Phillies Sign 2011 Spring Training Home Run King Jake Fox to Minor League Deal

With the body structure of a footballer and a name meant to be sewn on a varsity jacket, Jake Fox has cracked another roster.

This time, its a minor league deal with the IronPigs, whom Fox has joined to provide catching while Erik Kratz is away on business.  Fox, as you’ll probably recall, may be best known for pissing everybody off simultaneously in an Orioles-Tigers last Spring Training.

In the midst of a nuclear power campaign–in which he led the entire Grapefruit League in home runs–Fox stepped in against some Tigers minor leaguer who was serving as an innings-eater while his team suffered a 13-3 rout in an exhibition game and clearly didn’t had high self esteem because of this.

With the count 3-0, Fox took a mighty cut at a fastball and fouled it off.  Naturally, this infuriated both Buck Showalter–who advocates for the upholding of baseball etiquette–and Jim Leyland–who was in the room when the word “etiquette” was invented in 1549.  They both hated Fox for his actions, which led to a walk, and by the time reached base, Showalter had shoveled a pinch runner out there for the sole purpose of meeting Fox on the dugout steps to scream at him.

The point of this story is that Jake Fox, while clearly possessing a wealth of intriguing power (he recently hit .388 with 7 HR in 21 games with the Somerset Patriots–the day before the Phils signed him, he went 4-for-5 with two dingers), has a penchant for doing whatever the hell he wants.

Also he joins Sebastian Valle, Tommy Joseph, and Erik Kratz in the “Organizational Catching Depth Society,” attendance of which has been sparse in recent years.