Jason Bay

Jason Raymond Bay (born September 20, 1978 in Trail, British Columbia, Canada) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Boston Red Sox.

In his young 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 — although he does also strike out more often than the average hitter. On the bases, although 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). Defensively, Bay was adept at handling the large outfield in Pittsburgh's PNC Park and is a dependable fielder. Through 2008, he has made only eighteen errors in 6283.7 innings in left field (.986 fielding percentage). For a left fielder, he has a below average throwing ability according to The Hardball Times.

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 Expo's 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 RBI 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 Steve Reed 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

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.

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 RBI (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 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.

In 2005, Bay was selected to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game as a reserve outfielder. 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.

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.[3] 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.

After battling injuries, Bay's 2007 season was less productive, hitting .247 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI.[4]

Bay has had a much more productive 2008, 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.[5] 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.[6]

Boston Red Sox

On July 31, 2008, Bay and a player to be named later (Josh Wilson[7]) 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.[8] In his Red Sox debut, Bay scored both runs, the second coming after he hit a triple in bottom of the 12th inning and thus winning the game on a Jed Lowrie RBI infield single. The Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with the 2-1 victory over the visiting Oakland A's. In his second game he hit a 3-run home run in the first inning. On August 18th Jason Bay homered off of Jeremy Guthrie twice and had four RBI against the Baltimore Orioles, the Red Sox won 6-3. On August 26th Jason Bay played the Yankees the first time in a Red Sox uniform, Bay went 2-For-4 with two RBIs and a run, and a 7-3 victory over the Yankees. The Red Sox won the first out of three remaining games the Red Sox play at Yankee Stadium.

Later that month, when the Red Sox traveled to Tropicana Field to play the Tampa Bay Rays, they had a veritable home run derby on September 15; Jason Bay had his 8th home run as a Red Sox player, and the 30th of the season, as the Sox beat the Rays 13-5. Bay ended up 1-for-4 with an RBI and a home run.

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; in Game 2, on October 3, 2008, Bay hit a 3-run homer to give Boston an early 4-0 lead. On October 6, in Game 4, Bay scored the walkoff run to break a tie game on a single by Jed Lowrie in the bottom of the 9th. The win clinched the Sox a berth in the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Bay finished the series batting 7 for 17 (.412), with 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 5 RBIs.

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.

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 bedroom posters of Red Sox greats Jim Rice and Carl Yazstremski.

source: Wikipedia