Jason Bay

Jason Bay
Bay in August 2009
Free Agent – No. 44
Left Fielder
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
May 23, 2003, for the San Diego Padres
Career statistics (through 2009)
Batting average	.280
Home runs	185
Runs batted in	610
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
San Diego Padres (2003) Pittsburgh Pirates (2003-2008) Boston Red Sox (2008-2009)
Career highlights and awards
3x All-Star selection (2005, 2006, 2009) 2004 NL Rookie of the Year

Jason Raymond Bay, (born September 20, 1978, in Trail, British Columbia) is a Canadian-American Major League Baseball outfielder who is currently a free agent.

Baseball career

Early years

Bay experienced success as a player very early, playing on a Trail team that reached the 1990 Little League World Series. In 1999 he played for the Chatham Athletics in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 22nd round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft from Gonzaga University and was assigned to the Expos' Short-Season A team in Burlington, Vermont (The Vermont Expos). In 2001, Bay was assigned to the Expos’ High Single-A team in Jupiter. He began the year slowly, and in May he was moved to Clinton of the Midwest League. Bay reached base in his first 26 games, then went on to hit .362 and win the league batting title. In all, he batted .315 with 14 homers and 75 RBIs on the year. He was dealt to the New York Mets on March 24, 2002, for Lou Collier. The Mets dealt him to the San Diego Padres for Jason Middlebrook at the 2002 trading deadline. He debuted with the Padres on May 23, 2003, getting his first major league hit, a home run, in the 9th inning. Two days later, he suffered a broken right wrist after a hit by pitch.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Jason Bay with the Pirates in 2007 spring training

On August 26, 2003, Bay was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, along with Óliver Pérez and Cory Stewart in August in exchange for Brian Giles. He finished the season with a .287 batting average, four home runs, and 14 RBI in 30 games.

Jason Bay with the Pirates, in left field.

Bay began the 2004 season on the disabled list due to surgery during the off-season, and did not join the team until May. Despite missing the beginning of the season, he still produced the best offensive numbers of any National League rookie. He hit .282 in 120 games, leading all major league rookies in home runs (26) and RBIs (82). He also led all NL rookies in slugging percentage (.550), extra base hits (54) and total bases (226). With his 26 home runs, Bay broke a Pirates rookies record of 23 set by Johnny Rizzo in 1936 and matched by Ralph Kiner in 1946. Selected the 04 NL rookie of the year by The Sporting News, Bay was the third Pittsburgh player honored with the award, after second baseman Johnny Ray (1982) and catcher Jason Kendall. Bay was also the first Canadian player to win the award.

2005

In 2005, Bay was selected to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game as a reserve outfielder. For three home games he was subbed in as a catcher but that was a short career for the young Bay. He was the only player on either roster not to appear in the game at all. Bay also appeared in the 2005 Century 21 Home Run Derby, representing Canada in the nationality-themed contest; he was eliminated in the first round after hitting no home runs. Bay finished the season with a .306 average, 32 home runs, and 101 RBI, leading the Pirates in every major hitting category.

After 2005 season Bay signed a four-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $18.25 million.

2006

Through the 2006 season, Bay was a career .292 hitter with 97 home runs and 306 RBI in 471 games over three seasons. Bay enjoyed an exceptional May of the 2006, when he hit .321 with 12 home runs (a Pirate record for home runs in a month) and 35 runs batted in. From May 22 to May 28 he hit home runs in six consecutive games, two short of the major league record held by Dale Long, Don Mattingly, and Ken Griffey, Jr. He had actually hit 10 home runs in ten games, but he had failed to hit a home run in one of the games (and hit two the next day).

Following an aggressive public relations campaign by the Pirates in 2006, Jason Bay led all National League outfielders in All-Star voting. Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder even urged fans to vote for Bay during a summer concert at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena. Bay became the first member of the Pittsburgh Pirates voted into the All-Star game as a starter since Andy Van Slyke. In the game, Bay went 1 for 3, with a single.

2007

After battling injuries, Bay's 2007 season was less productive. Despite having a strong first couple of months, he hit .247 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI.

