Terrmel Sledge (born March 18, 1977) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and the former assistant hitting coach of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

and

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

and in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) for the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Fighters also host a ...

and the

Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its curren ...

. Prior to being hired by the Cubs, he was the hitting coach for the

Tulsa Drillers The Tulsa Drillers are a minor league baseball team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club. Stadium The Drillers play at ONEOK Field (pronounc ...

in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

Playing career

Sledge's major league career began in 2004 with the

. He batted .269/.336/.462 with 15 home runs and 62

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

in his rookie year. On September 29, 2004 he was the final out at the last Expos home game when he popped out to third base in 9-1 loss to the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

On October 3, 2004, he recorded the final RBI in Expos history when he drove in

Jamey Carroll Jamey Blake Carroll (born February 18, 1974) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mi ...

in a game against the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. Sledge moved with the team to Washington, D.C. the following season as the Expos relocated, and hit the first-ever

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

for the

. He was traded to the Texas Rangers along with fellow outfielder

Brad Wilkerson Stephen Bradley Wilkerson (born June 1, 1977) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball for eight seasons. Wilkerson played college baseball for the University of Florida, and was selected ...

and

Armando Galarraga Armando Antonio Galarraga Barreto (born January 15, 1982) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. Galarraga made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Texas Rangers on September 15, 2007. He was traded to the Detroit ...

for second baseman

Alfonso Soriano Alfonso Guilleard Soriano (born January 7, 1976) is a Dominican former professional baseball left fielder and second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, and Chicago C ...

on December 7, 2005. He was subsequently traded to the

in a six-player deal on January 6, 2006. On November 29, 2007, Sledge was granted permission by the Padres to sign with the

of the Nippon Professional League. On December 17, 2009, Sledge signed a contract with

for the 2010 season. In October 2003, while training with the USA Olympic baseball team, Sledge became one of the first MLB players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Sledge was not subject to discipline by MLB as the substance was not barred under league rules at the time.

Coaching career

Sledge retired after the 2012 season and spent 2015 as the assistant hitting coach for the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays their ...

. In 2016, he was named hitting coach for the

of the AA

. In late 2018, the Chicago Cubs hired Sledge as assistant hitting coach for the 2019 season. He took over the position held by

Andy Haines Andy Haines (born April 2, 1977) is an American professional baseball coach and manager. He has served on the coaching staffs of the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball. Career Haines attended Eastern Illinois Univer ...

, who was hired to be the Milwaukee Brewers' hitting coach. The organization did not tender Sledge a contract to return for the 2021 season.

Personal life

Sledge attended John F. Kennedy High School in

Granada Hills, California Granada Hills is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The community has a sports program and a range of city recreation centers. The neighborhood has fourteen public and ten private schools. His ...

and played college ball at Long Beach State. In 1997, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Brewster Whitecaps The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Brook ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

. Sledge is half

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

and half

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

; his mother is Korean and his father is black. According to his father, his name is a combination of Terrence and Melvin, two names his parents had considered naming him when he was born.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sledge, Terrmel 1977 births Living people African-American baseball players American baseball players of Korean descent American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from North Carolina Brewster Whitecaps players Chicago Cubs coaches Edmonton Trappers players Everett AquaSox players Harrisburg Senators players Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters players Lancaster JetHawks players Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball players Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Minor league baseball coaches Montreal Expos players Nippon Professional Baseball infielders Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Ottawa Lynx players Portland Beavers players San Diego Padres players Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina Washington Nationals players Wisconsin Timber Rattlers players Yokohama BayStars players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople