Jason Malec

Jason Malec

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 175 lb.
• School Hibbing Community College, University of Minnesota Duluth
• High School Proctor (MN) High School

• Born February 16, 1962 in Duluth, MN USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jason Malec graduated from Proctor High School in 1980. He played baseball, football, and ice hockey for the Rails. He had a breakout senior year as a pitcher on the Proctor baseball team after just one inning pitched as a junior: He posted a 5-1 win-loss record with a 1.71 ERA and had 41 strikeouts in 28.2 innings pitched.

Malec then attended Hibbing Community College in Hibbing, MN for the 1980-81 school year, and he played baseball and football for the Cardinals. His pitching record for HCC was 1-8, but he had a 2.78 ERA. He tossed a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts against Vermilion Community College for his lone victory. He had 16 strikeouts in a loss to Vermilion that season as well. His .375 batting average led the Northeast Division.

Malec transferred to the University of Minnesota Duluth and pitched for the Bulldogs for three seasons, 1982-84. He was a two-time All-Conference player (1983 and '84) and earned the team's MVP Award in his senior year when he posted a 6-1 W-L record with a conference-leading 1.12 ERA. He had four shutouts for UMD in 1984 and his career ERA of 1.39 is still the program's record through 2022.

He attended a Minnesota Twins open tryout at the Metrodome on June 26, 1984, which was administered by farm system director, George Brophy, and his assistant, Jim Rantz. The Twins invited 90 of the 293 aspirants to the next day's trial, and then signed two: Tom Jaremko, a Minneapolitan who played for the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and Malec, whose fastball reached 86 miles per hour.

Malec made 12 relief appearances for the Appalachian League champion Elizabethton Twins in 1984. He was 2-0 with a 3.42 ERA and one save over 23 2/3 innings pitched for the Fred Waters-managed Rookie League club. Elizabethton featured Gene Larkin at first base and Jay Bell at shortstop in 1984. Other players in the Appalachian League that season included Shawn Abner, Jeff Blauser, Jeff Fassero, Mike Fitzgerald, Greg Maddux, Greg Mathews, Heathcliff Slocumb, Dwight Smith, and Jeff Tackett.

The Twins assigned Malec to the Kenosha Twins, their Class A team in the Midwest League in 1985. Playing for manager Duffy Dyer, Malec again was 2-0 in 12 appearances, with a 2.41 ERA. He gained his second win of the season in his lone professional start, a 1-0 victory against the Clinton Giants on May 15, 1985. Malec had allowed four hits and three walks with four strikeouts over seven and two-thirds innings but reliever Steve Gomez got the last out for the save after Malec surrendered a two-out single to Jim Spring.

But then an arm injury sidelined him until July. He returned to Elizabethton in August and made four appearances but allowed five runs in seven and one-third innings.

The Twins released Malec from their training camp in Melbourne, FL on March 26, 1986. He returned to Proctor, where he played amateur baseball for his hometown Proctor Padres for many years. His son, Jake Malec, a 2016 Proctor graduate, played baseball for North Dakota State University from 2017-21, and has played for the Great Falls Voyagers since 2021.

Related Sites

• The Sporting News Baseball Player Contract Card page
• UMD Career Records page