Former Chicago Cubs Catcher and utility-man Jake Fox is in Mexico until his 2014 options clear up. When you hear about a washed-up former Major League Catcher named Jake playing Mexico…how can you not think of Jake Taylor from the 1980s film “Major League?” The fictional Cleveland Indians catcher gets a memorable phone call from a scout, which he believes to be a prank call.
“Is that you Tolbert?” Taylor asks. “If you were going to pull this shit, the least you could have done is said you were from the Yankees.”
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Power-hitting Jake Fox, who is among the new free agents, is in what he called “an area of uncertainty” when he telephoned from Mexico this week, but it seems far from a glum-and-doom situation for the 31-year-old who tore up the Atlantic League this season (.310-25-82 in 96 games at Somerset, NJ) before Arizona bought his contract.
He has hopes of playing in Japan, where he would likely be a corner infielder, but the Diamondbacks have indicated they would like to re-sign him primarily to catch even though they did not give him extensive playing time at Triple-A Reno, NV (34 at-bats).
Before it all gets sorted out, Fox, who has 193 games of major league experience with the Chicago Cubs, Oakland and Baltimore at a multitude of positions, “was brought in (to Mexico) to help (Los Mochis Caneros) stay positive” after a couple of poor seasons. He is playing a lot of first base, catching some and hitting .250 with two homers and 15 RBI in 21 games.
More on Jake Fox and Independent Baseball from WirzandAssociates.com. The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.