Anfernee Antron Grier (born October 13, 1995) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. Grier played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

. He was drafted by the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

39th overall in the

2016 MLB draft The 2016 Major League Baseball draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who ...

. Despite his draft status, Grier never played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB).

Career

Amateur

Grier attended Russell County High School in

Seale, Alabama Seale is an unincorporated community in Russell County, Alabama, United States. It was the county seat from 1868 until 1935, and is currently home to Russell County High School and middle school. The former Russell County courthouse, built in ...

. He was drafted by the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

in the 39th round of the

2013 Major League Baseball Draft The 2013 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in reverse order of ...

, but did not sign and attended

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

where he played

for the

. As a freshman at Auburn in 2014, Grier started 38 of 47 games and hit .255 with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

over 149 at-bats. He missed 16 games due to an injury to his hand. As a sophomore, he started all 62 games and led the team with a .323 batting average, 82 hits, 41 runs scored, 22 doubles and three triples. He also had a home run, 20 RBI and nine stolen bases. After the season, Grier played for the United States collegiate national team.

Arizona Diamondbacks

With the 39th overall pick in the

, Grier was selected by the

. He signed with the Diamondbacks on June 15, 2016, was assigned to the Missoula Osprey, and after four games was promoted to the

Hillsboro Hops The Hillsboro Hops are a Minor League Baseball team in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, a city in the Portland metropolitan area. The Hops are members of the Northwest League and are the High-A affilia ...

. In 24 combined games between the two teams, he batted .236 with two home runs and eight RBIs. In 2017, he played for the

Kane County Cougars The Kane County Cougars are a professional baseball team located in Geneva, Illinois, and are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball (MLB). They play their home games a ...

where he slashed .251/.340/.331 with four home runs, 36 RBIs and thirty stolen bases in 123 games, and in 2018, he played with the

Visalia Rawhide The Visalia Rawhide are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Visalia, California, and have played their home games at Valley Strong Ballpark since their ...

but appeared in only 34 games due to injury, hitting .208 with three home runs and eight RBIs. Grier did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He was released by the Diamondbacks organization on May 28, 2020.

Chicago Dogs

On March 17, 2021, Grier signed with the Chicago Dogs of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

. Grier appeared in 88 games for Chicago in 2021, slashing .308/.381/.476 with 10 home runs, 40 RBI, and 35 stolen bases. In 2022, Grier played in 65 contests for the Dogs. In 252 at-bats, Grier batted .238/.302/.341 with 4 home runs, 28 RBI, and 10 stolen bases. He was released by the team on January 19, 2023. In May 2023, Grier ended his playing career and became a supply chain manager.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grier, Anfernee 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Phenix City, Alabama People from Russell County, Alabama Baseball players from Alabama Baseball outfielders Auburn Tigers baseball players Arizona League Diamondbacks players Missoula Osprey players Hillsboro Hops players Kane County Cougars players Visalia Rawhide players Chicago Dogs players