World Series Wednesday: Addison Russell
Throughout the off-season, we will highlight players and staff weekly who stopped through Iowa on their way to making history with the 2016 World Champion Chicago Cubs. Today's we take a look at shortstop Addison Russell.
Addison Russell, SS
Drafted: 1st round (11th overall) by the Oakland Athletics
MLB Debut: April 21, 2015
Iowa Cubs Career (2015): 11G, .318 (14-for-44), 7R, 4DBL, 1HR, 9RBI, 1BB, 7K, 1/1SB
Addison Russell is good. He always has been. Iowa was hardly more than a drive-by for Russell, whose baseball knowledge and skill were - and still are - far beyond of his years. Never less, 11 games in an I-Cubs uniform were a part of Russell's journey to becoming a 2016 National League All-Star and a World Champion.
Russell was drafted by the Athletics 11th overall out of Pace High School in Florida in 2012, an unusual pick for Oakland at the time as it rarely took high school players in the first rounds. Russell handled the transition to professional baseball with ease, reaching full-season ball in his first year.
He kept rolling and catapulted to No. 16 on MLB.com's top-100 prospects list prior to the 2014 season. Russell was burdened with a hamstring strain to begin the year, but recovered just in time for the blockbuster deal that transported him to the Cubs. On July 5, Oakland and Chicago agreed to a trade that sent Russell, RHP Dan Straily and OF Billy McKinney to the Cubs in exchange for RHP Jason Hammel and RHP Jeff Samardzija.
Russell was assigned to Double-A Tennessee following the trade and in 50 games, swatted .294 with 12 homers and 36 RBI. He continued to climb in the ranks of the baseball world and was rated by Baseball America as the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball entering the 2015 season.
He impressed in his first big league spring training that season, but was sent to Iowa to begin the year due to a surplus of middle infielders in Chicago. His first Triple-A stint didn't last long. Eleven games later, Russell got his big league promotion - just days following the would-be permanent call-up of No. 1 prospect, Kris Bryant. Russell hit .318 (14-for-44) with seven runs, four doubles, one home run and nine RBI in his brief exhibition with Iowa.
Debuting at 21 years old, Russell was the youngest player in the National League, but proved that age was just a number. In 142 games with Chicago, Russell hit .242 with 13 home runs. His defense was outstanding as he split his time between second base - a position he had only played five times in the minors - and shortstop.
Russell established himself further in 2016. He almost doubled his home run total with 21 and knocked in 95 runs, the most of any National League shortstop. His effort was honored mid-season with a selection as the starting shortstop for the 2016 National League All-Star team.
The shortstop was an integral part of the Cubs' World Series run, though he got off to a lethargic start. Russell went 4-for-36 with seven strikeouts though the first 11 games in October, but he found his stride in Game 4 of the NLCS, going 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in Chicago's 10-2 win over Los Angeles (N.L.).
From that point forward, Russell hit .300 (12-for-40) and added three homers and 13 RBI. He made history in World Series Game 6 with six RBI thanks, in part, to a third-inning grand slam. He tied an all-time World Series record with his run production and helped Chicago force a Game 7 in the series.
Russell is six weeks shy of his 23rd birthday and already boasts an envious trophy case. With two years of service time under his belt, he remains in Cubs control through the 2021 season, leaving plenty of time to add to his accolades.