Dustin Ryan Fowler (born December 29, 1994) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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 ...

. Listed at and , he bats and throws left-handed. He 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) for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

Career

New York Yankees

Fowler attended West Laurens High School in

Dexter, Georgia Dexter is a town in Laurens County, Georgia, United States. As of 2020, its population was 655. History The first permanent settlement at Dexter was made in 1889. A post office has been in operation at Dexter since 1890. The Georgia General Asse ...

. He committed to play

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, ...

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (informally known as Southern or Georgia Southern) is a public university, public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The largest campus is in Statesboro, Georgia, Statesboro, with ...

. The

selected Fowler in the 18th 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 ...

. He signed with the Yankees and made his professional debut with the

Gulf Coast League Yankees The Florida Complex League Yankees are a Rookie-level affiliate of the New York Yankees, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball ...

. He spent the whole season there, batting .241 with nine RBIs in 30 games. Fowler played in 2014 with the

Charleston RiverDogs The Charleston RiverDogs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League. They are located in Charleston, South Carolina, and are the Single-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The RiverDogs' home stadium is Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Char ...

where he compiled a .257 batting average with nine home runs and 41 RBIs in 66 games. He was named the South Atlantic League Player of the Week for the week of June 9 after hitting .393. He began the 2015 season in Charleston before earning a promotion to the High-A

Tampa Yankees Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the county seat of Hillsborough C ...

. He batted a combined .298/.334/.394 with five home runs, 70 RBIs and 30 stolen bases that year. He played in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

after the 2015 season. Fowler received a non-roster invitation to

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 2016 and played that season with the

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the D ...

where he batted .281 with 12 home runs, 88 RBIs, and 25 stolen bases in 132 games. He was named an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star that year. He was again invited to spring training in 2017, and started the season with the

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders, are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pen ...

. He was named the International League Player of the Week for the week of April 30 after hitting a walk-off home run to complete the cycle. In July, he was ranked as the 89th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America. In 70 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he hit .293/.329/.542 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs. On June 29, Fowler was promoted to the majors and he made his debut that day after a nearly three-hour rain delay, with the Yankees facing the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

on the road. During the first inning, he ran into a rail while chasing a fly ball, hitting his knee on a sharp edge of an electrical box. He collapsed to the ground and was carted off the field, before being diagnosed with an open rupture of the right patellar tendon. He was ruled out for the season and underwent surgery that night at

Rush University Medical Center Rush University Medical Center (Rush) is an academic medical center in the Illinois Medical District neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is the hospital for the Rush University System for Health, which includes Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rus ...

. Fowler would have led off the next inning for his first major league

plate appearance In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...

Oakland Athletics

On July 31, 2017, the Yankees traded Fowler to the

, along with fellow prospects

Jorge Mateo Jorge Luis Mateo (born June 23, 1995) is a Dominican professional baseball shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres. He made his MLB debut in 2020. Career New Y ...

and

James Kaprielian James Douglas Kaprielian (; born March 2, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics. He attended the University of California, Los Ang ...

, for starting pitcher

Sonny Gray Sonny Douglas Gray (born November 7, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, and ...

. On December 15, 2017, Fowler sued the White Sox and the Illinois state agency that manages their ballpark,

Guaranteed Rate Field Rate Field (formerly named Comiskey Park, U.S. Cellular Field and Guaranteed Rate Field) is a baseball stadium located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox, one of the city ...

, for allegedly causing his June 29 injury. His lawsuit, which was filed in the

Circuit Court of Cook County The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 25 Illinois circuit courts, circuit courts (trial courts of original jurisdiction, original and general jurisdiction) in the judiciary of Illinois as well as one of the largest unified cour ...

, according to the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'', claimed negligence on the part of the White Sox and the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority in not properly securing the unpadded electrical box he crashed into. In 2018, the defendants tried, and failed, to have the case moved to federal court and dismissed, failing in their claim that Fowler, as an MLB player covered by the league's union contract, could not sue in state court for the injury. A settlement motion was filed in Cook County Circuit Court in February 2022, details of which are not available online. Fowler began the 2018 season with the

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

. The Athletics promoted him to the major leagues on May 9, and he went to bat for the first time in the major leagues that night. He started his first game for Oakland on May 11, and got his first major league hit off Yankee pitcher

, the player he was traded for. On May 18, 2018, he hit his first major league home run off Marco Estrada in a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays. On August 2, he was sent back down to Triple A Nashville. He was recalled to the majors on August 31. Before the end of spring training in 2019, Fowler was optioned to Triple-A in order to see more time at all three outfield positions. He spent the entire season with the

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevada, a comm ...

, despite hitting well. He later said it was a "big shock" to him not getting called up that year. Before the start of the 2020 season, Fowler was initially reassigned to minor league camp on March 13. However, the season was soon put on hold due to 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 ...

. In June, he was included in the Athletics' 60-man player pool for the shortened 2020 season. After not being called up, Fowler was designated for assignment on February 21, 2021, after the

Trevor Rosenthal Trevor Jordan Rosenthal (born May 29, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City R ...

signing was made official. At the time of his designation, Fowler had not appeared in an MLB game since 2018.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On February 24, 2021, Fowler was traded to the

in exchange for cash considerations. After starting the season batting .171/.239/.195 with no home runs and two RBIs in 18 games, Fowler was designated for assignment when

Todd Frazier Todd Brian Frazier (born February 12, 1986), nicknamed "The Toddfather", is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Texas Ran ...

was added to the roster on April 22. On April 28, Fowler was outrighted to the alternate training site. Fowler appeared in 13 games for the Triple-A

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory ...

, hitting .270 with three home runs and six RBIs. He spent nearly two months on the minor league injured list. On August 7, Fowler was released by the Pirates organization.

Miami Marlins

On August 13, 2021, Fowler signed a minor league contract with the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League East, East Division. The ...

. He was assigned to the Triple-A

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in th ...

, playing in 28 games and hitting .295/.309/.505 with six home runs and 24 RBI. Fowler elected free agency following the season on November 7.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Dustin 1994 births Living people Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from Laurens County, Georgia Major League Baseball outfielders New York Yankees players Oakland Athletics players Pittsburgh Pirates players Gulf Coast Yankees players Charleston RiverDogs players Tampa Yankees players Surprise Saguaros players Trenton Thunder players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders players Nashville Sounds players Las Vegas Aviators players Indianapolis Indians players Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp players Florida Complex League Pirates players