Jesse William Foppert (; born July 10, 1980) is an American former

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), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

High school and collegiate career

Foppert attended

San Rafael High School San Rafael High School is a public high school located at 150 Third St. in San Rafael, California, United States. The school is part of the San Rafael City Schools school district. Its official nickname is the Bulldog; however, its athletic team ...

where he was a two-time all-MCAL player as a shortstop. He then went to the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

. He went 8–4 with a 3.75

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in 16 games during 2001. Foppert was then selected in the 2nd round (74th overall) 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

2001 Major League Baseball Draft The 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 5 and 6. First round selections Supplemental First Round Selections Compensation Picks Background On June 1, 2001, Rolando Viera, a Cuban ba ...

Professional career

After immediately signing with the Giants, Foppert was assigned to 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 ...

, the Giants Low Single A team. There, he went 8-1 with a 1.93 ERA in 14 starts and helped the Volcanoes make the playoffs. He was named the Volcanoes Player of the Month for July and August of that year. He helped the Volcanoes to the league title after pitching a 6 inning shutout with 12

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s for the victory in the

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Pacific Northwest, Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Maj ...

postseason. Foppert continued his quick rise through the Giants system. In , he split the season between Double A

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

and Triple A

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. He led all of Giants minor leaguers with 183 strikeouts and was named to the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

All-Star game. He was the Giants minor league player of the year that year. Foppert was ranked the 5th highest prospect by

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

and the best pitching prospect in . He would be in the Giants starting rotation that season. He made one start for Fresno before having his contract purchased on April 10 when Ryan Jensen went on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. On April 14, he made his major league debut in relief. On April 22, he made his first major league start against the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

, but got the loss as he only lasted 4 innings and gave up 5 runs. He would get his first major league win on May 3 against the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

when he went 5 innings and gave up 4 runs. On August 20, 2003, he was pulled from a start against 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 ...

after pitching just 3 innings. He was diagnosed with

neuritis Neuritis () is inflammation of a nerve or the general inflammation of the peripheral nervous system. Inflammation, and frequently concomitant demyelination, cause impaired transmission of neural signals and leads to aberrant nerve function. Neurit ...

in his right elbow. He then underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

in September 2003. He went 8-9 with a 5.03 ERA in 2003. He would pitch in the final game of the season against 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 ...

. It would be his only game of that season. He pitched 1 inning of scoreless relief, striking out two. Foppert spent the first two months of the with Fresno. He made 3 appearances (2 starts) in June for the Giants. On July 30, 2005, he was then traded to the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

along with

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

Yorvit Torrealba Yorvit Adolfo Torrealba (; born July 19, 1978) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Tor ...

for

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 ...

Randy Winn Dwight Randolph Winn (born June 9, 1974) is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily as an outfielder. Winn was a switch hitter, and threw right-handed. He mad ...

. For the rest of the 2005 season, he would pitch for the Mariners Triple A team, the

Tacoma Rainiers The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. They are located in Tacoma, Washington, and play their home games at Cheney Stadium, which opened in 1960. ...

including 2 starts in the postseason for them. Foppert played in just 5 games for the Rainiers in after spending most of the season on the

. Foppert was released on March 19, from the Mariners after failing to make the club as a nonroster invitee. He rejoined the Giants on March 24, 2007 when he was signed to a minor league contract. Foppert began the season with the

Fresno Grizzlies The Fresno Grizzlies are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They are located in Fresno, California, and play their home games at Chukchansi Park, which was opened in 2002 in do ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. He became a free agent at the end of the season and re-signed with the Giants in December. In June , the Giants released Foppert.

Personal life

Foppert resides in Greenbrae with his wife, McKenna (the daughter of former NFL quarterback

Craig Morton Larry Craig Morton (born February 5, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. He played college football at California, ...

), and is the head coach at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield. In the 2012/2013 season, his first as the varsity head coach, Foppert's Wildcats went 15–12. Jesse also runs the Jesse Foppert Pitching Academy which is based in Kentfield.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foppert, Jesse 1980 births Living people San Francisco Giants players Baseball players from Pennsylvania Major League Baseball pitchers Sportspeople from Reading, Pennsylvania San Francisco Dons baseball players Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players Shreveport Swamp Dragons players Fresno Grizzlies players San Jose Giants players Arizona League Giants players Tacoma Rainiers players Connecticut Defenders players