Mike Ford
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

The Seattle Mariners once gave up on Mike Ford. The rookie is now haunting them with the Yankees, and he’s loving every minute of it.

Aaron Case

Who among us hasn’t fantasized about making it big and causing an ex to ferment in their regret? For New York Yankees first baseman Mike Ford, that fantasy is a reality.

Check Ford’s Baseball Reference page, and you’ll see NYY beside every year of his professional career, which started in 2013. However, he actually spent an offseason with the Seattle Mariners, who snagged him in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft.

When he didn’t make Seattle’s 25-man roster in Spring Training 2018, he returned to his original team, per Rule 5 regulations.

“I try to keep that out of my mind,” Ford told the New York Post’s George A. King III. “There are no hard feelings, but it is definitely nice to stick it to them.”

Ford is 3-for-9 in his first two games against Seattle, with a double, two home runs, and three RBIs. Both of his dingers came in the first game.

While the 27-year-old said he’s over the Seattle snub, he acknowledged that making his peace with it wasn’t easy:

“It took me a period of time to get over it but after that it was OK,” he told King. “Now what is the next step.”

Overall, Ford is hitting .225/.319/.500 with eight long balls and 14 RBI in 33 games with the Bombers. He’s gone into overdrive lately, going 9-for-21 with four homers in his last seven games.

Unfortunately for Ford, first-bagger Luke Voit is poised to return from a hernia. Also, sometimes-first-baseman Edwin Encarnacion and DH Giancarlo Stanton could return soon.

Ford will likely fade into the background by the end of the 2019 season. But he’s certainly trucked his way into the Yankees 1B conversation moving forward.


Freelance editor and writer, and full-time Yankees fan. Originally from Monticello, NY, but now lives in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.