Jay Yennaco

Jay Robert Yennaco

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 220 lb.
• School Pinkerton Academy

• Born November 17, 1975 in Lawrence, MA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jay Yennaco pitched in the minor leagues from 1996 to 2004 after being selected in the 3rd round of the 1995 amateur draft by the Boston Red Sox out of a private high school in New Hampshire. He began his career in 1996 with the Michigan Battle Cats of the Midwest League, going 10-10, 4.61 in 28 games as a starter. By the end of 1997, he had made it to AA with the Trenton Thunder of the Eastern League after starting the season with the Sarasota Red Sox in the Florida State League. His combined stat line that year was 9-11, 5.24 in another 28 starts. He continued his rapid rise in 1998, when he started with Trenton, then was promoted to the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox after going 3-3, 5.03 in 9 starts in AA. He was 3-2, 5.82 with Pawtucket when on July 30th, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays along with P Peter Munro in return for veteran C-1B Mike Stanley. He stayed in the International League after the trade, moving to the Syracuse SkyChiefs, where he was 0-3, 5.35 in 7 games. Combined, his record that year was 6-8, 5.36 in 27 games.

In his first three seasons, Jay had shown some durability, but not much dominance. It was more of the same in 1999, when he appeared with three teams in the Toronto system, going 2-6, 6.86 with Syracuse and 3-4, 6.60 with the Knoxville Smokies of the AA Southern League. He pitched much better with the Dunedin Blue Jays, back in the FSL, going 2-0, 0.82 in 3 games, but then again as a veteran of AAA he should have been dominating Class-A hitters. In any case the Blue Jays gave up on him and in 2000, he found himself in the Chicago Cubs system, with the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx in the Southern League, where he was 5-4, 2.67 in 60 games as a reliever, picking up 10 saves. That could have re-launched his career, but he did not pitch at all in 2001 and in 2002 had to start all over again in the independent leagues. He impressed with the Nashua Pride of the Atlantic League, going 6-4, 3.44 in 37 games as a swingman, earning another look with the Red Sox. They sent him to Sarasota, where he was 0-1, 11.25 in 4 games. Next to give him a look were the St. Louis Cardinals, who put him in AAA with the Memphis Redbirds in 2004, but, like in the old days, he was again hit hard as a started, going 0-3, 6.62 in 8 games to be handed his release once again. He tried to return to Nashua, but this time he couldn't get it done anymore, allowing 28 runs in 9 2/3 innings for a 25,14 ERA that brought his career to an end.

After his retirement, he returned to New Hampshire where he was a business owner and also coached youth baseball.