Jim Foster (minors03)

James Thomas Foster

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 220 lb.
• School Providence College

• Born August 18, 1971 in Warwick, RI USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Jim Foster spent four seasons at AAA but never made the major leagues. He then became a college coach.

Foster hit .321 with 7 homers and 49 RBI in 184 AB for Providence as a junior in 1992 and .386 with 7 home runs as a senior. He finished 5th in the Big East Conference in average that season, just ahead of teammate and fellow senior Lou Merloni. He made All-Big East as a utility man. The Baltimore Orioles took Foster in the 22nd round of the 1992 amateur draft.

Jim had a fine professional debut with the 1993 Bluefield Orioles, hitting .326/.435/.569 with 10 home runs and 59 runs scored in 61 games. He was 4th in the Appalachian League in batting average and led the loop with 21 doubles. He was 5 runs behind teammate and league leader Bryan Link and .007 behind OBP leader Myles Barnden. He was .007 behind slugging leader Sean Wooten. He failed to make the Appy League All-Star team as Cesar Diaz was chosen as the catcher.

In '94, Foster hit .266/.360/.406 for the Albany Polecats, smacking 29 doubles. He produced at a .261/.347/.380 rate for the 1995 Frederick Keys He returned to the Keys in 1996 and hit .252/.349/.414 but only threw out 28% of opposing base-stealers, giving up 108 swipes. He also made his AA debut with the Bowie Baysox and fared well with a batting line of .303/.415/.545 in 9 games. He led the Carolina League in double plays (8) and fielding percentage (.999) by a catcher.

Foster split 1997 between Frederick (.350/.478/.660, 65 RBI in 61 G), Bowie (.275/.380/.431 in 63 G) and the Rochester Red Wings (5 for 9, 3 BB, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI) for an impressive cumulative line of .317/.435/.548 with 23 home runs, 88 runs, 110 RBI and 84 walks while only striking out 59 times. He led all Orioles farmhands in RBI and was two homers behind leader Calvin Pickering.

After his superb 1997, Jim was back to Earth in 1998 when he hit .240/.346/.385 in 66 games for Bowie and .235/.322/.392 for Rochester. In 1999, he batted .258/.316/.363 between four minor league clubs in three different organizations.

Foster ended his playing career in 2000 with the Chicago White Sox system, hitting .270/.341/.355 in 49 games for the Charlotte Knights and .257/.278/.286 in 10 for the Birmingham Barons.

Big Jim was an assistant at Brown University in 2001-2002. He was then assistant coach at the University of Rhode Island. In 2006, he became head coach at Rhode Island. He set a school record for wins with 37 in '09. He stayed at Rhode Island through 2014, then became pitching coach at Boston College in 2015-2016. Foster was named head coach at United States Military Academy for 2017. He went 162-140 through 2022, winning Patriot League Coach of the Year his last year there then was picked as head coach of Northwestern University. However, his stay there was very short, an in July of 2023, he was fired following allegations of bullying and abusive behavior on his part, allegations that had been uncovered in a probe led by the Chicago Tribune.

Foster was also a minor league coach for the Palm Beach Cardinals in 2016.

Sources

• Assorted Baseball Almanacs
• Rhode Island bio

Further Reading

• Jason Owens: "Northwestern fires baseball coach Jim Foster after probe reportedly finds 'bullying and abusive behavior'", Yahoo! Sports, July 13, 2023. [1]