D.J. Boston

Donald J. Boston

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 7", Weight 230 lb.
• School San Jacinto Junior College
• High School Woodward High School (Cincinnati)

• Born September 6, 1971 in Cincinnati, OH USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

The brother of Daryl Boston, D.J. Boston began his career in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system in 1991. He hit .280 for the Medicine Hat Blue Jays and led the team with 12 doubles as their man first baseman. A year later he was promoted to the New York-Penn League, where he slipped to .234, but led the St. Catharines Blue Jays in walks (36) and RBI (36). He stole 20 bases in 23 tries and his 5 home runs were second on the club.

In 1993 Boston played in a full-season league for the first time. For the Hagerstown Suns Boston hit .315, stole 31 bases in 42 tries, drove 35 doubles, homered 13 times and drove in 93, not bad for a 21-year old in full-season class A. He was fourth in the league in batting average, was named the All-Star 1B in the South Atlantic League and won the league's MVP award. Baseball America rated him the #5 prospect in the league (one spot ahead of Jason Kendall). In '94, Boston found his way to the low-offense Florida State League. For Dunedin, he hit .289, tied for 8th in the league, with 55 walks, 19 steals and 7 homers.

Boston went to AA in 1995 - the 23-year old first sacker did not perform well for the Knoxville Smokies of the Southern League - he hit .244 with 47 walks, 100 strikeouts, 11 homers and was caught stealing 8 times in 20 attempts.

Boston began the 1996 season with the Syracuse Chiefs, the Jays' AAA club. In 28 games, Boston hit .247 with an OBP around .350 and a slugging of .471. With Chris Weinke moving up in the system, Boston was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates as the player to be named later in the Jacob Brumfield trade. Prospect Rich Aude was the Bucs' AAA 1B so Boston was sent back to AA, where he did well with the Carolina Mudcats, hitting .280/~.376/.430, but he had lost his speed by now and was getting old for his level.

1997 saw Boston bounce around between A, AA and AAA and he played in the farm systems of both the Oakland A's and Colorado Rockies. He spent yet another season putting up solid numbers at Double-A, but he was now practically a non-prospect.

In 1998, Boston joined the independent Atlantic League - he played for the Nashua Pride through 2003 and for the Bridgeport Bluefish in 2004 and 2005 - he also played part of 2001 in the Mexican League. He made the Atlantic League All-Star team in 2000, 2003 and 2005. In 2000, he had his best season in the Atlantic, homering 26 times and finishing third in the league with 106 RBI.

Boston was the hitting coach for the Greeneville Astros in 2008 and the GCL Astros in 2009-2010. He moved organizations to the Danville Braves in 2011. In 2012, he was hitting coach of the GCL Braves.

Sources: 1992 through 1998 Baseball America Almanacs, Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, assorted websites associated with the Atlantic League

Notable Achievements

• 1993 MVP South Atlantic League Hagerstown Suns