Per a Tweet by Jerry Crasnick, MLB agents Tom Little and Jim Reid are leaving Relativity Group for Ballengee Group, which was later confirmed to SAB via a press release from the company. Additionally, Steve Rath is joining the ranks of Ballengee after spending the last 14 years at the Beverly Hills Sports Council
Tom Little, who has been interviewed by SAB (can be found here) is the agent for San Francisco Giants pitcher and 2014 World Series star, Madison Bumgarner. It is not yet known if Bumgarner will follow Little to Ballengee or stay with Relativity. He has been an agent for 12-years and has deep familial lines in the game of baseball. Jim Reid is an attorney with over 10 years of experience in player representation, financial advisement, legal and NCAA student-athlete development. Both Little and Reid will be involved in all aspects of player representation.
Prior to his time at the Beverly Hills Sports Council, where he was involved in every aspect of player representation, Rath worked for the Expos and Mariners organizations.
The Ballengee Group was formed in 2014 to represent baseball players and MMA fighters by oil company entrepreneur James Ballengee. Since its inception, the agency has hired baseball agents and attorneys from CSE, Perennial Sports & Entertainment and MVP Sports Group. Little and Reid join the likes of baseball agents Jeff Randazzo and Scott Lonergan (formerly of MVP Sports Group); and Scott Barber (formerly of CSE).
“Right now our primary focus is baseball and we have a small niche within MMA, however we are not opposed to getting into other areas as long as it’s t he right fit for who we are as an agency,” said Ballengee in October of 2014.
When the agency was formed, it was expected to retain almost all of the clients previously held by the agents who joined forces with Ballengee, which includes more than a dozen major leaguers and many prospects and top draft picks. Based on this information, it will be interesting to see if “MadBum” will follow suit now that the agency has been up and running for a year.