Marlon Byrd

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Marlon Jerrard Byrd

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 0", Weight 225 lb.

School Georgia Perimeter Junior College
Debut September 8, 2002
Born August 30, 1977 in Boynton Beach, FL USA

BR page

1 Biographical Information
- 1.1 Quotes
2 Notable Achievements
3 Related Sites

[edit] Biographical Information

Much like outfielder Reggie Taylor, Marlon Byrd was once a highly touted outfield prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies. Drafted in the 10th round of the 1999 amateur draft out of Georgia Perimeter Junior College, Byrd stormed through the minor leagues, posting incredible power and speed numbers. In the minors, Byrd had a good batting eye, batting near .300 every season.

He began his minor league career with the 1999 Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League, hitting .296/~.369/.535 and led his team in homers (13) and RBI (50). Third in the league in home runs, he was named to the All-Star team at DH. In 2000, Marlon played for the Piedmont Boll Weevils and posted a .309/.375/.515 line. Strong across the board, he scored 104 runs, rapped 13 triples, cracked 17 homers, drove in 93 and stole 41 bases in 46 tries. He led the South Atlantic League in triples, extra-base hits (59) and total bases (265), was sixth in average and made the league's All-Star team in the outfield.

Selected by Baseball America as Philadelphia's 10th-best prospect entering 2001, Byrd almost joined Jeromy Burnitz as the second 30-30 man in Eastern League history. Named MVP for his work for the Reading Phillies, he led the loop's outfielders in fielding percentage (.994) and hit .316/.386/.555. He stole 32 bases in 37 attempts, scored 108 runs and homered 28 times. BA ranked him after the year as the second-best EL prospect (after Josh Beckett), the top Philadelphia prospect and the second-best outfield prospect in baseball (after Joe Borchard).

Making his fourth All-Star team in four seasons, Byrd was an All-Star OF in the 2002 International League after leading the circuit in runs (103), total bases (256) and extra-base hits (59). Hitting .297/.362/.476, Byrd stole 15 bases in 16 attempts and knocked 37 doubles (two behind league leader Chase Utley and 15 homers. Byrd reached the majors as a September call-up in 2002, playing 8 games in center field and 2 in right field.

When Byrd debuted as the starting center fielder for the Phillies on September 8, 2002, the second baseman was Marlon Anderson, the only other "Marlon" in the history of Major League baseball. Before Byrd had a plate appearance or made a play in the field that day, his Manager Larry Bowa had already been ejected.

Byrd struggled in those 10 games, and after the season he weighed an astonishing 235 pounds. [1] He was supposed to have lost 15 pounds in the off-season, and became the Phillies' starting center fielder for the 2003 season. Though Byrd posted quality numbers (.303/.366/.418) with solid defense, they were a far cry from his minor league numbers in terms of power though certainly otherwise within expectations.

For the 2004 season, Byrd was the center fielder for two-thirds of the team's games. His numbers dropped off precipitously (.228/.287/.321) as he posted only 5 home runs and 2 stolen bases. He spent a significant amount of time with the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, where he showed slight improvement with flashes of his former self with a .263/.323/.388 line, caught 3 times in 5 steal attempts.

Byrd came back energized for the 2005 season, determined to win a roster spot and the center fielder's job. The Phillies didn't expect such a turnaround, and had signed Kenny Lofton in the off-season to patrol the oddly-angled center field at Citizens Bank Park. In Spring Training, Byrd posted monster numbers (.390/.419/.537). The Phillies had a hard time keeping him off the roster, but he was sent to AAA. Ten games into the season, split between the majors and minors, Byrd was traded for also once-promising centerfielder Endy Chavez of the Washington Nationals. Chavez played sparingly the rest of the season, while Byrd played in 74 games with the Nats, posting disappointing numbers after a strong stint with the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. Overall, he hit .266/.323/.376 in the majors that year, .407/.476/.667 for New Orleans in 21 games and .368/.368/.895 in five games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

For the 2006 season, Byrd played well in Spring Training (.267/.380/.433), but once again posted disappointing numbers in the majors, ending the year with a .223 average in 78 games for Washington.

Marlon Byrd made a remarkable comeback for the Texas Rangers in 2007. Taking advantage of opportunities left by the departure of outfielders Gary Matthews and Carlos Lee via free agency during the off-season, he secured a job as the team's fourth outfielder and hit a solid .307 with 17 doubles, 8 triples and 10 homers in 114 games - good for a career-high 110 OPS+ - while seeing playing time at all three outfield spots.