Tom Prince
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Thomas Albert Prince (b. August 13, 1964, Kankakee, Illinois) is a former Major League Baseball player. Primarily a catcher during his playing career, Prince batted and threw with his right hand. He was listed as 5'11" tall and 185 lbs.
After a successful career at Bradley-Bourbonnais High School, Prince was drafted twice by the Atlanta Braves: with the 195th pick of the 1983 January draft, as part of that draft's 8th round, and with the 76th overall pick of that same year's June draft, as part of that draft's 4th round. He elected not to sign both times, instead attending Kankakee Community College. There, he attracted the attention of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who selected him with the 64th overall pick of the 1984 January draft. This time, he signed the deal, and that summer began play with the Pirates' farm club in the Gulf Coast League.
Prince enjoyed a strong defensive reputation as a prospect, but his offensive production fluctuated wildly as he advanced through the system. With the Macon Pirates of the South Atlantic League, he put up an unusually low .208 batting average, but hit for moderate power and drew 96 base on balls in only 360 at bats. Two years later at AA, he put up a .307 batting average with the Harrisburg Senators of the Eastern League.
After a promotion to the AAA Buffalo Bisons of the American Association the next year, his batting average dropped back down to .260 and his walk rate collapsed, but he started hitting for substantially more power, putting up a .451 slugging percentage. He was generally well regarded as a prospect, but talent evaluators weren't sure exactly which skills he would display after promotion to the majors.
Prince ultimately settled in as a backup catcher, relying on solid defense to compensate for a weak bat. He would never total even 200 at bats in a single major league season, but he spent parts of seventeen years in the big leagues with the Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, and Kansas City Royals. During that time, he caught for some of the best pitchers in baseball, including Cy Young winner Doug Drabek and six-time All-Star Curt Schilling. For his career as a whole, Prince played in 519 games and collected 248 hits. He had a batting average of .208, an on-base percentage of .286, and a slugging percentage of .331.
After retiring as a player, Prince retained his connection with professional baseball. In 2005, he became the manager of the Williamsport Crosscutters in the New York-Penn League and in his first year, led them to the playoffs.
