Terrmel Sledge, also known as Terrence Melvin Sledge (born March 18, 1977) 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 ...

and the former assistant hitting coach of the

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

. 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

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

and

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

and in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) for the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the major ...

and the Yokohama BayStars. Prior to being hired by the Cubs, he was the hitting coach for the Tulsa Drillers in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

Amateur career

Sledge attended John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills, California and 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, ...

at Long Beach State. In 1997, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Bro ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

Professional career

Sledge's major league career began in 2004 with the

. He batted .269/.336/.462 with 15 home runs and 62

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

in his rookie year. On September 29, 2004 he was the final out at the last Expos home game when he popped out to third base in 9-1 loss to the

Florida 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 (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

On October 3, 2004, he recorded the final hit and RBI in Expos history when he drove in Jamey Carroll on an RBI single in a game against the

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

. Sledge moved with the team to Washington, D.C. the following season as the Expos relocated, and hit the first-ever

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 ( ...

for the

. He was traded to the Texas Rangers along with fellow outfielder Brad Wilkerson and Armando Galarraga for

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

Alfonso Soriano on December 7, 2005. He was subsequently traded to the

in a six-player deal on January 6, 2006. On November 29, 2007, Sledge was granted permission by the Padres to sign with the

of the Nippon Professional League. On December 17, 2009, Sledge signed a contract with Yokohama BayStars for the 2010 season. In October 2003, while training with the USA Olympic baseball team, Sledge became one of the first MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Sledge was not subject to discipline by MLB as the substance was not barred under league rules at the time.

Coaching career

Sledge retired after the 2012 season and spent 2015 as the assistant hitting coach for the Eugene Emeralds. In 2016, he was named hitting coach for the Tulsa Drillers of the AA

. In late 2018, the Chicago Cubs hired Sledge as assistant hitting coach for the 2019 season. He took over the position held by Andy Haines, who was hired to be the Milwaukee Brewers' hitting coach. The organization did not tender Sledge a contract to return for the 2021 season.

Personal life

Sledge is half Korean and half

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

; his mother is Korean and his father is black. According to his father, his name is a combination of Terrence and Melvin, two names his parents had considered naming him when he was born. Sledge has two children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sledge, Terrmel 1977 births Living people African-American baseball players American baseball players of Korean descent American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Brewster Whitecaps players Chicago Cubs coaches Edmonton Trappers players Everett AquaSox players Harrisburg Senators players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Lancaster JetHawks players Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Minor league baseball coaches Montreal Expos players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Ottawa Lynx players Portland Beavers players San Diego Padres players Baseball players from Fayetteville, North Carolina Washington Nationals players 21st-century American sportsmen Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players Yokohama BayStars players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen