Anthony Tyler Payne (born October 25, 1992) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

in the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

organization. He has 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

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 ...

Career

Chicago Cubs

Payne graduated from Hurricane High School in

Hurricane, West Virginia Hurricane is a city in Putnam County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 6,977 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area. History Hurricane was named after Hurricane Creek, which was, in turn, ...

, and attended

West Virginia State University West Virginia State University (WVSU) is a public historically black, land-grant university in Institute, West Virginia. Founded in 1891 as the West Virginia Colored Institute, it is one of the original 19 land-grant colleges and universities ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

West Virginia State Yellow Jackets The West Virginia State Yellow Jackets (also WVSU) are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia State University, located in Institute, West Virginia, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Yellow Jackets compete as members of the ...

. The Cubs selected Payne in the 30th round, with the 893rd overall selection, of the

2015 MLB draft Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

. Payne did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Payne spent the majority of the 2021 season with the Double-A

Tennessee Smokies The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Kodak, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play at Smokies Stadium, directly off Int ...

, also appearing in 1 game for the Triple-A

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. The ...

, hitting a cumulative .231/.291/.363 with 4 home runs and 30 RBI in 60 games. The Cubs promoted Payne to the major leagues for the first time on October 3, 2021. He made his major league debut that day as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

. He was designated for assignment by the team on October 18, 2021. On November 16, Payne re-signed with the Cubs on a minor league contract. He elected free agency on November 10, 2022.

Los Angeles Angels

On June 4, 2023, Payne signed a minor league contract with the

organization.https://www.milb.com/transactions/2023-06-06

References

External links

West Virginia State Yellow Jackets bio
1997 births Living people People from Hurricane, West Virginia Baseball players from West Virginia Major League Baseball catchers Chicago Cubs players West Virginia State Yellow Jackets baseball players Arizona League Cubs players Eugene Emeralds players South Bend Cubs players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Tennessee Smokies players Iowa Cubs players {{US-baseball-catcher-1990s-stub