Terrmel Sledge

Terrmel Sledge (born March 18, 1977) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and the former assistant hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Yokohama BayStars. Prior to being hired by the Cubs, he was the hitting coach for the Tulsa Drillers in the Texas League.

Terrmel Sledge
Sledge with the Yokohama BayStars in 2010
Outfielder
Born: (1977-03-18) March 18, 1977
Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
Professional debut
MLB: April 6, 2004, for the Montreal Expos
NPB: March 20, 2008, for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Last appearance
MLB: October 1, 2007, for the San Diego Padres
NPB: June 13, 2012, for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
MLB statistics
Batting average.247
Home runs25
Runs batted in100
NPB statistics
Batting average.263
Home runs96
Runs batted in315
Teams

Amateur career

Sledge attended John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, California and played college baseball at Long Beach State. In 1997, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League.[1]

Professional career

Sledge's major league career began in 2004 with the Montreal Expos. He batted .269/.336/.462 with 15 home runs and 62 runs batted in in his rookie year. On September 29, 2004 he was the final out at the last Expos home game when he popped out to third base in 9-1 loss to the Florida Marlins On October 3, 2004, he recorded the final RBI in Expos history when he drove in Jamey Carroll in a game against the New York Mets.

Sledge moved with the team to Washington, D.C. the following season as the Expos relocated, and hit the first-ever home run for the Washington Nationals. He was traded to the Texas Rangers along with fellow outfielder Brad Wilkerson and Armando Galarraga for second baseman Alfonso Soriano on December 7, 2005. He was subsequently traded to the San Diego Padres in a six-player deal on January 6, 2006.

On November 29, 2007, Sledge was granted permission by the Padres to sign with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Nippon Professional League.

On December 17, 2009, Sledge signed a contract with Yokohama BayStars for the 2010 season.

In October 2003, while training with the USA Olympic baseball team, Sledge became one of the first MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs.[2] Sledge was not subject to discipline by MLB as the substance was not barred under league rules at the time.[3]

Coaching career

Sledge retired after the 2012 season and spent 2015 as the assistant hitting coach for the Eugene Emeralds. In 2016, he was named hitting coach for the Tulsa Drillers of the AA Texas League.[4]

In late 2018, the Chicago Cubs hired Sledge as assistant hitting coach for the 2019 season.[5] He took over the position held by Andy Haines, who was hired to be the Milwaukee Brewers' hitting coach.[6] The organization did not tender Sledge a contract to return for the 2021 season.[7]

Personal life

Sledge is half Korean and half African American; his mother is Korean and his father is black. According to his father, his name is a combination of Terrence and Melvin, two names his parents had considered naming him when he was born. Sledge has two children; Tee and Sherrice.

References
  1. "Player Stats". Cape Cod Baseball League. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
  2. "TRACK AND FIELD; 3 Face Bans After Positive Drug Tests". The New York Times. 14 January 2004.
  3. "USA Baseball Still Wants Pro Players". Los Angeles Times. 14 January 2004.
  4. Tulsa Drillers (January 14, 2016). "Dodgers Announce 2016 Drillers Coaching Staff". milb.com. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  5. "Cubs Name Tommy Hottovy Their New Pitching Coach". 670 The Score. 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  6. Bastian, Jordan (2018-11-29). "Source: Sledge to be Cubs' asst. hitting coach". mlb.com. Retrieved 2019-07-20.
  7. Gonzales, Mark (23 October 2020). "Assistant hitting coach Terrmel Sledge not returning to the Chicago Cubs in 2021". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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