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A Decision Made at Peace

August 30, 2021 - International League (IL)
Indianapolis Indians News Release


Anthony Alford was one field goal away from a high school state football championship. One decision away from beginning his college career in a Power Five football program. One week away from a win over Alabama at Ole Miss. One step away from a career in the National Football League.

Life is full of decisions; we all must make them. For Alford, his professional career has boiled down to one singular moment where his heart took him away from the gridiron and onto the diamond for good.

"I was at peace," he said.

Alford's high school football career was nothing short of greatness. As a senior starting quarterback in the highest class of football in Mississippi, he completed over half of his pass attempts for 2,058 yards - an average of 137.2 per game - and 20 touchdowns. At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, he also rushed for 1,731 yards on 292 carries - an average of 5.9 yards per carry - with 24 touchdowns.

"He was, obviously, a raw-talent kid," Steve Buckley, Alford's high school football coach and mentor said. "He had everything you wanted in a dual-threat quarterback."

Alford wasn't a shoo-in starter the minute he stepped onto the football field at Petal High School. His freshman year featured a fall of developing his raw talent into something tangible in Mississippi's Class 6A.

By the time he reached his junior and senior years, the former of which culminated in a 113.2 quarterback rating, he was a standout in Mississippi. Alford was rated as a four-star prep, the second-best football player in the state, fifth-best dual-threat quarterback in the nation and No. 157 overall prospect.

He was the first player in history to be named the Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year as both a junior and senior.

"Just watching his development as a player from technique of throwing the football to progressions of reads, it was crazy how it evolved over the three years," Buckley said. "Anthony became a really, really good quarterback."

After going 1-3 through its first four contests, Petal went on to win nine of its next 10 games. Alford's senior season led up to the biggest game of his high school career: the 6A state football championship.

Alford, the starting quarterback in that game, was outstanding. He completed all eight of his passes for 166 yards - an average of 20.8 yards per pass - and three touchdowns. The performance tied his season high with three touchdown passes and no interceptions.

He called his own number 36 times in that game for a total of 207 yards on the ground, also tying a season high. His three passing touchdowns were met by as many rushing scores.

Petal lost to Olive Branch in a heartbreaker, 35-34. A successful field goal attempt to take a 37-35 lead was called back with seconds left to play, and the second attempt was missed.

One field goal away from a state championship.

"Just what he did in the state championship game; he controlled the clock and took control of the game with his legs and his arms... He was just on fire that night and executed the game plan to perfection," Buckley said. "He was like that every day, he was just phenomenal, a great joy to coach. You could probably go to his baseball coach [and] his basketball coach, and they would tell you the same thing."

Alford's success during his high school career was recognized in multiple ways. He was invited to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Game. For his future, he had his pick of different football programs across the country, with his personal choice being narrowed to two Power Five schools, Louisiana State and Nebraska, two schools with rich football history.

"He had offers basically from every school in the country," Buckley said, "but we always knew that baseball was a love also."

As a child, Alford was pushed into sports. He grew up in a low-income apartment complex in Columbia, Miss. and there was negativity and temptation around that often sent kids in the opposite direction than where their full potential could take them.

Alford's mom, Lawanda, and his grandmother were his biggest supporters growing up as a child. Together, with the help of other family friends as times became difficult, Alford was signed up for different sports year-round to keep him focused on his future, rather than the negativity of his environment.

"Not saying that I was going to get into any trouble or anything, there was just the temptation around," Alford said. "When I wasn't at school, I was playing sports. On weekends, I was playing sports. It just kept giving me something positive to reach my full potential with no distractions."

That potential, for those around him, was evident at an early age and only grew as he got older. His sports career began with tee-ball as a young child, around three or four years old, and as the skill level became more advanced to coach-pitch and beyond, Alford's talent was hard to miss.

"I think he was probably six or seven, it's kind of crazy. He was playing shortstop at the time, and he was awesome. Awesome," Lawanda said. "I've never in my life seen a kid [play like that]. I'm not saying that because he's my son, but he was just an awesome shortstop."

Alford, a power bat and quick on his feet, made the transition to the outfield during high school and saw his success and accolades rise. In 89 varsity games he hit .437 (115-for-263) with 15 home runs, a career-high seven of which came as a sophomore, and went 43-for-45 in stolen base attempts.

"Baserunning is just an ability that not every kid has," Larry Watkins, Alford's high school baseball coach said. "He has just unreal instincts on the bases. A lot of talented baserunners have to have great instincts because if they wait for a coach to tell them to go every single time, they're going to be a step or two behind. He stole home in high school, he loved to play and have a lot of fun. He was a fan favorite because he was such a good kid, a nice kid too."

He was part of back-to-back state championship teams in 2010 and 2011 and played in the Under Armour All-America Game at Wrigley Field in the fall after his junior campaign.

During his final year at Petal, he ranked above the national average with 30 games played, a .483 average (42-for-87), .569 on-base percentage, 31 RBI and 39 runs scored to be named Mississippi's Mr. Baseball.

"He was a strong kid, he just had great instincts on the field," Watkins said. "He's just always been fast and strong, but he's had to learn a lot... He worked hard, had a lot of interest [from] scouts in high school. We would get out to the field early and take [batting practice] in front of a group of scouts there."

