Todd Pratt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| New York Yankees — No. 14 | |
| Catcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| July 29, 1992 for the Philadelphia Phillies | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2006 season) |
|
| Batting average | .251 |
| Home runs | 49 |
| Runs batted in | 224 |
| Former teams | |
Todd Alan Pratt (b. February 9, 1967 in Bellevue, Nebraska) is a Major League Baseball catcher who is currenty on the New York Yankees. His nickname is Tank. He has served as a back-up catcher for most of his career.
Pratt was drafted during the 6th round of the 1985 Amateur Draft. In 1987, the Cleveland Indians drafted Pratt from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft, but he would eventually be returned to the Red Sox. After spending time in the Baltimore Orioles organization, Pratt made his big league debut in 1992, as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. He played with Philadelphia through the 1994 season, before signing with the Chicago Cubs for 1995. Pratt spent the 1996 season away from organized baseball, working at Bucky Dent's baseball school after the Seattle Mariners released him. He would sign with the New York Mets before the start of 1997.
The biggest moment of Pratt's career came when he was with the Mets. In Game 4 of the 1999 NLDS, he hit a tenth-inning walk-off home run off of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Matt Mantei, giving the Mets the series, 3 games to 1. In another memorable moment, during that year's NLCS, Pratt (who was supposed to be running the bases) was the first Met to embrace teammate Robin Ventura after Ventura hit a grand-slam to win Game 5 for New York. Since Ventura only touched first base, he was officially credited with a single, referred to jokingly as a "grand-slam single."
The Mets traded Pratt back to the Phillies in July of 2001 for fellow catcher Gary Bennett. He stayed with the Phillies as Mike Lieberthal's back-up through the 2005 season.
Pratt signed as a free agent with the Braves in December, 2005. On January 12, 2007 he signed to the Yankees for a minor league deal.
- Todd Pratt - ESPN.com Player Card
- Todd Pratt - Baseball-Reference.com
- Todd Pratt - MLB.com