Addison Russell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addison_Russell

Addison Wayne Russell (born January 23, 1994) is an American professional baseball infielder for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). In 2015, Baseball America listed Russell as the third-best prospect in professional baseball. He made his MLB debut in April 2015.

Early life

Russell was born on January 23, 1994, in Pace, Florida, the eldest of four children raised by mother Milany and stepfather Wayne. Russell's mother is Filipina.

Amateur career

High school

Russell attended Pace High School in Florida and in 2010 led his high school to a class 5A FHSAA baseball state championship and a runner-up finish in 2012. Russell played in the 2010 Under Armour All-America Baseball Game, was named a Perfect Game Aflac All-American Game participant and a Louisville Slugger First Team All-American in 2011. He was also ranked as the No. 18 high school prospect by Baseball America and as the No. 24 high school prospect by Perfect Game. In his final high school baseball season, Russell hit for a .368 batting average and recorded a .532 on base percentage. Russell also played high school football at the running back position.

In November 2011, Russell signed a National Letter of Intent to play college baseball at Auburn University for the Tigers baseball team.

International

Russell was a member of the USA Baseball 18U National Team at the 2011 COPABE 18U/AAA Pan American games that won a gold medal. At the tournament, Russell batted .393, going 11-for-28 with three doubles, a triple and a home run, driving in nine RBIs and scoring 11 runs. During the championship game against Team Canada, Russell hit a grand slam and was named First-Team All Tournament as Shortstop for his efforts. At the tournament for Team USA, Russell played alongside future professional baseball players Albert Almora, Alex Bregman, David Dahl, Joey Gallo, and Carson Kelly.

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues

Russell was drafted by the Oakland Athletics with the 11th overall pick of the first round in the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft out of Pace High School in Pace, Florida. Russell received a $2.625 million signing bonus for signing with the A's instead of attending Auburn. He was also the first high school athlete selected by the A's in the first round of the draft since Jeremy Bonderman in 2001.

Russell started his career with the Arizona League Athletics, where he hit .415/.488/.717 with six home runs and 29 runs batted in in 26 games. He was then promoted to the Vermont Lake Monsters and hit .340/.386/.509 with one home run in 13 games. He finished the season with the Class-A Burlington Bees, hitting .310/.369/.448 in 16 games. Overall he finished his first season hitting .369/.432/.594 with seven home runs and 45 runs batted in 55 games. In 2012, he was named an Oakland MILB.com organization All-Star, and an AZL post-season All-Star.

Prior to the 2013 season, Russell was the Athletics' best prospect according to Baseball America. He was also named the best prospect in the Arizona League. In 2013, he was named an Oakland MILB.com organization All-Star, a CAL rookie of the year, a CAL post-season All-Star, and a CAL Futures Game selection. Playing for Mesa, he was also named to the AFL All-Prospect Team, and an AFL Rising Star.

Chicago Cubs

On July 4, 2014, Russell, along with pitcher Dan Straily, outfielder Billy McKinney, and a player to be named later, was traded to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for pitcher Jason Hammel and pitcher Jeff Samardzija. The Cubs sent Russell to the AFL for the second time at the end of the 2014 minor league season. 2015

Baseball America named him the #3 prospect before the 2015 season. On April 21, Russell was called up to the 25-man roster to play second base against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. On May 1, Russell hit his first career home run off of Wily Peralta in a 1–0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. He moved to his normal infield position at shortstop in early August, replacing three-time All-Star Starlin Castro. Russell committed only two errors in 52 games as the regular Cubs shortstop.

In the 2015 postseason he had 3 hits in 12 at bats with 1 RBI. Cardinal Pitcher John Lackey had a no-hitter into the sixth. Russell's single was the first hit. He hit a triple in the late innings of the third NLDS game and was slightly injured sliding into third. He did not play in game four. After the Cubs defeated the Cardinals in the NLDS to advance to the NLCS to face the New York Mets, it was announced that Russell had pulled his hamstring. This injury kept him out of the NLCS. With the Cubs acquisition of Jason Heyward, Russell gave up his jersey number 22 and switched to number 27 in honor of Eddie George.

2016

Batting .242 with 11 home runs and 48 RBIs, Russell was the starting shortstop at the 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. By the beginning of September of the 2016 season, Russell had 108 hits in 445 at bats with 19 home runs and 88 runs batted in. Russell had the game-winning hit in a late-season game against the SF Giants and was 8-for-18 (.444) with 23 RBIs in bases-loaded situations for the year. In the seventh inning of the same game, in a bases loaded situation, Russell made an acrobatic catch at the left field foul line for the final out of the inning. Russell finished the year with 95 RBIs and became the second Cub shortstop with over 90 for a season. Previously, hall of famer Ernie Banks accomplished this feat five times.

On October 25, 2016, Addison Russell along with teammates Dexter Fowler, Jason Heyward, and Carl Edwards Jr., became the first African-Americans to play for the Cubs in a World Series game. Both Russell and Fowler are the first African-Americans to start for the Cubs in a World Series due to it being the first World Series the Cubs have played in since desegregation. Addison hit the 19th grand slam in the history of the World Series in the sixth game and also tied a MLB record of 6 RBI by one player in a game on a team facing elimination from the fall classic. He is the first player of Filipino-American descent to hit a grand slam in a World Series game. It was the first World Series grand slam since Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series.

Personal life

Russell and Melisa Reidy had a child in August 2015 and married in January 2016.