The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE trio of Bahamians in Class A minor league baseball have moved into their second month of the season as they attempt to adjust to the increased workload of minor league promotion.

Anfernee Seymour and Lucius Fox are in their first seasons of Class A while Champ Stuart is in Class-A Advanced.

Seymour is in the midst of his most productive stretch of the season for the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the South Atlantic League.

In his last 10 games, Seymour has hit .294 with seven runs scored and two stolen bases.

Seymour, who starred for the rookie Batavia Muckdogs in the Gulf Coast League last season where he played in 64 games at shortstop with a batting average of .273, was called up in April to the Grasshoppers.

Now with the shift to outfielder defensively, through 39 games thus far, Seymour is hitting .235 with 22 runs scored, 14 stolen bases and 37 stolen bases. He has recorded a slugging percentage of .242, an on-base percentage of .280 and an OPS of .522.

The 20-year-old, 5’11” 165-pound Seymour was taken by the Miami Marlins with the 197th pick in round seven of the 2014 MLB Draft.

This offseason he has moved up from the Marlins’ No.26 top prospect to No.13.

Also in the Class A South Atlantic League, Lucius Fox made his much-anticipated pro debut this season for the San Francisco Giants.

With the Augusta GreenJackets, Fox is listed as the Giants’ No.4 prospect and has eight hits in his last 10 games.

In a May 15 matchup against Greenville, Fox flashed the brilliance the franchise expects to see since they signed him to a lucrative free agent contract out of high school.

In his first three hit game of the season, Fox went 3-5 including a double and triple, with one RBI.

After an 0-3 start in game one, Fox had the best game of his young career in game two when he went 2-5 with a home run, five RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base.

In 31 games thus far, Fox is hitting .216 with 21 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, slugging .302, an on-base percentage of .326 and an OPS of .628.

The 6’2” 170-pound shortstop was the most anticipated signing of the Giants International Prospect class last July.

The Class-A leagues, the South Atlantic and Midwest, feature a cross section of players like Seymour - moving up from the Short Season and Rookie leagues, as well as those like Fox - the occasional experienced first-year player. These leagues play a full, 140 game schedule, which runs from the first week of April through the first week of September.

In the Class A Advanced league, Champ Stuart continues his stint with the New York Mets organisation.

Through 38 games in the Florida State League, with the St.Lucie Mets, Stuart is hitting .244 with 13 RBI and five stolen bases.

He has also totalled an on-base percentage of .331 and an OPS of .733.

The four year veteran received the highlight of his career when he got the Major League call-up in spring training.

Stuart made an appearance as a pinch runner in the final Grapefruit League game for the Mets in a loss to the Washington Nationals.

In his second season in Class A-Advanced, Stuart started out the season with a promising multiple hits in five of his first eight games.

In 2013, Stuart was selected out of Brevard College by the New York Mets in the sixth round with the 176th pick.

The Class A-Advanced level, is often a second or third promotion for a minor league players, although a few high first-round draftees, particularly those with college experience, begin at this level. These leagues play a complete season like Triple-A and Double-A, April through early September.