Johnny Ray Cardenas is an American

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 ...

coach and former

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 ...

. Cardenas is the head coach of the

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. The team is a member of the Western Athletic Conference, which is part of the Na ...

team.

Amateur career

Cardenas attended Seward County Community College in

Liberal, Kansas Liberal is the county seat of Seward County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 19,825. Liberal is home of Seward County Community College. History Early settler S. S. Rogers built the first house ...

. Cardenas then accepted a scholarship to play at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples ...

(TCU), to play

for the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team.

Professional career

Cardenas was drafted in the 46th round (1,271th overall) by 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 ...

in the

1993 Major League Baseball draft The 1993 Major League Baseball draft began with first round selections on June 3, 1993. Alex Rodriguez was selected first overall by the Seattle Mariners. Other notable draftees included Chris Carpenter, Torii Hunter, Jason Varitek, Scott Rolen, ...

. Cardenas began his professional career with the Bellingham Mariners of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, where he batted .204 with two home runs. He was promoted to the Riverside Pilots of the Class A-Advanced

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

in 1994. He hit .208 with one home run for Riversite. Cardenas played 1995 season with the

Port City Roosters The Port City Roosters were a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners from 1995 to 1996. They were located in Wilmington, North Carolina, and played their home games at Brooks Field o ...

of the Class AA Southern League. In 1996, Cardenas began the season with Port City, after batting .189 with 1 home run and 6 RBIs in 27 games with Port City, he was released. He played the rest of the 1996 season with the Oklahoma City 89ers of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

. He was released following the 1996 season and signed with the

Duluth–Superior Dukes The Duluth–Superior Dukes were a professional baseball team based in Duluth, Minnesota. The Dukes were a charter member of the modern Northern League, which started play in 1993. The Dukes played their home games at Wade Stadium. After the 20 ...

of the Northern League. He batted .298 with six home runs and 39 RBIs during the season. He signed with the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

to play the 1997 season with the

Birmingham Barons The Birmingham Barons are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox and plays at Regions Field in downtown Birmingham. The current ...

during the 1998 season. He hit just .200 with 8 RBIs in 17 games.

Coaching career

From 1999 to 2003, Cardenas served as the head baseball coach at Colbert High School in Colbert, Oklahoma. Cardenas then served as the head baseball coach at Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas for two years. In the summer of 2005, Cardenas accepted a position as an assistant coach for the

program. He was an assistant for 3 years, and was named the interim head coach when Donnie Watson's contract wasn't renewed. On July 9, 2008, Cardenas was named the head coach of Stephen F. Austin. Following the 2010 season, Cardenas was named the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

Coach of the Year.

Head coaching record

References

External links