Court is the 224th former Northwoods League player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Thunder Bay Border Cat Ryan Court, made his Major League debut for the Seattle Mariners on Friday, July 26, 2019. Court is the 224th former Northwoods League player to reach the Major League level.
Court, who played collegiately at Illinois State, played for the Thunder Bay Border Cats in 2010. He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 23rd round of the 2011 MLB draft.
Court hit .304 in 56 games with the Border Cats in 2010. He had three home runs, 13 doubles, one triple and drove in 23 runs. He also stole nine bases.
Court spent the 2011-2014 seasons with the Diamondbacks in their minor league system. The highest level he reached was AA in 2013 and 2014. He spent parts of those seasons with the Mobile BayBears of the AA Southern League. Court had his best season in 2013 when he hit .315 with 11 home runs and 67 RBI over 127 games between Lo-A and AA.
After the 2014 season he was out of affiliated baseball and played the 2015 season in the independent American Association with the Sioux City Explorers. In 99 games with Sioux City he hit .331 with nine home runs, 22 doubles and two triples. He drove in 52 runs and stole 15 bases.
In 2016 he signed with Boston and started the season with the Portland Sea Dogs of the AA Eastern League. After 85 games he was promoted to the Pawtucket Red Sox of the AAA International League. Between the two clubs he hit .277 with four home runs, 19 doubles and four triples.
Court was once again in Pawtucket for the 2017 season. In 106 games he hit .263 with 10 home runs, 21 doubles and 44 RBI. He stole five bases and scored 49 runs.
In 2018 Court signed with the Cubs and spent the season with Iowa in the AAA Pacific Coast League. He hit .262 in 114 games with 11 home runs, 21 doubles and one triple. He drove in 62 runs and once again stole five bases.
Prior to being called up by the Mariners, Court had started the 2019 season with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Independent Atlantic League. He played in eight games with Sugar Land before his contract was purchased by the Seattle Mariners. He went to the Everett AquaSox of the Short-Season A Northwest League for four games before a promotion to the Tacoma Rainiers of the AAA Pacific Coast League. In Tacoma he was hitting .279 with nine home runs, eight doubles and two triples over 37 games.
In his Major League debut against the Detroit Tigers, Court entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning for Dylan Moore. He would line out to left in his only plate appearance. The following day Court started the game in right field and went 2 for 5 with three RBI.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 200 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG), World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
