Baseball has certainly helped fill the passport of Mud Hens outfielder Jim Adduci.
Adduci has played in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Korea, as well as the United States in his 14-year pro career, including a brief stint in the majors with Texas in 2013-14 and with the Tigers this year.
All those years in the game have given the 32-year-old Chicago native the unique ability to play hard and have fun.
“He’s so focused all the time,” Toledo manager Mike Rojas said of Adduci. “He’s on a mission, every single pitch and every single inning.
“He’s here on business, but you can also tell he’s having fun.”
Adduci’s father, also named Jim, was an outfielder-first baseman who spent time in the majors with St. Louis (1983), Milwaukee (1986 and ’88), and Philadelphia (1989).
The younger Adduci said his father was the source of the advice to play hard and have fun.
So the 6-foot-2, 210-pound outfielder used that mantra to fight through the Florida, Chicago Cubs, and Texas systems before finally earning a 17-game cameo with the Rangers in 2013 and a 44-game shot the following season.
Adduci then played in Korea and starred for Lotte in 2015, batting .314 with 28 homers, 106 RBIs, and 24 stolen bases.
Last season, he hit .291 in 64 games before he was suspended 36 games for using what proved to be a banned drug to deal with back pain.
“Coming back from overseas, I realized it’s hard to get a job in the United States when you come back,” Adduci said. “I had put up good numbers, but teams move on to the next guy.
“I reached out to several teams, including the Tigers. They offered me a chance to come to their minicamp in spring training and earn a job. And that’s all I wanted: An opportunity.
“Once I realized I had to earn a job, I was OK with that — I had done that in the past. I wasn’t a high draft pick, and it took 10 years for me to make the majors, so I had to earn that, too.
“Coming here was awesome because the Tigers just said, ‘Show us what you can do.’ And I was OK with that. If I didn’t perform well, that was on me.”
He performed well for the Mud Hens, batting .349 with a home run and three RBIs to earn a promotion to Detroit in late April.
“I was shocked by that,” Adduci said. “I had the frame of mind that I was going to help Toledo win, and that’s all I thought about.
“So when I got the word I was going up to Detroit, it was as sweet as the first time I called up to the majors.
“And I decided to just enjoy that moment. I know where I’m at in my career, so if I can’t enjoy this moment, what’s the point of playing the game?”
Adduci also just kept hitting after joining the Tigers, batting .318 in 13 games with six extra-base hits — four doubles and two triples — among his 14 hits, producing seven RBIs.
Adduci was called up to the Tigers on Tuesday after Detroit traded outfielder J.D. Martinez to Arizona.
He said his success in dealing with the pressure of playing in the majors a by-product of the two seasons he spent in Korea.
“In Korea, they expect American players to play at a high level day-in and day-out,” he said. “That was the first time I had dealt with that, and it could be rough.
“But I dealt with it, and I learned how to deal with that. I did that by just playing hard, playing at the highest level I could reach, and just trying to help my team win.”
Shortly after joining the Tigers, Adduci suffered an oblique injury that knocked him onto the disabled list. Instead of complaining about his bad luck, the veteran outfielder used it as a chance to learn.
“I didn’t see that [injury] coming, and I don’t think anybody else did,” Adduci said. “But I had to look at that injury in a different way: I couldn’t sit and sulk and feel sorry for myself.
“So I paid extra attention to the great players. I learned what the great players did, watching their at-bats and what they did on the field.”
In late June, Adduci rejoined the Mud Hens on a rehab assignment, which became a permanent return when he was optioned to Toledo just before the All-Star Break. Rojas said he was happy to add Adduci to his everyday lineup.
“He can play all three positions in the outfield, and he runs well — he can steal a base for you,” Rojas said. “He also hits gap-to-gap and can hit for power.”
Adduci, who is batting .288 with three homers and 15 RBIs in 29 games with the Hens this season, said he is just enjoying the latest stop on his baseball itinerary.
“I get a jersey, I get to play,” Adduci said. “I let the Tigers make the decisions. I just play hard every day. If they give me something, I’ll take it and run with it.
“I don’t focus on what is next or what I will do when I’m done playing, because that’s not fair to me right now. I just focus on playing and learning.”
Q&A with Jim Adduci
■ Name: James Charles Adduci
■ Position: Outfielder
■ Ht./Wt.: 6-2/210
■ Hometown: Evergreen Park, Ill.
■Age: 32
■Family: Wife Lauren; daughters Ellie, 7, Emma, 5; son Charlie, 2.
■Nickname: People usually call me Deuce. When I was with the Cubs I got the nickname Bang-Bang because of a bad haircut. They gave me bangs; I had to accept it.
■ Favorite way to spend time away from the field: I enjoy family time, even something as simple as grilling in the back yard while my kids play while I sit in a chair.
■ Baseball player you admired growing up: I admired my dad, Jim Adduci. He gave me a love for the game. And I was a big Ken Griffey, Jr., fan — but I think everybody was.
■ Favorite sport other than baseball: I like hockey. I can’t play, but I enjoy it. The game is so fast, and the players are so athletic. I’m a big Blackhawks fan.
■ Favorite music: I’ve been into classic rock for a time, but I’ll also do country and anything else. My favorites are Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Steve Miller band.
■ Favorite meal: I’m a big pizza guy. I like Rosangela’s Pizza and Barraco’s Pizza; I like deep dish, and I’ll eat just about anything on a pizza: cheese, green peppers, mushroom, sausage, any of that stuff.
■ Favorite beverage: I’m a Diet Coke guy every once in a while, and I’m a big coffee guy.
■ Favorite movie: I used to be a big movie guy when I was young, especially baseball movies like Field of Dreams and The Sandlot. Growing up with my kids, now it’s the Pixar stuff like Frozen, Lion King, the Incredibles, and Minions.
■ Favorite TV show: Game of Thrones and Suits.
■ Do you have a Twitter account? @JimAdduci23. But I don’t use it a lot. I’m pretty comfortable with my own opinions.
■ Person you most admire: My dad, Jim Adduci. Now I have a better understanding of what he was doing for us when I was a kid. He made a lot of sacrifices and he gave me a love for the game. He also offered a lot of advice, but he wasn’t a crazy parent. For example, during the All-Star break his advice to me was “enjoy it.”
■ If you could meet any person, who would it be? I’d like to talk to older baseball players such as Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. I’d like to hear their stories about baseball.
■ Top sports moment: Probably when I made it to the big leagues with Texas. I had spent 10 years in the minor leagues, and I had a lot of sleepness nights wondering if I would achieve that goal. When I got there, I got a hit in my first at-bat, and after that I was so relaxed. All the pressure I had put on myself was gone.
■ Baseball superstitions: I’m a big batting glove guy. If I’m hot, I’ll use the same gloves; if I’m not, I’ll have to make a change.
■ Something nobody knows about you: I’m a big World War II history guy, so I love to hear about the sacrifices soldiers made then. When I was playing in Korea, I was around some military people, and you realize the sacrifices they make just for us are amazing. I’m very thankful for what the military does for us.
Contact John Wagner at jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.
First Published July 19, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
