James Jurries
James Lee "J. J." Jurries (born April 13, 1979) is an American former professional baseball player notable for co-winning the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Freshman Baseball Player of the Year award, alongside Mark Teixeira and Blair Varnes. In addition to his college accolades, he spent five years in the minor leagues, including three at Triple-A.
Jurries was born in Freeport, Texas and attended Brazoswood High School in Clute, Texas, from where he was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 34th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft. He chose not to sign. He attended Tulane University from 1999 to 2002. In his freshman year, Jurries batted .374/.433/.698 with 20 home runs, 79 RBIs, 18 stolen bases and 90 runs scored in 65 games. Baseball America named him to the Freshman All-American team and the Freshman of the Year. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and College Baseball Insider also named him Freshman of the Year. He was the first player from Tulane to receive this honor. He was First-Team All-Conference USA, the conference Freshman of the Year and was voted to the league All-Freshman team. Collegiate Baseball also named him First-Team All-Freshman, while Baseball America, Baseball Weekly, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named him second-team All-American. He was also selected to play for Team USA that summer, but was unable to due to injury.[1] In 2000, he hit .338/.465/.604 with 12 home runs, 51 RBIs and 17 stolen bases to earn first-team All-Conference USA and second-team All-Louisiana selections. He also played for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League that summer. He hit .324/.391/.514 with 10 home runs, 53 RBIs and 15 steals in 2001 and again earned first-team All-Conference USA and second-team All-Louisiana selections. In 2002, Jurries hit .400/.493/.750 with 20 home runs, 74 RBIs and 30 stolen bases to earn All-American selections from Baseball America, the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball. He was also named the NCBWA District VII Player and a first-team All-Louisiana selection.[2] He was the first Tulane player to hit .400 or better since 1985.
Jurries was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the sixth round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft, ahead of future major leaguers Jesse English, Brian Barden and Troy Cate. He was signed by scout Don Thomas.[3] In his first professional season, he hit .293 with six home runs and 34 RBIs in 52 games between the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and Danville Braves and homered in his first professional at-bat.[4] In 2003, he hit .284 with nine home runs, 54 RBIs and 34 doubles for the Greenville Braves, and in 2004, he hit .274 with 25 home runs, 70 RBIs and a .518 slugging percentage mostly with the Triple-A Richmond Braves. Back with Richmond in 2005, Jurries hit .284 with 21 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .537 slugging mark. He suffered a concussion that year and was sidelined for a time.[5]Early in the 2005 season, he was suspended 15 games for a positive performance-enhancing drug test.[6][7] He hit .429/.464/.673 with two home runs and 14 RBIs in 49 spring training at-bats with the major league club in 2006, and was expected to be a platoon partner with Adam LaRoche.[8] He was one of the final players cut, with Brian Jordan being selected instead.[9]He never played in the majors that year, however, and hit .205 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs in 89 games with Richmond, thus ending his career. He battled a knee injury throughout much of the year. Overall, he batted .269 with 69 home runs and 257 RBIs in 496 games.[10]
After his playing career, he coached for the Tulane baseball team and then the New Orleans Privateers baseball team.[11] He is a member of Tulane's athletic Hall of Fame.[12]
References
- ↑ "Tulane's Pierce named assistant coach for USA Baseball's 2016 Collegiate National Team - SportsNOLA". SportsNOLA. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "University Of New Orleans - 2013 Baseball Coaching Staff". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ TheBaseballCube.com
- ↑ "Baseball in New Orleans". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "Beaver County Times - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "First baseman tries to make Braves less than a year aft... - AccessWDUN.com". AccessWDUN. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "Times Daily - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "Atlanta Braves Announce Opening Day 25-Man Roster". Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "J.J. Jurries Register Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ "Tulane baseball team adds James Jurries to coaching staff". NOLA.com. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ Privateers Name Former Tulane Standout Jurries to Baseball Coaching Staff
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