2008

Bay had a much more productive 2008 with Pittsburgh, hitting .282 with 22 home runs and 64 runs batted in through the All Star break. In a May series against the Chicago Cubs, Bay had extra-inning walk-off hits in back-to-back games; the first two walk-off hits of his career. A month later, he got his third walk-off hit of the season and his career with a 13th-inning solo home run against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Boston Red Sox

2008

On July 31, 2008, Bay and a player to be named later (Josh Wilson) were traded to the Boston Red Sox in a three team deal that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Andy LaRoche with Bryan Morris to the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Dodgers and Brandon Moss with Craig Hansen to the Pirates from the Red Sox. In his Red Sox debut, Bay scored both runs, the second coming after he hit a triple in bottom of the 12th inning and scored the game winning run on a Jed Lowrie RBI infield single.

The Sox' 2008 American League Division Series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was the first playoff series of Bay's career. Bay hit a home run in each of the first two games of the series. Bay finished the series batting 7 for 17 (.412), with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 5 RBIs.

2009

After a clutch first half start Bay went on to lead the Red Sox with a career high 36 home runs during the regular season. Until Early in the season he had a streak of 11 home runs with men on base, tying the team record and falling one shy of the major league mark.

In 2009, he was named # 41 on the Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball. [1] Bay was elected to the 2009 All Star Game on July 5, 2009. He filed for free agency on November 5th 2009.

Qualities as a player

In his major league career Bay has demonstrated well-above-average power to all fields. He has also shown good discipline at the plate; in 2005, he ranked in the top ten in the National League in walks, though he does also strike out more often than the average hitter. On the bases, though he is not exceptionally fast, Bay is a very effective basestealer; in 2005, until he was picked off in the last week of the season, he had tied the major league record for most steals in a season without getting caught (21).

Personal

Bay and his wife, Kristen, have two daughters; Addison, who was born on November 19, 2006, in Pittsburgh, and Evelyn, who was born on September 16, 2008, in Boston.

Bay's sister, Lauren Bay Regula, is a professional softball player who pitched for Canada in the 2004 Olympics, and was on the 2008 Olympic team as well.

Bay remains friends with Edmonton Oilers center Shawn Horcoff, who was also born in Trail. He is still close friends with former Montreal Expos teammate and now Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore, who was also a groomsman at Bay's wedding.

In Bay's opening interview with the Boston media, he stated that his father was a die-hard Red Sox fan who had bought him a Red Sox onesie to wear when he was young. Bay believed it was still in his parents' basement along with his two childhood TV room posters of Red Sox greats Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski.

On Thursday, July 2, 2009, Bay became a U.S. citizen after a ceremony at Faneuil Hall in Boston. During the off season Bay resides in his wife's hometown of Seattle

Awards and honors

• Three-time NL Rookie of the Month (June, July and September, 2004)
• National League Rookie of the Year (2004)
• The Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year (2004)
• Tip O'Neill Award winner (2004 and 2005) - given to the top Canadian baseball player each season.
• National League All-Star (2005, 2006)
• Represented Canada at the World Baseball Classic
• Represented Canada in the 1990 Little League World Series
• May 2006 Player of the Month
• Represented Canada at the 2005 Home Run Derby
• The 2008 Chuck Tanner Award for "professionalism, cooperation and availability to and with Major League writers to best assist them in carrying out daily responsibilities."

Records

• Holds the record for most home runs at PNC Park with 61.
• Second most Home Runs (14) by a visiting player (behind Lance Berkman- 18) and the highest batting average of any player with more than 100 at bats (.363, 58 for 160) at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
• 4th all-time in Home Runs hit by a Canadian born player behind Larry Walker (383), Matt Stairs (252), and Jeff Heath (194).

Pittsburgh Pirates

• 4th all-time with .515 slugging percentage
• 8th all-time with .890 on-base plus slugging (min 100 AB)
• 8th all-time with 139 Home Runs
• 10th all-time with 682 Strikeouts
• 12th all-time with .375 on-base percentage
• 15th all-time with 34 sacrifice flies
• 15th all-time with 35 hit by pitches

See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Jason Bay Video on FoxSports Video Archive
• Jason Bay Video on ESPN.com
• The Jason Bay file: (More than) 30 things to know about the newest Sox slugger

Awards
Preceded by Dontrelle Willis	National League Rookie of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Ryan Howard
Preceded by Scott Podsednik	Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie 2004	Succeeded by Willy Taveras
Preceded by Scott Podsednik	Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Willy Taveras
Preceded by Albert Pujols	National League Player of the Month April, 2006	Succeeded by David Wright

Template:Persondata