Jon Jay

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Jonathan Henry Jay (born March 15, 1985) is an American professional baseball center fielder who is a free agent.

He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox.A product of the University of Miami, Jay played college baseball for the Miami Hurricanes.

He was the Cardinals’ second (of three) second-round selection(s) (74th overall), in the 2006 MLB draft.

As of 2019, Jon Jay has the third highest modern-day career fielding percentage for a center fielder at 99.60%, behind only Darin Erstad and Shane Victorino.Jay made his big league debut for the Cardinals in 2010, after batting .301, with 34 home runs (HR), an .803 on-base plus slugging percentage (OBP), and 61 stolen bases (SB), in 409 minor league games.

The starting center fielder for four consecutive National League Championship Series (NLCS)-qualifying clubs as a Cardinal (2011-14), he was a World Series champion in 2011, as the Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers.

Between 2011 and 2013, Jay established an errorless record streak for National League (NL) center fielders at 245 games.

In 2012, he finished tenth in the NL in 'both' batting average and on-base percentage (OBP). After wrist injuries limited Jay’s effectiveness in 2015, he was traded to the Padres.

Always active in the community, Jay has hosted celebrity bowling tournaments for charity.

He signed a one-year US$4M contract to play the 2019 season with the Chicago White Sox.

Early life

Jay was born in Miami, Florida, and spent his youth there. His parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba—his mother from Matanzas and his father from Santiago in the 1960s. His father, Justo Jay, spent 19 years in prison for his role in the cocaine trafficking organization of Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon. Jay attended George Washington Carver Middle School and Christopher Columbus High School.

Personal life

At various times, he has been nicknamed "The Federalist", "The Founding Father", and "The Chief Justice" in honor of the U.S. Founding Father John Jay and his contributions to The Federalist Papers. Shortly into the 2016 season, NBC 7 San Diego lead sports reporter Derek Togerson popularized "The Federalist", which quickly became popular with Padres fans. Razzball.com originally started calling him The Federalist back in 2011. Jay choose "305-J" as his nickname for the Players Weekend during the 2017 season with the Cubs.

On January 28, 2011, Jay hosted a charity bowling event at Lucky Strikes Lanes in Miami Beach, Florida. Called Jon Jay's Celebrity Bowling Challenge, an estimated $25,000 were accumulated throughout the almost four-hour event and went to Chapman Partnership, involved in homeless centers throughout the Miami-area. Jon and his family had been involved in charities just like Chapman Partnership throughout his childhood. Among the twenty Major League Baseball attendees were Yonder Alonso, J. P. Arencibia, Gio González, Drew Storen, Chris Marrero, Tyler Greene, Allen Craig, Lance Lynn, John Mayberry, Gaby Sánchez, Manny Machado, and Mike Lowell. Chris Bosh was also present.

Jay married Nikki Stecich in November 2013 and they had twin girls on December 1, 2016. They reside in St. Louis.

In May 2014, Jay hosted another bowling event, this time with Allen Craig. They named it the Jay-Craig Celebrity Bowl and held it at the Flamingo Bowl in downtown St. Louis. The proceeds benefited Great Circle, a nonprofit organization that provides behavioral health services autism, educational challenges, emotional health, in-home crisis intervention, foster care and adoption, adventure therapy and psychological trauma recovery.

In December 2015, Jay accompanied an expedition to Cuba with former Cardinals player and manager Joe Torre, and then-Cardinals catcher Brayan Peña. It was MLB's first visit there since 1999, and one anticipated as an important step to help normalize relations with the United States that had begun to ease earlier in the year.

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College career

Jay played on the state championship team in 2003, displaying outstanding baseball skills in high school. He earned a scholarship at the University of Miami and competed for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team. In 120 games played (G), Jay had a.387 batting average (BA), with 31 doubles (2B), four triples (3B), seven home runs (HR), and 108 runs batted in (RBI). He played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League in 2005. In the second round (74th overall) of the 2006 MLB draft, the Cardinals selected him.

Professional career

Jay made his professional debut with the Swing of the Quad Cities in 1998 and spent the entire season there, slashing.362/.462, with three HR, and 45 RBI in 60 games. He batted.286, with two homers and ten RBI in 32 games, and the Springfield Cardinals, hitting a.235 average, two RBI, and 11 RBI in 26 games in 2007. Jay started with Springfield in 2008 and was promoted to Memphis, where he finished the season with a.345 batting average, one HR, and ten RBI in 96 games. Jay played for Memphis in 2009, where he had a.281 batting average, 54 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in 136 games. He began working with Memphis in 2010.

After starting his second season with the Memphis Redbirds, Jay made his Major League debut on April 26, 2010 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He appeared in 105 games and made 323 plate appearances (PA), batting.300, with 19 doubles, and a.359 on-base percentage (OBP). Jay was a jackal in the outfield and played in all three positions. He was mainly stationed in the right field and gained five assists.

