Former Seattle Mariners Productive Slugger Wins Championship in Japanese League
Congratulations are in order for former Seattle Mariners slugger Mike Ford, who just won a championship while playing in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League.
Ford was playing with the Yokohama BayStars. He competed alongside former New York Yankees player Tyler Austin.
Congrats to former @yankees Mike Ford and Tyler Austin! Nippon League Champs. 💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/KEKemkl1Fh
— JP_YankeesGirl (@90syankskid) November 4, 2024
Ford had signed a deal to go to Japan back in July. He started out the season with the Cincinnati Reds.
Ford has spent parts of six years in the big leagues with the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Mariners, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels and Reds. He spent two different tenures with the Mariners, appearing with them in 2022 and 2023. His 2023 tenure was memorable for fans because he provided some much-needed thump in the lineup that missed the playoffs by just one game.
In 83 games for the 2023 M's, he popped 16 homers and drove in 34 runs. He also had several key home runs late that fueled victories as well. That was his most successful major league season, and also represented the most games he'd played with a team in a major league season.
He played 17 games for Cincinnati this year and hit one home run while driving in four.
Still just 32 years old, he played 47 games in Japan, hitting .209 with nine homers and 32 RBI. At this point, it's unknown what he'll do in 2025. He could come back and seek a minor league deal in the States, or he could elect to stay in Japan, provided he was interest over there.
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