In his graduating class, Alford was the No. 2 ranked baseball player in Mississippi behind D.J. Davis, Toronto's first-round draft pick in 2012 who never broke through to the major leagues. Nationally, according to _Perfect Game_, he was rated the No. 18 outfielder and No. 82 overall prep in a graduating class that featured Carlos Correa at No. 1 along with Lucas Giolito, Joey Gallo and Byron Buxton - to name a few.

There was a considerable amount of interest from major league clubs, with one scout even comparing Alford's skills on both the diamond and gridiron to that of Bo Jackson. But growing up deep in Mississippi, near the boot of Louisiana, football was Alford's first love and his biggest priority.

"I really just wanted to focus on going to college to play football and baseball until I decided what I wanted to do full time," Alford said. "I didn't want to just commit to baseball out of high school and then look back and say I wish I would have tried [football]. I just didn't want to have any regrets."

With his decision seemingly narrowed down to a pair of Power Five offers, Alford's plans took a turn. Buckley accepted a coaching offer at Southern Mississippi, just a 15-minute drive from Petal, and Alford followed to keep his sights set on both sports while being close to home.

"It was going to be easier for me to play football and baseball," Alford said. "My best friend's dad was a coach for the baseball team and my other best friend, his dad was the coach of the football team... I knew those were two guys that I could trust on both sides. Sometimes, college recruiters will tell you one thing, you get on campus and it's two totally different things."

One decision away from beginning his collegiate career in a Power 5 football program.

With his football future signed on paper and his baseball future within his sights, Alford's decision to commit to both football and baseball earlier that year dropped his MLB draft stock, but not by much.

Regarded as a potential first-round draft pick by Watkins' standards out of high school, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Alford in the third round as the 112th overall pick of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft.

"Once I got drafted by the Blue Jays, they made it so I could stay in school in the fall and spring semester and then just play baseball in the summertime," Alford said. "It was kind of the best of both worlds, I got to see what it was like to get drafted out of high school and start playing professionally, and at the same time have college experience."

Alford played one year at Southern Mississippi as a starting quarterback and transferred to Ole Miss in the spring following a coaching change. There, he sat out the 2013 season due to NCAA transfer rules and transitioned into a defensive back role.

He ran back two short punt returns and made three appearances at defensive back during the 2014 season. Ole Miss had won its first three games with Alford on the depth chart and was working on a bid to a New Year's Six bowl.

"[He would have ended up] in the NFL," Buckley said. "At six-foot, 210 pounds, he was physically developed. He was a physical football player, he has a great sports IQ and is a smart athlete, he's tough mentally. He just had the makeup - I've been around 57 or 58 NFL guys in my career - he had the makeup that those same guys have."

Alford was just days away from being part of an Ole Miss team that beat the Alabama Crimson Tide for the first time since 2003. He was, with two solid years as a Rebel, one step away from a career in the NFL. Instead, on Sept. 30, 2014, he permanently traded in his football spikes for ones of the baseball variety.

There were a number of things that got Alford to his turning point. He had gotten married that summer, just days after his 20th birthday, and he was considering the longevity of a career that would one day support children. He had to weigh the costs of injuries and concussions, especially at such a physical, defensive position.

But most importantly, the sport he once loved just didn't seem to fit anymore.

"I was at peace. I said I wanted to play football at the highest level, and I gave it a shot. That's all I could do," Alford said. "I was at peace, and I was just starting to lose the love for playing football. I wasn't having as much fun. That previous summer I had a lot of fun playing baseball, just meeting new friends from all across the country."

After spending his first three seasons with the Blue Jays in rookie ball while splitting time between sports, Alford rose quickly through the ranks of the organization when he fully committed to baseball. He jumped from being Toronto's No. 18 prospect (_Baseball America_) in 2015 to being No. 1 in the system and No. 25 overall the next season. He made his major league debut with the Blue Jays in 2017.

"I made it to the big leagues," Alford said. "That's a big accomplishment, especially coming from where I come from, not many people have done that. I still feel like I made the right decision."

In a testament to who Alford is as a person instead of the statistics and accolades that speak for his presence on the field, he doesn't view his career as a collection of milestones to fall just short of. He just wants to keep playing baseball.

That mentality helped him string together an impressive Triple-A campaign with Indianapolis. After being outrighted to Indy from Pittsburgh and beginning his Indians tenure 0-for-12, Alford led the Triple-A East with a 1.013 OPS and ranked among league qualifiers with a .307 average (58-for-189), .420 on-base percentage and .593 slugging percentage.

His incredible run with the Indians ended in a 4-for-5 performance with two home runs and a career-high five RBI on Aug. 6 at Iowa. The next day, he traded in his Indianapolis threads for a black Pittsburgh jersey and went 3-for-4 with two doubles to kickstart his second chance at living a big-league dream this season.

"You can hit the ball hard four times right at somebody," Alford said. "[I'm] just chasing attainable goals instead of chasing the numbers or chasing the hits. If you check the boxes on the goals that you set for yourself, the rest will take care of itself."

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