Jim Kavourias

James Kavourias

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 230 lb.

• School University of Tampa

• Born October 4, 1979 in Strongsville, OH USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jim Kavourias twice hit 20 homers in a minor league season and also played in the Olympics.

Kavourias hit .360 with 23 homers and 90 RBI as a college junior. Baseball America and the American Baseball Coaches Association named him a NCAA Division II All-American outfielder. The Florida Marlins took him in the 5th round of the 2000 amateur draft and assigned him to the Utica Blue Sox, for whom he batted a solid .320/.433/.520 in 15 games.

In 2001, Jim moved up to the Kane County Cougars and hit .261/.340/.493 with 30 doubles, 23 homers, 11 steals in 14 tries, 77 runs and 88 RBI. He hit the most homers on a club whose regulars included Miguel Cabrera, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Willingham, almost outhomering Cabrera and Gonzalez combined. The team won the Midwest League title and Kavourias was named the All-Star designated hitter (along with Samone Peters).

Kavourias struggled with the '02 Jupiter Hammerheads, producing at just a .214/.313/.338 clip with only 6 home runs. Sent back to Jupiter in 2003, Jim improved his batting line to .247/.307/.455, hit 20 home runs and stole 10 bases in 11 tries. He also had 12 outfield assists and only two errors. He was just 3 homers behind Florida State League leader Ryan Howard.

The Ohio native bounced around in 2004 due to injuries, playing for the GCL Marlins (2 for 10, 5 BB, HR), Jupiter (.153/.223/.252 in 30 G) and the Carolina Mudcats (6 for 54, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 26 K in his only taste of AA).

Kavourias also played for the Greek national team in the 2004 Olympics. He hit .313/.389/.563 as a LF-DH for Greece and was second on the host nation in OPS, 4 points behind Nick Markakis. He was a triple shy of a cycle, scored 2 and drove in 3 in a 11-6 loss to Australia.

Jim ended his pro career in 2005 with the independent Joliet Jackhammers, hitting .231/.302/.397 in 41 games. He hit .323/.423/.571 for Greece in the 2005 European Championship, leading the team in slugging and also going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA. He got the team's lone homer of the tournament, off Russia's Vladimir Petrov. His win was a complete game duel with Anatoliy Korolev of Ukraine, 3-2 (6 H, 7 K, 2 BB, 3 HB).