Courtesy Sioux City Explorers Media Relations
Sioux City, Iowa – The Sioux City Explorers announced on Friday that the Boston Red Sox have purchased the contract of Explorers INF Ryan Court. Court will report to Double-A Portland within the Red Sox organization.
Court was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 23rd round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft from Illinois State University. In his first season in Sioux City in 2015, the Sleepy Hollow, Ill., resident appeared in 99 games and posted an impressive .331 batting average, which was good for 12th best in the American Association and 3rd highest on the team. Court racked up the league’s 7th most hits with 122 to go along with 22 doubles and 9 home runs while collecting 52 RBI’s and scoring 65 runs for the X’s. For his efforts, Court was named to the 2015 postseason American Association All-Star Team.
“We are extremely excited about Ryan getting another chance. Obviously with the success we had last year we knew our players were going to get some opportunities. We are very fortunate that this is our 4th player sold back to an MLB organization since the end of last season and I feel more are coming. In recruiting Ryan, we told him we would get him another shot and that has now happened,” commented X’s field manager Steve Montgomery.
Court began his professional career in 2011, where he played for the Diamondbacks Pioneer League team in Missoula, Mont., where he appeared in 70 games. For the year, he hit .271 while collecting 14 doubles, 7 home runs, and 33 RBI’s. In 2012, Court spent the entire season in South Bend where he contributed 101 hits in 102 games, while producing 24 doubles, 8 home runs, and 53 RBI’s to go along with his .264 batting average.
In 2013, Court had his best season statistically for the Diamondbacks organization where he appeared in their affiliates in South Bend (29 games), Visalia (39 games), and playing the final 59 games of the season for the Double-A Mobile BayBears. On the season, Ryan collected 134 hits, including 38 doubles and 11 homers, while producing 67 RBI’s to go along with a .315 batting average. In 2014, Court split time between the Dbacks Visalia and Mobile affiliates.
Court joins RHP Patrick Johnson (Miami), RHP Rob Wort (Boston), and OF Ryan Kalish (Chicago Cubs) as the X’s 4th player to join an MLB team since the completion of the record-breaking 2015 season.
