Herts have confirmed another player acquisition as they prepare for the 2014 baseball season. Andrew Fulford hit the headlines in 2012 when he helped the Herts Hawks reach the Double-A National Championship Semi-Final. He will be back in a Herts uniform again this year.
During the 2012 season the Herts’ coaching staff had a difficult decision to make. Should they add him to the Herts Falcons roster in the National Baseball League or to one of the club’s minor league teams? With only a few more games remaining for the Herts Falcons, Fulford would not have been able to meet the postseason requirement of playing in 45% of the Falcons’ regular season games. However, the 45% requirement does not apply at Double-A League level and there were sufficient number of games left for Fulford to meet the 20% postseason eligibility. On the basis of this the coaches decided to add the American to the Hawks roster. The team was in the middle of an almighty playoff battle with the Sidewinders, London Mammoths and the Daws Hill Spitfires. He proved to be a key player for the team as they surprised everyone going all the way to the National Semi-Finals where they lost to the eventual winners, Nottingham.
In the five games which he played for Herts in 2012, Fulford hit two home runs and had .571 batting average, 1.214 slugging average, .682 on-base average, with 15 runs batted in. He also proved to be one of the outstanding catchers in the league throwing out 5 out of 12 stolen base attempts.
Hawks fans will be hoping that Andrew Fulford will be able to appear for the Hawks, but this is highly unlikely. Fulford is expected to go into the Falcons roster, especially as the Falcons have several vacant spots in the lineup which they need to fill.
Andrew Fulford is 23-years-old. His primary position is catcher. He has also played in second base, and can fit pretty much anywhere else in the field. He started playing when he was 4. After spending his early years in the Citrus Park Little League, Fulford went on to play for the varsity team at Sickles High School and later with Cambridge High School finishing as Florida Sate runners-up in 2009. During his career he has played under former MLB players Jody Reed, who played as second basemen for the Boston Red Sox, and Sam Marsonek who was a pitcher with the New York Yankees.
Fulford comes from Tampa, Florida, but his wife is from Hemel Hempstead so he will be in the UK available for selection for certain weeks over the course of the season. He may be eligible to play for the Great Britain national team and it will be interesting to see whether he will be able to attract interest from the GB national team coaches in time for the European Championships in September.
Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that it has submitted an official application for the Herts Raptors to be promoted to the British Baseball Federation’s Double-A League.
Herts Baseball Club has confirmed that Ian Byers has been appointed as a member of the Executive Board. He has been appointed in the capacity of Board Member at Large with focus on the club’s youth baseball programme and in particular the Under-14 and Under-11 baseball programmes. Byers will be working alongside the club’s Youth Baseball Commissioner. He is now one of three Board Members at Large. The others are Joe Gray and Kevin Freeman.
Hunter Devine is the 2013 Hawks MVP. He has grown up in the Herts organisation joining as a youngster and working his way up the leagues. In 2013 he earned the name “Mr. Clutch”. Whenever a Hawks game was in the balance, Devine delivered the big hits including the walk-off hit in the final game of the regular season against Kent.
