Jason Jaramillo

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Jason Cory Jaramillo

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Biographical Information[edit]

Jason Jaramillo played his 4th season in the minors in 2007 then was added to the 40-man roster of the Philadelphia Phillies. He made his major league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2009. He is the brother of former minor leaguers Lee Jaramillo and Frankie Jaramillo.

Jaramillo hit .416 as a high school junior. He was picked in the 39th round of the 2001 amateur draft by the Phillies though it was known he was heading to college ball at Oklahoma State University. Baseball America had rated him as the top high school prospect in Wisconsin.

Jaramillo batted .327 as a college freshman. He was with the St. Cloud River Bats in the summer; Baseball America rated him as the #6 prospect in the Northwoods League and he made the league All-Star team at catcher. In 2003, the sophomore hit .385 and slugged .606. He was the All-Big 12 Conference catcher and was 5th in the Conference in average. He only hit .210 for the Orleans Cardinals that summer. As a junior, Jaramillo hit .350 and was again the All-Conference catcher.

The Phillies took Jaramillo again with the 62nd pick of the 2004 amateur draft; he was their second selection after Greg Golson and was taken five spots ahead of Kurt Suzuki. Jaramillo was signed by scout Paul Scott for a $600,000 bonus.

He debuted professionally with the Batavia Muckdogs (.232/.304/.307) and GCL Phillies (2 for 3). Jason improved in his next season, hitting .304/.368/.438 for the Lakewood Blue Claws, .360 against left-handers. He was 10th in the South Atlantic League in catchers. He led the SAL with 20 errors but Baseball America still rated him as the best defensive catcher in the circuit. Neil Walker beat him out for All-Star honors.

In 2006, Jaramillo hit .248/.320/.388 for the Reading Phillies and was 1 for 6 for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. Moving up to the Ottawa Lynx in 2007, Jason produced at a .271/.350/.361 clip in his first full year at AAA.

Jaramillo joined Team USA that winter. He hit .316/.381/.368 in the 2007 Baseball World Cup while splitting catching duties with Bryan Anderson. He was 2 for 4 with a double and a RBI in the Gold Medal game as the US won its first Baseball World Cup in over 30 years. His second-inning single against Cuban hurler Yadel Martí drove in Delwyn Young with the winner.

Jaramillo hit .266/.340/.371 in 2008 for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. He was then traded on December 10th to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ronny Paulino. Jaramillo beat out Robinzon Diaz for the backup catcher role on the Pirates in 2009, behind Ryan Doumit. His major league debut got pushed back due to a rainout when he was first slated to play. He finally got into a game on April 16th against the Houston Astros. He hit 8th and grounded out to Jeff Keppinger in his first at-bat, against Russ Ortiz. His next time up, he singled to right field.

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