Corey Patterson

Corey Patterson is a former professional baseball outfielder who spent 12 seasons in Major League Baseball after the Chicago Cubs selected him No. 3 overall in the 1998 MLB Draft.

Patterson quickly blossomed into one of baseball’s top prospects, earning All-Star selections at Class-A (Midwest League) and the Arizona Fall League in 1999 and Double-A (Southern League) in 2000. He was unbelievably well-rounded in the minors despite being a teenager, with his performance in the AFL — .368 batting average, four home runs, 24 RBIs, eight stolen bases in 35 games — remaining one of the most memorable in the league’s history.

The center fielder made his MLB debut shortly after turning 21 at the end of the 2000 season. His first hit in the majors was a home run off Juan Acevedo. Patterson got sparse playing time for the Cubs over the next year and change before becoming a regular in 2002, but it was on Opening Day in 2003 when Patterson finally began to live up to the hype.

In one of the most prolific Opening Day performance in baseball history, Patterson went 4-for-6 in a game started by Hall of Famer Tom Glavine. In total, he hit two home runs and accrued seven RBIs as the Cubs went on to blast the New York Mets by a final score of 15-2.

That was just the beginning of a breakout 2003 season for Patterson and the Cubs, as the outfielder slashed .298/.329/.511 with 13 home runs in 83 games before tearing his ACL in July. That injury stung in the moment, but it did serve as the instigation for general manager Jim Hendry’s decision to trade for Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez. We all know how 2003 ended for the Cubs, but Patterson did return healthy in 2004, slashing .266/.320/.452 with 24 home runs and 32 steals, racking up 3.0 bWAR in his best individual season in a Cubs uniform.

Unfortunately, he struggled badly at the plate in 2005, which, coupled with declining defense that never recovered from his ACL injury, got Patterson demoted to the minor leagues in July 2005. He returned a month later, though he finished the campaign with a .602 OPS and fell out of favor with management. He was traded that offseason to the Baltimore Orioles for minor leaguers Nate Spears and Carlos Perez, neither of whom ever made it past Triple-A in the Cubs’ organization.

He had a strong two years with the Orioles, including 2006, where he stole 45 bases and was worth 4.2 bWAR (his highest single-season total). After leaving Baltimore following the 2007 campaign, Patterson spent time with the Reds, Nationals, Brewers, Blue Jays, and Cardinals. He retired following the 2013 season, which he spent in the Yankees’ system. Patterson is currently the manager of the Brookhaven Bucks of the Sunbelt Baseball League.