Cody Decker
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Cody Marshall Decker (born January 17, 1987) is an American former professional baseball player who played for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). A right-handed power hitter, he played first base, third base, left field, and could catch.[1]
Playing for
Decker was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 22nd round of the
Decker made his Major League debut on September 14, 2015, after 2,566 at bats in 761 games over seven seasons in the minor leagues. At the time, his 154 home runs in the minors were the most by any MLB-affiliated minor league player since he was drafted in 2009. He played for
Early life
Decker was born in Santa Monica, California, and is Jewish.[1][4][5] His parents are Jay and Terri Decker, and he has an older brother (Jesse) and an older sister (Jenifer).[6]
He attended
College
Decker then attended the
Professional career
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres selected Decker in the 22nd round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.[11] He said his after-tax signing bonus was $638.[12]
In 2009, Decker batted .354 (3rd in the league) and led the
In 2010, Decker was fourth in the California League in home runs (28; tied for the lead among Padres minor leaguers), sixth in doubles (35), seventh in RBIs (90; second-best among Padres minor leaguers), and ninth in walks (60), with the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm.[4][16] He then was named an MiLB.com San Diego Organization All Star and MiLB.com Short-Season Best Hitter of the Year with the Arizona League Padres, and voted California League Player of the Week on August 30, 2010, with the Storm.[13]
Decker missed nearly three months of the 2011 season with a severe third-degree right
In 2012, Decker finished second in the Texas League in home runs (25), third in slugging percentage (.540), and tenth in RBIs (68) with the AA San Antonio Missions.[3] In addition, he was twice named Texas League Player of the Week, on May 7 and May 14.[13]
Decker split the 2013 season between San Antonio and Tucson, hitting 19 home runs (second among Padres minor leaguers) with 70 RBIs.[21][22] He was third in the Pacific Coast League in slugging percentage (.534).[23]
In 2014, Decker tied for fourth in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) in home runs with 27 for the AAA El Paso Chihuahuas, and led all Padres minor leaguers in homers.[24][25] He also tied for third among Padres minor leaguers in RBIs, with 79.[26] He was named a 2014 MiLB.com San Diego Organization All Star.[17]
In 2015, he was a PCL mid-season All Star with El Paso, and an MiLB.com San Diego Organization All Star.[17] Decker had the fourth-best home run/at bat ratio in the league, with a homer every 17.78 at bats.[27] On May 11, 2015, he was voted PCL Player of the Week. Through 2015, he was the all-time minor league home run leader for the Padres, with 154.[28] Sam Geaney, the Padres Director of Player Development, described him as "big-time right-handed power."[29] Afterwards, newspaper El Paso Times called him "the most popular player during the El Paso Chihuahuas' first two seasons."[30] Announcer Tim Hagerty said he had not ever seen a ballplayer connect with a team's fan base as Decker did with El Paso.[31]
Decker made his Major League debut with the Padres on September 14, 2015, after 2,566 at bats in 761 games over seven seasons while playing in the minor leagues.[32][33] At the time, his 154 home runs in the minors were the most by any MLB-affiliated minor league player since he was drafted in 2009, and the most ever by a Padres minor leaguer.[32][33] Decker went hitless with an RBI in 11 at bats,[34] and became a free agent after his debut season.
