A hit 2,081 days in the making from a former Red Raider wide receiver

Bradley Marquez isn’t really remembered as a baseball player by Texas Tech fans. He is remembered as a good football player and dynamic receiver for the earliest versions of Kliff Kingsbury’s offense. He had over 1,800 yards in receiving yards in his four years at Texas Tech, including over 800 in his senior season in 2014. Two nights ago, he recorded a double for the Columbia Fireflies, a Single-A Affiliate of the New York Mets.

This might seem weird to you, as much as it did to me. Marquez was always a football guy, he never suited up for either of the baseball coaches in his time in Lubbock. Marquez was making waves on the football field and that led him to a short NFL Career with the Rams and Lions. It looked as though Marquez was done after four seasons playing football and has since decided to pursue another sport, baseball.

He played minor league baseball during the summers when he was still at Texas Tech, playing in the Appalachian Rookie League in 2012 and 2013. He averaged around .250, hit 1 home-run and drove in 11 runs during his two summers there.

This transformation from football to baseball hasn’t been very well documented, but it appears as though Marquez is getting good at baseball, at 26 years old, he is just entering his athletic prime and could see come call-ups in the future if he keeps his good play up. Playing as a speedy outfielder, his skill set works very well in baseball as he could steal bases and hit some as well.

Marquez joins a whole host of former Red Raiders in the minor leagues right now including Grant Little, Zach Rheams, and Jose Quezada. Rheams is even on the same team as Marquez is at the moment. Here’s to hoping his baseball career pans out as good or better than his football one did.