4 hours ago
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Rory Fox will begin his professional baseball career with the Yankees organization in a few weeks, but for now, he’s honing his skills against his girlfriend.
Fox, whom the Yankees selected 194th overall in the sixth round of the 2025 MLB Draft on Monday, got some final pre-draft work in over the weekend against his significant other, Reese Sanders, a hurdler at Notre Dame, in a video Sanders posted on Instagram Sunday.
Fox, who has pitched three seasons for the Fighting Irish, offered up pitches from behind an L-screen to Sanders, who was talking plenty of trash.
“Ahh! Got you!” Sanders yelled from home plate after smacking one of Fox’s pitches back up the middle.
“Base hit! Base hit!” she exclaimed after hitting another pitch.
Fox has seen his stats rapidly improve since he arrived at Notre Dame in 2023. He pitched just five innings in an injury-ridden freshman season, before posting a 6.48 ERA as a sophomore.
He made a significant leap in 2025, posting a 3.58 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 65 ⅓ innings with the Fighting Irish after moving into a full-time starter role.
Fox throws a 96 mph fastball and complements it with a curveball and slider.
He arrived at Notre Dame as a two-way player, and was projected primarily as a middle infielder.
A 6-foot-3, 200-pound right-hander, Fox was also an all-state quarterback who led his high school in Wisconsin to a state title.
The Waukesha, Wis. native was also the valedictorian of his high school class.
Sanders, on the other hand, specializes in the 400-meter hurdles and notched the program’s eighth-quickest mark in the event at the 2024 ACC Outdoor Championships (58.84).
Perhaps it’ll soon be time for Fox to get out to a track and try his hand at hurdling, before he heads off to begin his pro baseball career in the coming weeks.
English (US)