Royals/Rockies/Red Sox
Decker signed with the
Milwaukee Brewers
In January 2017, Decker signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers.[37] Decker was to convert full-time to catcher.[38] Decker had been managed by Pat Murphy, the Brewers bench coach, when both of them were in the San Diego Padres system.[39] The Brewers released him on March 27.[40]
New York Mets
On April 12, 2017, the
Arizona Diamondbacks
Decker signed a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks on February 1, 2018.[47] He spent nearly the entire season playing for the Reno Aces in the Pacific Coast League, batting .268/.363/.516, with 9 home runs and 28 RBIs in 153 at bats.[48] He finished the season with 197 career home runs in the minor leagues.[49]
In October 2018, the Diamondbacks re-signed Decker and again assigned him to the Reno Aces.[49] In 2019 for Reno he batted .240/.348/.521, with seven home runs and 21 RBIs in 96 at bats.[50]
Retirement
On July 7, 2019, Decker announced the end of his playing career.[51]
Team Israel
In 2012, by virtue of his Jewish heritage, Decker played for the
Decker played for
Decker played for
Decker brought the team's mascot with him to Asia from the United States for the WBC. The mascot is "Mensch on the Bench", a five-foot-tall plush stuffed toy that looks a bit like a
"He’s a mascot, he’s a friend, he’s a teammate, he’s a borderline deity to our team.... He brings a lot to the table.... Every team needs their Jobu. He was ours. He had his own locker, and we even gave him offerings: Manischewitz, gelt, and gefilte fish... He is everywhere and nowhere all at once. His actual location is irrelevant because he exists in higher metaphysical planes. But he’s always near."[68]
Accolades
Decker was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2020.[71]
Personal life
Decker has earned his Screen Actors Guild card, and had a cameo in the NBC espionage thriller State of Affairs.[7] He also produces his own short films on the side.[7]
Decker is known for his pranks.[72] In 2014, while playing with the El Paso Chihuahuas in AAA, for the first month of the season he convinced veteran outfielder Jeff Francoeur that their teammate, pitcher Jorge Reyes, was deaf.[1][7][73] Reyes cooperated with the prank, maintaining the appearance of being deaf by not speaking or listening to music.[74][75] Decker filmed and produced a seven-minute documentary, "On Jeff Ears,"[76] revealing the truth to Francoeur.[1][7] The prank documentary went viral, getting over 1.5 million hits on YouTube.[1][77] Sportswriter Peter Gammons called Decker "My new favorite person."[78] Decker raises money for the deaf and for animal rescue through charitable events.[1][79] The following year, after his Chihuahuas teammate Tommy Medica was featured as the love interest in a music video for a song by R&B artist Princess Eze, Decker recut the music video as the trailer for a thriller film dubbed "Tank Top Tommy."[80][81]
The
On December 23, 2016, Decker became engaged to model and sports journalist Jenn Sterger, whom he met on Twitter.[89][90][91] On January 19, 2018, Decker married Sterger.
See also
- List of Jewish baseball players
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Red Sox bring another 'character' to Portland; Veteran Cody Decker can hit with power, field several positions, play pranks on teammates and belt out Seventy-Six Trombones," The Portland Press Herald, June 26, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Dan Watson (November 9, 2009). "Cody Decker Wins AZL Player of Year Honors," MiLB.com.
- ^ a b c "Cody Decker, El Paso 1B - Player Evaluation," Scout.
- ^ a b c d "Cody Decker Stats, Fantasy & News," mlb.com.
- ^ Hillel Kutler (April 3, 2016). "8 Jewish Baseball Players To Watch — and One Manager," The Forward.
- ^ a b c d e [1] Player Bio: Cody Decker at the Wayback Machine (archived January 2, 2016)
- ^ a b c d e Rustin Dodd (March 10, 2016). "Meet Cody Decker, the Royals’ utility man with a Screen Actors Guild card," The Kansas City Star.
- ^ Josh Jackson (January 3, 2010). "Even off the field, Decker stays under lights; Minor League slugger finds opportunities for himself in entertainment," milb.com.
- ^ 2007 "Pacific-10 Conference - Season Review," The Baseball Cube.
- ^ "2009 Pacific-10 Conference - Season Review," The Baseball Cube.
- ^ "Cody Decker Baseball Statistics (2006–2014)". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
- ^ Responses (2013-06-10). "Danny Wild (June 10, 2013). "Minoring in Twitter: A tribute to Cody Decker," milb.com". Milbprospective.mlblogs.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ a b c "Cody Decker Stats, Video Highlights, Photos, Bio". Mlb.com. March 27, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
- ^ a b Dan Watson (January 4, 2010). "Cody Decker MiLB's Best Short-Season Hitter," MiLB.com.
- ^ John Conniff (July 18, 2015). "El Paso Notebook-2015," San Diego - Scout.
- ^ Robert Emrich (December 3, 2010). "Deckers form Padres' dynamic duo; Cody, Jaff team up for 45 homers, 148 RBIs in Cal League," milb.com.
- ^ a b c "Cody Decker Stats, Highlights, Bio," MiLB.com.
- ^ John Parker (May 7, 2012). "Offensive Players of the Week; For the week ending May 6," MiLB.com.
- ^ UCLA 2012 Baseball Media Guide Archived 2016-08-17 at the Wayback Machine, UCLA.
- ^ "Cody Decker Activated From Disabled List", OurSports Central, August 23, 2011.
- ^ "Cody Decker Debuts with the Padres," Northwoods League, September 15, 2015.