Starting center fielder Colby Rasmus was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Toronto Blue Jays on July 27, 2011, allowing Jay to take over as the regular center fielder. He coached the team in games played (159), batted.297, a career-high 10 HR.

Jay had a key hit in the tenth inning and later scored the tying run on a line drive by Lance Berkman in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

Jay was admitted to the 15-day disabled list on May 15, 2012, after running into the outfield wall the month before, but immediately after, he returned. He set career-bests in batting average (.305) and OBP (.373) for the year, finishing tenth in the National League for the first time. His 19 stolen bases (SB) were another career highlight. He hit four HR, 40 RBI, 22 doubles, and scored 70 runs.

At 245 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates between August 24, 2011 and July 30, 2013, Jay set a new NL all-time errorless streak for center fielders. It's also the longest streak for any Cardinal outfielders. Curt Flood, a retired Cardinal, held the previous center field record of 226 games dating from Sep 3, 1965 to 1967.

Jay hit career highs in PA (628), doubles (27), runs (75), and RBI (67), with increased playing time in 2013. However, his batting average (2.76) and SLG (.370) dropped to a career low. Jay was third in NL center field fields (153) and fourth in putouts (335), first in double plays (three), and second in fielding percentage (.997). In comparison, advanced defensive statistics showed he was ten runs behind average for center fielders in terms of defensive runs saved (DRS), ranked 32nd in MLB. Fangraphs rated his arm 21st out of 21 centerfielders who played at least 2,000 innings from 2011-2013. In 60% of plays, runners advanced to extra bases on Jay.

On January 17, 2014, the Cardinals and Jay agreed to a one-year $3.25 million deal to avoid arbitration. Jay had a batting average of.300 with a 3.56 OBP and a.400 SLG as a result of his career.

After the Cardinals acquired outfielder Peter Bourjos in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the offseason of 2013, Jay's presence on the team was supposed to be reduced during 2014. Bourjos' outstanding defensive performance was one of the main reasons for the trade, as Jay's 2013 defensive campaign was certainly one of his career's worst. However, Jay's playing time began to increase throughout the season as Bourjos' offensive line increased. Jay finished batting.303 with three home runs and 46 runs in 46 runs by the end of the season. Although appearing in only 17 fewer games in 2014 than 2013, Jay had 135 fewer at-bats and did not qualify for the batting title, where he was batting at a much faster pace than Justin Morneau's final.319 average, which was higher than the final batting average of Justin Morneau, who won the batting crown in September. With 20 pitches, he led the major leagues in hit by pitch. He batted.478, going 14-29 throughout the NLDS and NLCS in the postseason, where Jay had struggled throughout his career.

Jay had surgery on the left wrist in the off-season before the 2015 season, but it did not heal completely. He suffered with other injuries on the same wrist, such as a bone bruise and tendinitis, limiting his ability to strike efficiently. Jay played in a variety of games in the month of May, as well as another 57 from July 1 to September 4.

Jay was traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Jedd Gyorko on December 8, 2015. Jay was diagnosed with a fractured forearm on June 19 and was suspended on the DL for the first couple of months of the season's first few months. He was recalled on September 6th and ended the season with a.291 batting average in 90 games played.

In seven seasons with the Cardinals and Padres, Jay has played at.287. On November 29, 2016, Jay signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Chicago Cubs as a free agent. In a 11-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on July 6, 2017, Jay pitched a scoreless 9th inning. In 379 at bats for the Cubs in 2017, Jay had a batting average of.296.

On March 6, 2018, Jay agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the Kansas City Royals.

In exchange for Elvis Luciano and Gabe Speier, the Royals traded Jay to the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 6, 2018. He had the lowest fly ball percentage of all major league hitters (16.5%) for the season.

On January 10, 2019, Jay signed a one-year deal with the Chicago White Sox. He started the season on the 60-day disabled list and was activated on June 24, 2019. He underwent hip surgery on August 30, snapping his season after playing just 47 games. He had the slowest sprint speed of any major league right fielders, 24.8 feet per second.

Jay and the Arizona Diamondbacks signed a minor league contract on February 3, 2020. On July 18, 2020, Jay was admitted to the 40-man roster. Jay slashed.211/.240 with 1 home run and 4 RBI in 18 games in 2020.

Jay signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels on February 11, 2021, which also included an invitation to Spring Training. The Angels released Jay on March 26, 2021, the Angels' release him on March 26, 2021. Jay re-signed with the Angels on a new minor league deal on March 27. Jay was named to the active roster on April 13, 2021, just one of many. After going 1-for-8 with a single and two strikeouts in eight at-bats, he was called for assignment by the Angels on April 16. On April 23, he was barred from the alternate training base. Jay was re-selected to the active roster on May 6, 2017. Jay was called for assignment again on May 14. He had been outrighted to Triple-A on May 17.

Jay was added to the national baseball team for the Americas Qualifying Event in late May 2021. In 18 games with Salt Lake before being released on July 13, Jay was.362/.384/5.164 with 1 home run and 5 RBI.

Jay retired from baseball on April 27, 2022.

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