Eric Duncan

Eric Anthony Duncan (born December 7, 1984) is an American former professional baseball second baseman and quality control coach for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). Considered an excellent high school baseball player, Duncan was chosen by the New York Yankees in the first round of the 2003 MLB draft, and became one of the best prospects in baseball. However, injuries and ineffectiveness in minor league baseball prevented Duncan from reaching MLB.

For the Canadian politician, see Eric Duncan (politician). For the Ebola patient, see Thomas Eric Duncan.

Eric Duncan
Duncan at Trustmark Park in 2010
Second baseman
Born: (1984-12-07) December 7, 1984
Florham Park, New Jersey, U.S.
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Teams
As coach

Amateur career

Duncan attended Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, New Jersey. He batted .535 with 10 home runs and 52 runs batted in (RBIs) in his senior year. He committed to attend Louisiana State University (LSU) to play college baseball for the LSU Tigers.[1]

Professional career

The New York Yankees selected Duncan in the first round, with the 27th overall selection, of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft. Prior to the 2005 season, Baseball America named Duncan the Yankees' 2005 top prospect, and the 36th best prospect in baseball. Prior to the 2006 season, Baseball America ranked him the 86th best prospect in baseball.[2]

Duncan was drafted as a third baseman, but was converted into a first baseman while in the Yankee organization, due to the long-term contract of Yankee Alex Rodriguez.[3] However, Duncan began to struggle when he reached Triple-A.[4]

After the 2009 season, the Yankees released Duncan. He spent the 2010 season in the Atlanta Braves organization, playing for the Double-A Mississippi Braves. Duncan signed a minor league contract with an invitation to 2011 spring training with the Colorado Rockies.[5] He was released on April 4.[6] On April 19, Duncan was signed to a minor league contract by the St. Louis Cardinals and assigned to Double-A Springfield.[7] He signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals on November 16, 2011 and was assigned to the Double A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Texas League). He suffered a torn quadriceps during spring training in 2012 and returned to the field on May 5. In July 2012, he announced his voluntary retirement.[8]

Awards
  • 2003 - 1st Team High School All-American IF
  • 2004 - Midwest League All-Star 3B
  • 2006 - Arizona Fall League All-Star 3B
  • 2006 - Arizona Fall League MVP

Coaching career

Following his retirement, Duncan became a volunteer coach for the Seton Hall Pirates of Seton Hall University. He is also a student at Seton Hall, majoring in political science.[9]

In 2015, the Staten Island Yankees named Duncan as their hitting coach, he returned to the same position in 2016.[10] In 2017, Duncan was promoted to the Tampa Yankees as their hitting coach for the 2017 and 2018 season.

Ducan was hired by the Miami Marlins as their minor league hitting coordinator in January 2019.[11] On April 19, 2019, hitting coach Mike Pagliarulo was fired by the Marlins. The Marlins promoted assistant hitting coach Jeff Livesey to hitting coach and promoted Duncan to fill the role of assistant hitting coach.[12] Duncan was promoted to hitting coach prior to the 2020 season.[13]

References
  1. "Yankee Profile: Eric Duncan".
  2. "Prospects: All-Time Top 100 Prospects". BaseballAmerica.com. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  3. "Duncan holding his own this spring: Top prospect observing established Yanks as much as he can". MLB.com. Major League Baseball Advanced Media. February 27, 2006. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  4. Rose, Van (August 26, 2007). "Hitting top form". Times Leader. Archived from the original on May 18, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  5. "Rockies sign pair to Minor League deals | MLB.com: News". Mlb.mlb.com. May 24, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  6. Etkin, Jack (April 4, 2011). "Rockies release Greg Smith, other minor leaguers". Insidetherockies.com. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  7. MLB Transactions, MLB.com.
  8. "Eric Duncan, former Seton Hall Prep great, retires from pro ball". NJ.com. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  9. Marchand, Andrew (February 4, 2014). "Whatever happened to Eric Duncan? - Yankees Blog - ESPN New York". Espn.go.com. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  10. "Home".
  11. "Miami Marlins announce 2019 Minor League coordinators". MLB.com. January 23, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  12. Jordan McPherson (April 19, 2019). "The Marlins, 'an easy team to pitch to,' fire their hitting coach after slow 2019 start". Miami Marlins. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  13. Joe Frisaro (December 9, 2019). "Hatcher joins Marlins as first-base coach". MLB.com. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
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