- ^ "Possible 2014 Chihuahuas Position Players," El Paso Chihuahuas News, November 24, 2013.
- ^ "2013 Pacific Coast League - Season Review," The Baseball Cube.
- ^ Bill Center (September 3, 2014). "From the Farm, 9/2/14: Playoff Schedules; El Paso, San Antonio, Eugene Season Reviews," FriarWire.
- ^ "MadFriars' End of the Year Review: El Paso," FOX Sports, October 17, 2014.
- ^ Mark Emery (October 6, 2014). "First-round pick Trea Turner headlines San Diego Padres' Organization All-Stars," MiLB.com.
- ^ 2016 Memphis Redbirds Media Guide, Memphis Redbirds.
- ^ 2015 San Diego Padres Season Review, San Diego Padres.
- ^ "MadFriars' Preview: 2015 El Paso Chihuahuas," Fox Sports, April 9, 2015.
- ^ "Chihuahuas' Cody Decker called up to San Diego Padres,", El Paso Times, September 13, 2015.
- ^ John Conniff (March 19, 2016). "Ex-Chihuahua Cody Decker now with Kansas City," El Paso Times.
- ^ a b Jeff Goodman (September 21, 2015). "Samohi grad Cody Decker called up by Padres," Santa Monica Daily Press.
- ^ a b "Cody Decker Earns Call-Up From Padres," UCLA Bruins, September 14, 2015.
- ^ Barry M. Bloom (March 19, 2016). "Easy to root for good-natured Decker; 29-year-old trying to earn a job with Royals after long stint in Padres' system," mlb.com.
- ^ Todd, Jeff (May 24, 2016). "Minor MLB Transactions: 5/24/2016". mlbtraderumors.com. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
- ^ "Minor League Free Agents 2016". baseballamerica.com. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
- ^ "Brewers' Cody Decker: Signs minor league deal," CBS Sports, January 8, 2017.
- ^ Adam McCalvy (January 8, 2017). "Brewers sign Cody Decker", mlb.com.
- ^ Tom Haudricourt (January 9, 2017). "Brewers sign Decker to minor-league deal", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ Salvatore, Brian (2017-04-11). ""Mets sign Cody Decker" - Amazin' Avenue". Amazinavenue.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ Anthony DiComo (2017-04-12). ""Mets sign Cody Decker to Minor League deal" | MLB.com". M.mlb.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ Emerson, Terrel (12 April 2017). ""Mets sign Cody Decker to a minor league deal, but assignment unspecified" – Las Vegas Review-Journal". Reviewjournal.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ "Decker leads Binghamton to 7-5 win over Erie" | stltoday.com[dead link]
- ^ "Cody Decker". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ Emerson, Terrel (17 June 2017). ""Mets make multiple roster moves" – Las Vegas Review-Journal". Reviewjournal.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ "Minor League Free Agents 2017". baseballamerica.com. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
- ^ Pollshuk, Mark (February 1, 2018). "Minor MLB Transactions: 2/1/18". MLB Trade Rumors. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ ""Cody Decker homers in first at-bat in PCL return" - KVIA". Archived from the original on 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
- ^ a b Steve Kaplowitz. ""Cody Decker Re-signs with Arizona Diamondbacks and Assigned to Reno"". Krod.com. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ "Cody Decker Minor & Winter Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
- ^ Dan Grantland (July 8, 2019). "Monday's Hot Clicks: Career Minor Leaguer Hits Walk-Off Homer, Then Retires". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
- ^ John Manuel (August 14, 2013). "Cody Decker Continues Budding Film Career," Baseball America.
- ^ Daniel Archuleta (September 20, 2012). "Baseball: Decker represents Israel", Santa Monica Daily Press.
- ^ Ron Kaplan (September 16, 2015). "Welcome Cody Decker, your latest JML"[permanent dead link], New Jersey Jewish News.
- ^ "Israel 7, South Africa 3" Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, mlb.com, September 19, 2012.
- ^ "Israel 4, Spain 2" Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, mlb.com, September 21, 2012.
- ^ "Spain 9, Israel 7" Archived 2020-10-27 at the Wayback Machine, mlb.com, September 23, 2012.
- ^ Vince Lara-Cinisomo (September 22, 2016). "Rosters for WBC Qualifier in Brooklyn; Israel, Pakistan, Great Britain, Brazil", Baseball America.
- ^ "Israel 5, Great Britain 2," Archived 2016-09-27 at the Wayback Machine mlb.com, September 22, 2016.
