FORMER ATLANTIC LEAGUERS JAKE FOX AND SCOTT RICE HAVE MAJOR LEAGUE CAMP INVITATIONS

The Atlantic League should be beaming over a couple of recent signings, both of which have resulted in major league spring training invitations.

Jake Fox, the 2013 Player of the Year, has signed with Toronto, where power always seems to be revered, and lefty reliever Scott Rice will be back in camp with the New York Mets.

Fox hit 38 home runs between the Mexican League and Philadelphia’s Double-A farm club in Reading, PA this past summer, but the Phillies did not choose to bring him up in September. Right-handed hitter has not been in the big leagues since 2011 (Baltimore) so he will be out to break that drought. Now 32, the University of Michigan product, who can play most any position including catcher, has had three stints at Somerset, NJ, including nearly the full season in ’13 when he banged 25 homers, drove in 82 and hit .310 as the Atlantic League’s top player. The Phils let him go at the end of this past season so he could help the Patriots try to reclaim the Atlantic League championship.

Rice was a popular–and busy–reliever in 2013 when he finally broke through to the majors, ending a 14-year effort to get there. He appeared in 73 games as a 31-year-old rookie with the Mets, compiling a 3.71 ERA, and started ’14 with New York (5.93 in 32 outings) in ’14 before undergoing surgery in July to remove a bone spur in his left elbow. He is expected to be fully healthy when spring training starts. Rice has pitched for Long Island, NY, York, PA, and Newark, NJ in various Atlantic League stints.

FROM JETER GAME HEROICS TO TEXAS RANGERS

Fleet outfielder Antoan Richardson (Schaumburg, IL, now a Frontier League city), who made the most of a September call-up to the New York Yankees, including scoring the winning run on Derek Jeter’s single in the star shortstop’s career finale at Yankee Stadium, has signed with the Texas Rangers and been invited to major league camp.

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