 Avery played college baseball at Niagara University.Avery went 1-2 over 11 appearances, seven starts, split between the Rookie-League Gulf Coast Reds and Class-A Dayton Dragons of the Midwest League in 2005.He spent majority of the 2006 season with Class-A Advanced Sarasota Reds, where he went 8-8 with a 4.43 ERA over 26 starts.