The New York Yankees added former Gator Brad Wilkerson to its staff as an assistant hitting coach, according to an announcement on Twitter Monday by the team's PR department.
The former Florida standout had been a baseball assistant with Jackson University since 2020 and also coached for Team USA, earning Volunteer Coach of the Year honors in 2014. He last played big league ball back in 2008 with the Toronto Blue Jays and attempted a minor league comeback in 2010 before hanging up his cleats for good.
A first-round pick at No. 33 in the 1998 MLB draft by the Montreal Expos, the former outfielder/first baseman played parts of eight major league seasons with the Expos (which became the Washington Nationals during his tenure), Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners and the Jays starting in 2001, tallying 788 hits, 122 home runs and an overall .247/.350/.440 career slash line. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year vote in 2002.
Wilkerson was the 1998 National Player of the Year at Florida and was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012 - the first Gator to ever earn that distinction. During his three years in Gainesville, he tallied a .381 batting average, .714 slugging percentage, .531 on-base percentage, along with 55 home runs, 224 walks, 214 runs batted in, 239 runs and 499 total bases.
The 2023 MLB season starts for Wilkerson and the Yankees on March 30 against the San Francisco Giants inside of the fabled Yankee Stadium. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. EDT and can be watched on MLB.tv.
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