Jamal Austin

Jamal Kamari Austin

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 170 lb.
• School University of Alabama-Birmingham
• High School Harrison High School
• Born August 26, 1990 in Atlanta, GA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Jamal Austin has played in the Seattle Mariners minor league system since 2011 (through 2014). He has led his league in runs.

Amateur Career

Austin was All-State in high school in 2008. He was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in the 50th round of the 2008 amateur draft, but did not sign, opting for college. As a freshman at UAB, he hit .297/.335/.368 and stole 20 bases in 23 tries, scoring 40 runs in 51 games. The fleet outfielder tied for 5th in Conference USA in steals. As a sophomore, he batted .364/.405/.583 with 41 runs and 28 swipes (caught just 5 times) in 48 games. He only struck out in 15 of 209 at-bats. He led Conference USA in steals by seven. He was 57th in NCAA Division I in hardest-to-fan and tied for 47th in stolen bases.

His junior year, Jamal kept it up: .351/.405/.404, 38 R, 26 SB, 6 CS in 54 G. He was second in the conference in steals and made the top 5 in average. He also fielded .987, making only two errors. Nationally, he tied for 38th in swipes. He joined Marc Bourgeois and Tyler Koelling as the All-Conference outfielders. He did sign after being taken in the 13th round of the 2011 amateur draft by the Mariners. The scout was Devitt Moore.

Minors

With the Pulaski Mariners in 2011, he hit .335/.405/.383 with 20 stolen bases in 28 tries and 35 runs scored in 55 games. He tied for 4th in the Appalachian League in steals, was 6th in batting average (between Chase Davidson and Joel Caminero) and was 8th in OBP (between J.D. Williams and Eddie Rosario). He joined Rosario and Kevin Pillar as the league's All-Star outfielders.

In 2012, he hit .283/.326/.341 with 36 steals in 48 attempts and 72 runs scored in 110 games for the Clinton LumberKings. He set a LumberKings record with nine hits in nine at-bats and also led Midwest League players with a streak of 37 games in which he reached base. He tied Pin-Chieh Chen for 5th in the MWL in swipes and tied Shane Opitz and Zeke DeVoss for 5th with 10 sacrifice hits. He stole the most bases of a Mariners farmhand, six ahead of Jamodrick McGruder.

In 2013, he hit .288/.346/.356 with 40 steals in 53 tries, 107 runs scored and 10 triples in 126 games for the High Desert Mavericks. He again had the longest streak of games reaching base in his league, his 38 contests topping the California League. He finished among the Cal League leaders in steals (5th, between Jace Peterson and Noel Cuevas), runs (1st, 5 ahead of runner-up Andrew Aplin) and triples (tied for 6th). In the Seattle system, he was second in runs (one behind Chris Taylor), tied James Jones for second in triples (one shy of Taylor) and led in steals (two ahead of Taylor). Only three minor leaguers scored more runs that year: Marcus Semien (110), Byron Buxton (109) and Taylor.

He began 2014 with the Double-A Jackson Generals.

Sources

• 2014 Mariners Media Guide
• UAB bio
• The Baseball Cube