Jacob August Heyward (born August 1, 1995) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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 cat ...

and current coach. He played college baseball at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. He was selected by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

in the 18th 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 d ...

, and played with the organization through the 2022 season. Following the end of his playing career, Heyward remained with the Giants as a minor league coach.

Amateur career

Heyward attended

Eagle's Landing Christian Academy Eagle's Landing Christian Academy (ELCA) is a private Christian school is located on an 86-acre campus twenty-five miles south of Atlanta in McDonough, Georgia, United States. It ranks 14th in the ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'' of Atlanta's 75 lar ...

McDonough, Georgia McDonough is a city in Henry County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Its population was 22,084 at the 2010 census, up from 8,493 in 2000. The city is the county seat of Henry County. The unincorporated comm ...

. In 2013, as a senior, he batted .331 with nine home runs and 42 RBIs and was drafted by the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

in the 38th round of the

2013 Major League Baseball draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

. However, he did not sign and instead enrolled at the

where he played

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 pl ...

for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

. In 2014, as a freshman at Miami, Heyward appeared in only 24 games. However, in 2015, his sophomore year, he broke out and emerged as Miami's starting

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

, batting .327 with four home runs and 24 RBIs in 56 games. He also batted .355 in nine 2015 NCAA Division I baseball tournament games, including batting .455 in three games at the 2015

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

. Heyward returned in 2016 as the club's starting right fielder, hitting .242 with six home runs, 39 RBIs, and a .403

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

in 64 starts.

Professional career

After his junior year, he was selected by the

in the 18th round of the

. He signed and made his professional debut for the Rookie-level

Arizona League Giants Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four C ...

, batting .337 with one home run, 21 RBIs, and ten stolen bases in 28 games. He also played in four games for the

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their home ...

at the end of the year. In 2017, he played for the

Augusta GreenJackets The Augusta GreenJackets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina, which opened in April 2018. They previous ...

where he batted .223/.317/.351 with ten home runs and 45 RBIs in 107 games, and in 2018, he spent a majority of the year with the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants ga ...

, hitting .258/.357/.415 with 12 home runs, 47 RBIs, and 14 stolen bases in 112 games. He also played in two games for the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

to end the season. Heyward began 2019 with the

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. Th ...

and was named an Eastern League All-Star, earning All-Star game MVP honors. 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 fill ...

for the

Scottsdale Scorpions The Scottsdale Scorpions are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Scottsdale, Arizona, at Scottsdale Stadium, which is also the spring training facility of the San Francisco Gia ...

following the season. He was promoted to the

at the end of the season, and finished the year there. Over 127 games between the two clubs, Heyward slashed .211/.362/.348 with 11 home runs, 47 RBIs, and 149 strikeouts in 388 at bats. He then played for the

in the

. He batted .184./.296/.421. Heyward did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of 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 identif ...

. In the 2021 season, he played for Richmond, and batted .208 with 71 strikeouts in 202 at bats. In 2022 he returned to Richmond. He batted .201/.303/.337. He elected free agency following the season on November 10, 2022.

Coaching career

On March 8, 2023, the

announced that Heyward had been hired to serve as the manager for one of their rookie ball teams for the 2023 season.

Personal life

Heyward's brother,

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

, is an

for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyward, Jacob Living people Arizona League Giants players 1995 births African-American baseball players African-American baseball managers Sacramento River Cats players Augusta GreenJackets players San Francisco Giants coaches Richmond Flying Squirrels players Minor league baseball managers Scottsdale Scorpions players Miami Hurricanes baseball players San Jose Giants players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players People from McDonough, Georgia Baseball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state)