When last we heard from James Loney he was being released by the Atlanta Braves in May of 2017. That release came, like, five days after they signed him to maybe cover for the then-injured Freddie Freeman. He became expendable when the Braves brain trust decided that Matt Adams would be better at that. He probably was.
Before that it was a minor league stint with the Tigers. Loney’s last big league action came in 2016, when he hit .265/.307/.397 with nine home runs and 34 RBI in 366 plate appearances for the Mets. That probably will remain his last big league action, but he will soon be playing baseball once again:
The Atlantic League's Sugar Land Skeeters have signed 1B/LHP James Loney (not a typo). Plan is to have him pitch and hit as a two-way player for the Skeeters. Loney was considered by many scouts to be a better P prospect than hitter in HS (back in '02).
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) February 5, 2019
Loney, like just about every former big leaguer who signs with the Skeeters, is from Houston, so the commute will probably be an easy one for him. Hopefully we’ll at least get some good video of him striking some guy out or maybe hitting one 430 feet. He was never quite the player people thought he’d be, but I liked watching him play for some reason, so good luck to him.
