The Giants signed Fox for $6 million as an 18-year-old in 2015 after he had moved from Florida, where he spent three years at American Heritage High (Delray Beach, Fla.), to his native Bahamas ahead of his senior year. He had been in the Giants’ system for less than a year when they flipped him to Tampa Bay for Matt Moore at the 2016 Trade Deadline. Though a foot injury sidelined Fox for the rest of that season, he returned healthy and performed well in ‘17, earning a SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game selection, and then made even greater strides the next year before struggling in Double-A to finish the season. While those struggles continued for Fox in ‘19, the Rays still pushed him up to Triple-A Durham for a bit in August and added him to their 40-man roster in November.
Fox focuses on making line-drive contact from both sides of the plate and does a good job using the entire field. The quality of Fox’s contact is underwhelming, though, and he struggles to drive the ball consistently, even though he’s fairly strong, hitting mostly singles. He’s maintained strong on-base skills as he’s climbed the ladder thanks to a penchant for walking and knows how to use his plus speed on the bases. After recording at least 25 steals in each of his first three seasons, Fox swiped a career-high 39 bags in 2019.
One of the better athletes in Tampa Bay’s system, Fox is a rangy, above-average defensive shortstop with good hands and an above-average arm. That the Rays began to increase his versatility with reps at both second (13 games) and third base (nine) in 2019 suggests a potential bench role for Fox. He’s unlikely to do enough damage at the plate to be an everyday player, but there’s value to be had in his on-base skills, speed and glove.
Ranked 26th in the Rays system at 23 years old.......yea they traded a guy that was never gonna play for them. [Reply]
Maybe he can build us some kind of mechanically powered bat that allows us to hit more homers.
Sounds like he's a SS with blazing speed and can make some great plays defensively. Right up the Royals alley for a middle infielder. Not much pop though. [Reply]
Looking at his stats, one other plus is he does seem to take a fair amount of walks. Shame to see Brett Phillips go, he was a fun player to root for and his defense is amazing. If he ever figures out how to hit he'll be a good player. But that's the million dollar question. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tk13:
Looking at his stats, one other plus is he does seem to take a fair amount of walks. Shame to see Brett Phillips go, he was a fun player to root for and his defense is amazing. If he ever figures out how to hit he'll be a good player. But that's the million dollar question.
He'll be great now for some reason Tampa turns young players into gold. [Reply]
As a huge Brett Phillips honk, I'm really disappointed. It seems that after he misplayed that fly ball in Cincy, the Royals buried him.
I've always thought that if his bat came around just a bit, he could be Kevin Kiermaier, which would be valuable. Now I'd bet that Tampa turns him into just that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by siberian khatru:
As a huge Brett Phillips honk, I'm really disappointed. It seems that after he misplayed that fly ball in Cincy, the Royals buried him.
I've always thought that if his bat came around just a bit, he could be Kevin Kiermaier, which would be valuable. Now I'd bet that Tampa turns him into just that.
It's cool we'll keep playing Alex Gordon and his limp stick. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
It's cool we'll keep playing Alex Gordon and his limp stick.
Man, don't get me started. Phillips had cut his K rate down in a SSS, that should've been a signal to the Royals to play him more to see if it was real. But no, they had to keep trotting Gordon out there EVERY FUCKING DAY for no goddamn reason. Fans kept saying "Gordo is streaky, watch him get hot." Who gives a shit at this point? Why do we need a hot Gordon? [Reply]
Originally Posted by siberian khatru:
Man, don't get me started. Phillips had cut his K rate down in a SSS, that should've been a signal to the Royals to play him more to see if it was real. But no, they had to keep trotting Gordon out there EVERY FUCKING DAY for no goddamn reason. Fans kept saying "Gordo is streaky, watch him get hot." Who gives a shit at this point? Why do we need a hot Gordon?
They just need to admit at this point, Gordons done, O'Hearn is asshole, Nicky Lopez isn't and everyday guy and honestly Mondesi may not be either...this team has so many fuckin issues. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KChiefs1:
Time to trade Merrifield, Duffy, Rosenthal & Soler.
Merrifield is the one guy if they traded they better get a lot in return.Can you imagine how much better he'd be on a solid team than he already is now ? [Reply]
Originally Posted by siberian khatru:
Man, don't get me started. Phillips had cut his K rate down in a SSS, that should've been a signal to the Royals to play him more to see if it was real. But no, they had to keep trotting Gordon out there EVERY ****ING DAY for no goddamn reason. Fans kept saying "Gordo is streaky, watch him get hot." Who gives a shit at this point? Why do we need a hot Gordon?
At this point with Gordon,i think its just a final farewell that they play him everyday.They just hope he can still make a great catch which he occasionally does.I thought this was the last year of his contract but i dont even know. [Reply]