Jay González

Jay Jordan González

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 9", Weight 170 lb.
• School Mount Olive College, Auburn University
• High School Freedom High School

• Born December 11, 1991 in San Diego, CA USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Jay González has played as high as AA and has been on the Puerto Rican national team several times, winning a Gold Medal in the Pan American Games. He led the Orioles farm system in steals three years in a row.

González set his high school's records for steals (27) and runs (38) in a season, hitting .410 for the school career mark. The Boston Red Sox took him in the 27th round of the 2010 amateur draft, one round after Dillon Overton. He did not sign and opted for college. He hit .171/.310/.171 as a freshman, mostly being a defensive sub. His sophomore year, he batted .308/.402/.412 with 48 runs in 59 games. He suspended by the university for 2013.

Despite not playing in '13, the Texas Rangers took him in the 39th round of the 2013 amateur draft, one round after Sheldon Neuse. Transferring to Mount Olive, he hit .425/.500/.537 with 81 runs and 51 steals (in 56 tries) over 53 games. He led Conference Carolinas in average, runs (2nd in NCAA Division II and steals (2nd in NCAA Division II). The Baltimore Orioles took him in the 14th round of the 2014 amateur draft, one round before John Means. The scout was Rich Morales.

He made his pro debut with the Aberdeen Ironbirds, handling 101 putouts and 7 assists with no errors in center field while hitting .259/.339/.301. He split 2015 between the Delmarva Shorebirds (.294/.426/.366, 54 R, 24 SB, 7 CS, 61 BB in 72 G) and Frederick Keys (.234/.318/.273 in 61 G). For the year, he had 72 runs, 8 triples, 34 steals in 48 tries and 87 walks. Despite only playing half a season, he was 6th in the South Atlantic League in walks (between Chase Simpson and Jordan Luplow). He was 3rd in the O's chain in runs (behind Trey Mancini and Quincy Latimore), 1st in triples, 1st in steals (4 ahead of Josh Hart) and 1st in walks (a whopping 38 ahead of Christian Walker and Conor Bierfeldt).

He then played for Puerto Rico in the 2015 Premier 12. He hit .250/.471/.333 with 5 walks and 2 steals in 4 games, while registering two outfield assists. He doubled off Trey Nielsen in his first at-bat for Puerto Rico. He tied for 8th in the event in walks and tied for 4th in steals, one behind co-leaders Juan Silva, Yadir Drake and Randolph Oduber.

In 2016, he was with Frederick (.253/.354/.339, 41 SB, 8 CS in 85 G) and the Bowie Baysox (.246/.343/.246 in 19 G). He was 7th in the Orioles chain with 55 walks and again led in steals (13 ahead of Cedric Mullins and Julio Borbon). He also led the Carolina League in swipes, 3 ahead of Greg Allen and Jeffrey Baez. He split 2017 between the same two teams. He hit .265/.367/.335 in 51 games for the Keys and .284/.396/.381 in 44 for Bowie, with a total of 31 steals in 40 tries, 57 walks in 95 games and 5 triples. The speedster drew the 3rd-most walks in the system, after DJ Stewart and Chris Clare, tied for 3rd in triples and once more led in swipes, two ahead of Kirvin Moesquit. The Reno Aces took him in the AAA portion of the 2017 Rule V Draft.

González made his Puerto Rican League debut, hitting .286/.384/.302 for the 2017-2018 Indios de Mayagüez. He played two games in the 2018 Caribbean Series, going 0 for 4 with a walk and a steal. In the summer, he hit .287/.360/.343 in 55 games for the Jackson Generals and .350/.409/.350 in 5 games for the AZL Diamondbacks. He split the winter between the Cañeros de Los Mochis (.246/.283/.278 in 34 G) and the Indios (.348/.434/.457, 22 R in 24 G), the Puerto Rican League season shortened by Hurricane Maria. He was 3rd in the league in average (after Kennys Vargas and Jack López), was 2nd in OBP (.081 behind Vargas), 4th in slugging (between Henry Ramos and A.J. Jimenez), 3rd in OPS (after Vargas and López), tied López for the most runs and tied Alexis Pantoja for 5th in steals (5).

He signed with the independent New Jersey Jackals for 2019 and produced at a .310/.406/.388 clip with 41 walks and 52 runs in 63 games. He was 10th in the final Canadian-American Association season in average and possibly 5th in OBP. He took time off to play for Puerto Rico in the 2019 Pan American Games. He hit .286/.375/.381 and handled 17 putouts and 3 assists in center without making an error. He was 1 for 4 in the Gold Medal Game win over defending champion Canada. He led the event's center fielders in fielding. In the 2019 Premier 12, Daniel Ortiz got two of the starts in center; Jay got one start, when Daniel played LF against Japan. In a game in which his team was held to four hits and no runs, he grounded out and walked against Rei Takahashi and struck out against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.