Darren Ford
Athlete

Darren was born in Vineland, NJ on October 1, 1985. He excelled in the South Vineland baseball leagues and was a stellar athlete at Vineland High School on the varsity baseball, football and indoor track teams. Upon graduation, Darren attended Chipola Junior College in Marianna, Fla.

Darren began his professional baseball career in 2004 when he was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 18th Round of Major League Baseball’s Amateur Draft. Assigned to the Brewer’s Rookie team in Helena, Montana, the ultra speedy outfielder hit .271 in 61 games in 2005 and .283 in 125 games in 2006 with the Brewer’s Single-A team, the West Virginia Power, playing alongside teammates Ryan Braun, Michael Brantley, Ned Yost and Lorenzo Cain. As a defensive stalwart and a stolen base specialist, he played in the Brewer’s minor league system until July 2008, when he was traded to the San Francisco Giants organization for all-star Ray Durham.

Darren made his major league debut with the Giants on September 1, 2010 when he scored the winning run vs. the Colorado Rockies. In case of an injury to a rostered player, he traveled with the team during the Giants’ post-season run to their 2010 World Series title.

In 2011, Darren played in 26 games for the Giants before an ankle injury ended his major league season. From 2012 through 2016, Darren signed minor league free agent contracts with the Giants, Seattle Mariners and the Pittsburgh Pirates before signing Independent League contracts from with the Somerset Patriots and New Britain Bees from 2017 – 2019. When the Covid pandemic closed down the entire Minor League system in 2020, Darren opted to retire.

Darren, nicknamed “The Bullet” for his blazing speed, played in a total of 1,592 professional games, garnering 6,481 plate appearances, a career .262 batting average, and 583 stolen bases while playing with hundreds of major leaguers over his 15 years in professional baseball. His career took him to cities throughout the U.S., Hawaii and Venezuela.

Currently, Darren resides in Burlington County and is a Coach for the Trenton Thunder, a MLB Draft League team. Darren is the proud father of daughter, Alahnia, and is the grandson of former major leaguer, Ted Ford.