Mike Ford

Michael Harrison Ford (born July 4, 1992) is an American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels.

Ford signed with the Yankees as an undrafted free agent out of Princeton University.

Ford was born on July 4, 1992, to Bob and Barb Ford, and grew up in Belle Mead in Montgomery Township, New Jersey.

He is of Irish and Italian descent, respectively.

When he was 12 and 13, he was part of Montgomery's Babe Ruth League teams that went to the Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth World Series.

He attended Montgomery High School as a freshman before transferring to the Hun School of Princeton.

Ford played college baseball at Princeton University for the Tigers from 2011 to 2013.

He was both a first baseman and a pitcher.

In 2011 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Danbury Westerners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, and then in 2012 and 2013 he played for the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

After going undrafted in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft, Ford signed with the Yankees as an undrafted free agent.

In 2013, he became the first player in Ivy League history to be named both the Player and Pitcher of the Year, after batting .320 and ranking in the top 10 in the Ivy League in walks (#1, with 31), home runs (#2, with 6), RBIs (#3, with 38), and on-base percentage (#4, at .443), while going 6–0 on the mound with a league-leading 0.98 ERA.

He made his professional debut in 2013 with the Staten Island Yankees and spent the whole season there, batting .235/.346/.374 with three home runs and 17 RBIs in 33 games.

Ford started 2014 with the Charleston RiverDogs.

In May, he hit four home runs in one game against the Hickory Crawdads.

He was promoted to the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League in August and he finished the season there.

In 105 total games between both teams he batted .292/.383/.458 with 13 home runs and 56 RBIs.

He was named a South Atlantic League Mid-Season All Star.

In 2015, Ford played for Tampa where he batted .260/.346/.368 with 62 runs (10th in the league), six home runs, 55 RBIs, and 60 walks (4th) in 123 games.

He was named a Florida State League Mid-Season All Star.

In 2016, he played with Staten Island, Tampa, and the Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League, where he slashed .289/.411/.479 with eight home runs, 43 RBIs, and 41 walks (while striking out only 29 times) in 56 games between the three teams.

The Mariners selected Ford from the Yankees in the 2017 Rule 5 draft.

They returned him to the Yankees on March 24.

He spent 2017 with Trenton and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League.

He led the Eastern League with 76 walks (while striking out only 56 times) and was second in the league in OBP as he batted a combined .270/.404/.471 with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs in 126 games.

He was named an MiLB Yankees Organization All Star, and an Eastern League Mid-Season All Star.

He spent almost all of 2018 with Scranton, batting .253/.327/.433 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 102 games.

In total, Ford has a .269 average with 71 home runs and 328 RBI's in 561 Minor League games.

He made his MLB debut for the Yankees in 2019 and played for them through 2021.

He played for the Giants, Mariners, Braves, and Angels in 2022 and for the Mariners in 2023.

The Yankees invited Ford to spring training as a non-roster player in 2019.

They assigned him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to start the 2019 season.

The Yankees promoted Ford to the major leagues when Greg Bird went on the injured list on April 16.

He made his major league debut on April 18.

After going 0 for 6 at bat in his first two games, on April 21, Ford got his first MLB hit; a double to left-center field off Jorge López in a 7–6 win against the Kansas City Royals.

On April 23, he hit his first MLB home run off Chris Stratton of the Los Angeles Angels.

On August 15, in a blowout game against the Cleveland Indians, Ford made his pitching debut.

He gave up two home runs, but pitched two innings, including a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

On August 26, Ford recorded his first multi home run game in his MLB career by hitting two home runs against the Seattle Mariners.

On September 1, Ford hit his first career walk-off hit, a solo home run off of Liam Hendriks in a 5–4 win over the Oakland Athletics.