Ryan Wayne Jorgensen (born May 4, 1979 in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

) is a 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), ...

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 ...

. He attended

Kingwood High School Kingwood High School is a Humble Independent School District secondary school located in the Kingwood community of Houston, Texas, United States and serves Portions of Kingwood and Atascocita. Ted Landry had been principal since May 29, 2011 unti ...

and

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. Jorgensen was originally drafted by the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home venu ...

in the

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

two times, but did not sign either time. In , he was drafted in the 29th round (894th overall) and in , he was drafted in the 24th round (732nd overall). In , he was drafted by the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

in the seventh round (193rd overall), and this time he did sign a contract. On March 27, , Jorgensen was traded to the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

along with

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 ...

Julián Tavárez Julián Tavárez Carmen (born May 22, 1973) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played for 11 franchises over the course of a 17–season Major League Baseball (MLB) career from 1993 to 2009. Listed at and , he threw right-h ...

, José Cueto, and

Dontrelle Willis Dontrelle Wayne Willis (born January 12, 1982), nicknamed "The D-Train", is an American former left-handed professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinn ...

for pitchers

Antonio Alfonseca Antonio Alfonseca (; ; born April 16, 1972) is a Dominican former relief pitcher. He last pitched in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies in . Alfonseca also played for the Florida Marlins (–, ), the Chicago Cubs (–), the Atla ...

and

Matt Clement Matthew Paul Clement (born August 12, 1974) is a former Major League Baseball starting pitcher. Clement played for the San Diego Padres (–), Florida Marlins (), Chicago Cubs (–) and Boston Red Sox (–). While on the Red Sox active roster, he ...

. He would spend the next four years in the Marlins organization. Jorgensen made his major league debut on August 8, against the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

, and played in both games of a doubleheader. He made his first major league start in the second game and went 0-for-3 with two

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. He would appear in four games and had just four hitless

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s for the Marlins in 2005. Jorgensen was traded to 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 ...

for second baseman Carlos Piste on March 28, 2006. He played for the

Louisville Bats The Louisville Bats are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and are named in dual reference to the bat, win ...

, the Reds' Triple-A affiliate, for the entire 2006 season, batting .213 with eight home runs and 30 RBI in 74 games. In , Jorgensen began the season for the Bats again. When David Ross went down with an injury, Jorgensen had his contract purchased by the big league club on August 14, . On August 15, 2007, in a start for the Reds, Jorgensen recorded his first big league

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, in his first at-bat for the Reds off Chicago Cubs pitcher

Ted Lilly Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III (born January 4, 1976) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Lilly attended Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, California, and Fresno City College. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Mont ...

. Despite only appearing in four games with the Reds, he hit two home runs and drove in six runs while batting .200 (3-for-15). On September 7, 2007, Jorgensen was suspended for 50 games for a violation of MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. On October 19, 2007, Jorgensen was outrighted to the minor leagues. He refused the assignment and became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. On December 13, 2007, Jorgensen was one of many MLB players named in the

Mitchell Report The ''Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball'', informally known as the Mitchell Report, is the res ...

. Jorgensen signed a minor league contract with the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

for the season and was assigned to Triple-A

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, where he began play at the conclusion of his suspension. He was called up to the majors after the September 1 roster expansions. Jorgensen appeared in two games with the Twins as a defensive replacement, going 0-for-1. On November 19, 2008, Jorgensen signed with the Cincinnati Reds. However, he announced his retirement before the start of spring training.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Ryan 1979 births Living people Albuquerque Isotopes players American sportspeople in doping cases Baseball players suspended for drug offenses Florida Marlins players Cincinnati Reds players Minnesota Twins players Louisville Bats players Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from Jacksonville, Florida San Jacinto Central Ravens baseball players Eugene Emeralds players Daytona Cubs players West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players Jupiter Hammerheads players Portland Sea Dogs players Carolina Mudcats players Rochester Red Wings players LSU Tigers baseball players