fox Sr. “We give God all the thanks. It’s all God.”

As he prepares for the season, Fox Sr said he expects great things from him because he considers him to be one of the best players in the world and that’s not just because he’s his son.

“All he needed is an opportunity to prove himself and now that opportunity is here,” he said. “We expect great things. Once you put God first, anything is possible.”

Although he played softball in high school and eventually basketball, Fox Sr said he believes his son developed most of his baseball skills from his mother’s side of the family that includes Dencil Clarke and the late Charles ‘Chuckie’ Smith.

His mother, Dotlee Fox, tried to hold back her emotions as she spoke.

“It’s been a long journey with so much ups and downs,” she said. “We know that things don’t always go the way we want it too. He kept the faith and we pray with him every day.

“But he’s a very humble young man and we know that in God’s time everything will work out for him. He’s watched things happen for other people and he just say his time is coming. ‘My turn will come’. God has the best time. We just had to go through this for this moment. This is the moment that we have been waiting for.”

The Fox family have two other children, Dante, who plays baseball with Max-D and Elite Academy and D’Antae Fox, who is a softball player in Freedom Farm.

Fox will join Chisholm and Richardson as the only living Bahamians who have played in the Major Leagues. The others are Andre Rodgers, Tony Curry, Ed Armbrister, Wentie Ford and Wil Culmer.

Bahamas Baseball Association secretary general Theodore Sweeting said it’s a great day for baseball in the country as he congratulated Fox Jr and his family on his latest achievement.

“For us in baseball, this is something that we envisioned happening back in 2013 when we made the tough decision to go back and rebuild the sport of baseball from the youth level,” Sweeting said.

“All these young men you see today are 22, 23 and 24 years old and they were little leaguers at the time, but they are now being given the awesome opportunity to play Major League baseball, so we are excited for them.”

Sweeting said while there are two now playing in Major League and one as a coach, they are not satisfied because there are many more in the pipeline waiting for their opportunities to excel.

He thanked all of the leagues, their membership and the Elite and Max-D Academies who have come on board and made the difference in taking the players to the next level.

“The pieces of the puzzle is coming together and we’re getting the success that this country deserves from all of the hard work that they have put in,” Sweeting said.

At the end of the month, the Marlins are expected to travel to Washington to play the Nationals and Sweeting said BBA president Sam Rodgers and himself are looking at the possibility of taking in the game before they head to a COMPABO Conference.

“So it’s exciting for us and one of the things that we want to look at is, while we are getting the individual success from the players, we want to start looking at some team success,” he stressed.

“So we want to take a look at establishing our national teams. We have two teams traveling this summer and we want to host a tournament in December, so our major concern in all of this is pitching.”

Sweeting said they are looking at developing their pitching core so that the Bahamas can regain its place as a team to watch on the international scene.