Jeffrey Joseph Bleday (born November 10, 1997) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

for the Oakland Athletics of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022 with the Miami Marlins.

Amateur career

Bleday grew up in Titusville,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and attended

Titusville Area High School Titusville Area High School is a public high school in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The school serves about 660 students in grades 9-12. The main feeder school is Titusville Middle School. School history Titusville Area High School was originally co ...

as a freshman and sophomore before transferring to

A. Crawford Mosley High School A. Crawford Mosley High School is a 9-12 educational institution in Lynn Haven, Florida, United States. Mosley was built in 1972 and current enrollment is roughly 2,000 students. There are 120 classroom-based faculty members and Brian Bullock is ...

in Lynn Haven,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for his junior and senior years. As a junior, he batted .373 while pitching to a 4–1 record and 2.43 earned run average. After his senior year, Bleday was drafted by the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

in the 39th round of the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be di ...

. However, he did not sign and instead chose to attend

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's teams), 14 of which compete at the National ...

. In 2017, as a freshman at Vanderbilt, Bleday appeared in 51 games in which he hit .256 with two home runs and 22 runs batted in (RBIs). That summer, he played for the

Newport Gulls The Newport Gulls are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Gulls Baseball Club is a member of both the New England Collegiate Baseball League and the NECBL's Coastal Division. Since 2001, the Gu ...

of the

New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...

where he batted .232 with two home runs over 69 at-bats. As a sophomore in 2018, Bleday missed 22 games due to an oblique injury but still appeared in 39 games for the Commodores, batting .368 with four home runs and 15 RBIs. Following the collegiate season, he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star and the top professional prospect after hitting .311 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in during 36 games for the Orleans Firebirds. In 2019, Bleday's junior year, he was named the

Southeastern Conference Baseball Player of the Year The Southeastern Conference Player of the Year is a baseball award given to the Southeastern Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1993 season, with both pitchers and position players eligible. After the 2003 ...

. He finished the season slashing .347/.465/.701 with 27 home runs and 72 RBIs during 71 games, helping Vanderbilt win the 2019 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.

Professional career

Miami Marlins

Bleday was considered one of the top prospects for the

2019 Major League Baseball draft The 2019 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In additi ...

. He was selected by the Miami Marlins with the fourth overall pick and signed for $6.7 million. He made his professional debut on July 20, 2019, with the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Jupiter Hammerheads The Jupiter Hammerheads are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in the town of Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida, and play their home games at Roger Dean ...

of the Florida State League and spent the whole season there. Over 38 games, Bleday slashed .257/.311/.379 with three home runs and 19 RBIs. Bleday did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. For the 2021 season, he was assigned to the

Pensacola Blue Wahoos The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are based in Pensacola, Florida, and play their home games at Admiral Fetterman Field. In 2012, the team rel ...

of the

Double-A South AA, Aa, Double A, or Double-A may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''America's Army'', a 2002 computer game published by the U.S. Army * '' Ancient Anguish'', a computer game in existence since 1992 * Aa!, a J-Pop musical group * Do ...

. Over 110 games, he slashed .212/.323/.373 with 12 home runs, 54 RBIs, 22 doubles, and 101 strikeouts. He walked 64 times during the season which was second in the league. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fille ...

(AFL) for the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was established ...

after the season where he was named to the Fall Stars Game and was named the game's MVP. Bleday ended the AFL with a .316/.435/.600

slash line S sabermetrics :Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics. The term is derived from the SABR – the Society for American Baseball Research. The term was coined by Bill James, an ...

over 25 games and was named the league's Hitter of the Year alongside Juan Yepez. Prior to the 2022 season, Bleday gained of muscle. He was assigned to the

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins. They are located in Jacksonville, Florida, and are named for shrimp caught in the area. The team pla ...

of the Triple-A International League to begin the year. On July 23, 2022, the Marlins selected Bleday's contract and promoted him to the major leagues. He made his major league debut as a

pinch-hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, America ...

that night at

PNC Park PNC Park is a baseball stadium on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). It was opened during the 2001 MLB season, after the controlled implosion of the Pira ...

versus the Pittsburgh Pirates, drawing a walk in his only plate appearance of the night. He recorded his first major league hit the next night with an infield single off of

Mitch Keller Mitch Thomas Keller (born April 4, 1996) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). Amateur career Keller was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 2014 Major Lea ...

Oakland Athletics

On February 11, 2023, the Marlins traded Bleday to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for A. J. Puk. Bleday was optioned to the Triple-A

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevada ...

to begin the 2023 season.

References

External links

Vanderbilt Commodores bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleday, J.J. 1997 births Living people People from Danville, Pennsylvania Baseball players from Pennsylvania All-American college baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Miami Marlins players Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Jupiter Hammerheads players Pensacola Blue Wahoos players Mesa Solar Sox players Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp players