Jay Nilsson (born 1 November 1987 in

Redcliffe, Queensland Redcliffe is a town and suburb in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. It also refers colloquially to the Redcliffe Peninsula as a whole, a peninsula jutting into Moreton Bay which contains several other suburbs. Since the 1880s, Red ...

) is a former

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

baseball player for the

Gulf Coast Indians The Arizona Complex League Guardians are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona. The team is c ...

. He is the son of

Bob Nilsson Robert "Bob" Nilsson was the oldest of the four Nilsson brothers and one of the greatest relievers in the history of Australian baseball leagues. Bob's brother Dave Nilsson was the first Australian All-Star in MLB, his brother Gary Nilsson play ...

, a top Australian league reliever of the 1990s. Jay's uncle

David Nilsson David Wayne Nilsson (born 14 December 1969) is an Australian retired professional baseball catcher and current manager of the Australia national baseball team and the Brisbane Bandits. He played for Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers ...

was the first Australian All-Star in the major leagues. His other uncles

Gary Nilsson Gary Nilsson (born 28 November 1963 in Brisbane, Australia) is a former Australian baseball player who played as a pitcher for the Lakeland Tigers in 1984 and in the Australian Baseball League from 1989 to 1996. He is the brother of former All-St ...

and Ron Nilsson also played in Australia; Gary spent one year in the minor leagues.

Career

Jay signed with the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

in January 2006. In the 2006

Claxton Shield The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–90 until 2001–02, and again since 2010� ...

competition, he was 6 for 13 with two doubles for the

Queensland Rams Queensland Rams compete in the Claxton Shield Baseball Championship in Australia. The Rams were one of the founding teams of the Claxton Shield in 1934 and competed as ''Queensland'' until 1988. Between 1988 and 1999, the Claxton Shield was awar ...

to win Rookie of the Year honours. He debuted well in the US that summer, hitting .276/.371/.474 for the GCL Indians. He was 6 for 20 with a walk and a double in the 2007 Claxton Shield. With the 2007 GCL Indians, Nilsson did not fare as well, batting .229/.340/.373 with 27 strikeouts in 26 games and was released in late 2007. While playing for the

Redcliffe Padres The Redcliffe Leagues Padres Baseball Club, also known as Peninsula Padres Baseball Club is a baseball club located in Redcliffe, Queensland that participates in the Greater Brisbane League competition and Brisbane North Region competition. As o ...

baseball club as the Major A catcher and he was selected to represent Queensland again for the

Claxton Shield 2008 The 74th Claxton Shield was held from 28 December 2007 to 10 February 2008. The 2008 Shield was conducted on a Home and Away series made up of 2 Divisions; Eastern Division: Australian Provincial, New South Wales Patriots and the Queensland Rams, ...

squad2008 Claxton Shield Squad
/ref> In the Greater Brisbane League 2009–10, Jay lead the league in average, batting .443 helping Redcliffe finish 3rd overall. In 2011, Jay changed clubs in the

Greater Brisbane League The Greater Brisbane League or formerly the Greater Brisbane Baseball Board league (GB3) is the largest baseball league in the Australian state of Queensland and covers all teams from Brisbane North, South, West, Metro as well as three Gold Coas ...

to the

Pine Hills Lightning The Pine Hills Lightning Baseball Club is a baseball club that participates in the Greater Brisbane League competition and Brisbane Metropolitan Region competition. It is the 4th largest baseball club in Australia and second largest after the Re ...

, where his father currently manages. Nilsson was called up to the

Brisbane Bandits The Brisbane Bandits are a professional baseball team in Brisbane, Queensland that plays in the Australian Baseball League and is one of the six founding teams of the league. From the 2010/11 season till the 2012/13 season their home ballpark w ...

after

Xavier Paul Xavier Brooks Paul Jr. (born February 25, 1985) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks. Early li ...

experienced

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

problems and debuted against the

Canberra Cavalry The Canberra Cavalry (nicknamed Cavs) is a professional baseball team from Canberra, ACT, Australia. Established in 2010, the team is a founding member of the Australian Baseball League (ABL). The Cavs home ground is Narrabundah Ballpark, know ...

on 4 November 2011. Jay is currently taking time out from professional baseball to focus on his growing his own business and young family.

References

External links

1987 births Living people Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball players from Brisbane Baseball second basemen Baseball third basemen Brisbane Bandits players Gulf Coast Indians players Redcliffe Padres players Sportsmen from Queensland {{Australia-baseball-bio-stub