- ^ "Israel 1, Brazil 0," Archived 2016-09-27 at the Wayback Machine mlb.com, September 23, 2016.
- ^ "Israel 9, Great Britain 1" Archived 2016-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, mlb.com, September 25, 2016.
- ^ Aron Heller (January 11, 2017). "Israel taps Jewish major-leaguers for World Baseball Classic", The Star.
- ^ Hillel Kuttler (January 11, 2017). "For these pro-baseball players, visiting Israel is like coming home", Times of Israel.
- ^ a b Lidia Jean Kott (March 10, 2017). "The 'Mensch on the Bench' might be Israel's baseball team's secret weapon," Public Radio International.
- ^ a b c "Israel's Mensch on the Bench mascot at World Baseball Classic," Newsday, March 9, 2017.
- ^ a b Robert Siegel (March 8, 2017). "Dutch Players Take Leave From Spring Training For World Baseball Classic," NPR.
- ^ "Mensch on a Bench, mascot of Israel baseball team, a hoot ahead of WBC,", The Times of Israel, March 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c Liz Roscher (March 7, 2017). "Israel's World Baseball Classic mascot: Mensch on a Bench," Yahoo.
- ^ Barry M. Bloom (March 2017). "With Mensch on Bench, Israel ready for Classic," Archived 2017-03-12 at the Wayback Machine mlb.com.
- ^ a b Charles Curtis (March 7, 2017). "The best thing about Team Israel’s World Baseball Classic run is their delightful mascot," USA Today.
- ^ "Sports Shorts". Jewish Sports Review. 12 (137): 17. January–February 2020.
- ^ "Meet the man behind the epic prank on Jeff Francoeur; Former UCLA baseball player Cody Decker has become something of an infamous minor league fan sensation," Fox Sports, July 25, 2014.
- ^ Josh Leventhal (April 28, 2015). "Decker Does It Again With Latest Prank," Baseball America.
- ^ Nick Schwartz (April 13, 2014). "Jeff Francoeur's minor league teammates tricked him into thinking a pitcher was deaf". USA Today.
- ^ Townsend, Mark (April 13, 2014). "Jeff Francoeur's new Triple-A teammates welcome him with month-long prank". Yahoo! Sports.
- ^ "On Jeff Ears", Antihero Baseball/Daylight Films, YouTube, April 12, 2014.
- ^ Danny Wild (June 5, 2015). "Minoring in Twitter: The ugly side of Tommy John; Decker debuts new film,", Prospective.
- ^ Peter Gammons (April 14, 2015). "Peter Gammons: My new favorite person, Cody Decker". Gammons Daily.
- ^ . [2] Archived 2016-06-23 at the Wayback Machine, sportstownelpaso.com.
- ^ https://www.gaslampball.com/2015/2/15/8044175/tommy-medica-shirtless-music-video-princess-eze-cringeworthy
- ^ https://www.gaslampball.com/2015/3/8/8170895/cody-deckers-latest-feature-film-tank-top-tommy
- ^ Dennis Lin (September 14, 2015). "Cody Decker's big-league dream becomes reality with call-up to Padres," The San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ Ryan Posner (September 14, 2015). "Career Minor Leaguer Cody Decker to Finally Get Shot with Padres," Times of San Diego.
- ^ Jeff Sanders (December 3, 2015). "Cody Decker scooped on own minor league deal," The San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ "Cody Decker", Twitter.
- ^ Wayne McBrayer (August 16, 2013). "Getting to know Cody Decker – Tucson Padres," Padres360.
- ^ Patrick Finley (April 15, 2013). "Tucson Padres Patrick Finley: Decker hopes shift can be majors one," Arizona Daily Star.
- ^ Corey Brock (January 9, 2013). "For Padres farmhands, work doesn't end on field; Some pick up offseason jobs to supplement modest Minor League income," mlb.com.
- ^ Matt Lombardi (December 24, 2016). "Jenn Sterger Engaged To Minor League Baseball Player Cody Decker,", College Spun.
- ^ Max Rieper (December 4, 2015). "New Royals minor leaguer Cody Decker is the most interesting man in the world; Slugging first baseman, filmmaker, actor, the guy is a real triple threat," Royals Review.
- ^ Chris Han (March 2017). "Cody Decker, fiancee Jenn Sterger enjoying WBC Archived 2017-10-29 at the Wayback Machine," mlb.com.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
- Cody Decker on Twitter