Biography
Jonathan Henry Jay (born March 15, 1985) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played 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. He went to middle school at George Washington Carver Middle School (part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district) and attended Christopher Columbus High School, in Miami.
Amateur career
Showing exceptional baseball skill in high school, Jay played on the state championship-winning team during his senior year in 2003. He received a scholarship at the University of Miami (UM) and played for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team. During his three years at UM, Jay had a combined .387 batting average (BA), with 31 doubles (2B), four triples (3B), seven home runs (HR), and 108 runs batted in (RBI), in 120 games played (G). In 2005, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Cardinals selected him in the second round (74th overall) of the 2006 MLB draft.
Professional career
Minor leagues
After signing with St. Louis, Jay made his professional debut that year with the Swing of the Quad Cities and spent the whole season there, slashing .342/.416/.462, with three HR, and 45 RBI, in 60 games. In 2007, he played with the Palm Beach Cardinals, where he batted .286, with two homers, and ten RBI, in 32 games, and the Springfield Cardinals, posting a .235 average, two HR, and 11 RBI, in 26 games. Jay began 2008 with Springfield, and after batting .306/.379/.457, with 11 HR, and 47 RBI, in 96 games, he was promoted to Memphis where he ended the season with a .345 batting average, one HR, and ten RBI, in 16 games. Jay spent 2009 with Memphis, where he compiled a .281 batting average, with ten HR, 54 RBI, and 20 stolen bases, in 136 games. He began 2010 with Memphis.
St. Louis Cardinals
Jay made his Major League debut on April 26, 2010 with the St. Louis Cardinals, after having begun his second consecutive season with the Memphis Redbirds. During his rookie season, he played in 105 games and made 323 plate appearances (PA), batting .300, with 19 doubles, and a .359 on-base percentage (OBP). In the outfield, Jay played all three positions. Stationed mainly in right field, he collected five assists. On July 27, 2011, the Cardinals traded starting center fielder Colby Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays, clearing the way for Jay to take over as the regular center fielder. That season, he led the team in games played (159), batted .297, with a career-high 10 HR. In Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, Jay had a key hit in the 10th inning and later scored the tying run on a line drive into centerfield by Lance Berkman. On May 15, 2012, Jay was moved to the 15-day disabled list due to lingering shoulder soreness after running into the outfield wall the month before, but he returned shortly thereafter. For the year, he finished with career-bests in batting average (.305) and OBP (.373), both of which placed tenth in the National League (NL). His 19 stolen bases (SB) were another career best. He hit four HR, collected 40 RBI, 22 doubles and scored 70 runs. Between August 24, 2011 and July 30, 2013, Jay established a new NL all-time errorless streak record for center fielders at 245 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is also the longest streak for all Cardinals outfielders. Curt Flood, a former Cardinal, owned the previous center field record of 226 games spanning from Sep 3, 1965 to Jun 2, 1967.With increased playing time in 2013, Jay established career-highs in PA (628), doubles (27), runs (75), and BB (52), and RBI (67). However, his batting average (.276) and SLG (.370) slumped to a career-lows. Jay was third among NL center fielders in games played (153), fourth in putouts (335), first in double plays (three), and second in fielding percentage (.997). Conversely, advanced defensive metrics showed he was ten runs below average for center fielders for defensive runs saved (DRS), ranking 32nd in MLB. From 2011–13, Fangraphs rated his arm at 21st out of 21 centerfielders who played at least 2,000 innings. Runners advanced for extra bases on Jay in 60 percent of plays. The Cardinals agreed with Jay on a one-year $3.25 million contract on January 17, 2014, to avoid arbitration. Through 2013, Jay had a career batting average of .300 with a .356 OBP and a .400 SLG.After the Cardinals acquired outfielder Peter Bourjos in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the offseason of 2013, Jay's role on the club was expected to be reduced during 2014. Bourjos' impressive defensive ability was one of the main reasons of the trade, as Jay's 2013 defensive campaign was probably the worst of his career. But after a poor offensive April for Bourjos, Jay's playing time started to increase throughout the season, as Bourjos found himself on the bench more and more. By the end of the season, Jay finished batting .303, with three home runs while driving in 46 runs. Although appearing in only 17 fewer games in 2014 than in 2013, Jay had 135 fewer at-bats, and could not contend for the batting title, where at one point in September he was batting well over .320, which was higher than the final .319 batting average of Justin Morneau, who won the batting title. He led the major leagues in hit by pitch, with 20. During the postseason, where Jay had historically struggled throughout his career, he batted .478, going 14-29 throughout the NLDS and NLCS.In the off-season preceding the 2015 season, Jay had surgery on the left wrist, which did not heal completely. He struggled through other injuries on the same wrist, such as a bone bruise and tendinitis, hampering his ability to hit effectively. Jay missed a number of games in the month of May, and another 57 from July 1 to September 4.
San Diego Padres
On December 8, 2015, Jay was traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Jedd Gyorko. After a productive first couple of months of the season for the Padres, Jay suffered a broken forearm on June 19 and was placed on the DL on June 28. He was reactivated on September 6th and finished the season with a .291 batting average in 90 games played.
Chicago Cubs
Jay hit .287 in seven seasons with the Cardinals and Padres. As a free agent, Jay signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Chicago Cubs on November 29, 2016. On July 6, 2017, Jay pitched a scoreless 9th inning in an 11-2 defeat by the Milwaukee Brewers. Jay had a batting average of .296 in 379 at bats for the Cubs in 2017.
Kansas City Royals
On March 6, 2018, Jay signed a one year, $3 million, contract with the Kansas City Royals.
Arizona Diamondbacks
On June 6, 2018, the Royals traded Jay to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Elvis Luciano and Gabe Speier. For the season, he had the lowest fly ball percentage of all major league hitters (16.5%).
Chicago White Sox
Jay signed a one-year contract with the Chicago White Sox on January 10, 2019. He began the season on the 60-day disabled list, and was activated on June 24, 2019. He underwent hip surgery on August 30, ending his season after playing only 47 games. He had the slowest sprint speed of all major league right fielders, at 24.8 feet/second.
Second Stint with Diamondbacks
On February 3, 2020, Jay signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jay had his contract selected to the 40-man roster on July 18, 2020.
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, Jon 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. They had twin girls on December 1, 2016.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.