Jimmy Goethals

James Michael Goethals

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 195 lb.
• School Menlo College
• High School St. Ignatius College Preparatory

• Born July 12, 1982 in San Mateo, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Cather Jimmy Goethals went undrafted out of college, but played six seasons in the minor leagues after being signed by the Houston Astros before the 2005 season. He spent that year with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the New York-Penn League, where he hit .200 in 21 games. Never considered a prospect, he settled into the role of back-up catcher over the next three years, playing wherever his services were needed in the Astros' system, and appearing with two teams each of these seasons. In 2006. he was with the Greeneville Astros of the Appalachian League as well as Tri-City, then in 2007, he played for the Lexington Legends of the South Atlantic League and Corpus Christi Hooks of the AA Southern League, and in 2008 with Corpus Christi and the Salem Avalanche of the Carolina League. He not only moved from team to team, but also from level to level with no particular logic - except organizational needs. He never appeared in more than 31 games in any of these seasons, and twice batted .167 and .086 in the middle season, making it clear that he was there for his glove, not his bat.

He moved to the independent leagues in 2009 and 2010 and had two more stable seasons with the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League, playing 40 and 57 games respectively and hitting .176 and .274, going out on a high note with what was by a long shot his best season as a professional. He showed a bit of power, hitting 7 homers over his last two years, and driving in 34 runs the second.

For all his defensive work, he made the news precisely one time, and it was for non baseball reasons. On August 30, 2008, he was celebrating the end of the season with salem when he and two teammates were arrested for participating in a brawl in a restaurant. The charges were soon dropped, and the whole matter would have gone completely unnoticed by anyone not following the local police blotter if one of the two teammates had not been Koby Clemens, son of Roger Clemens, who was having his own legal issues over the use of PEDs at the time (the other teammate was Mark Ori). He was apparently the most involved of the trio, as his two teammates were charged with disorderly conduct, while in his case it was battery and assault, and this may have contributed to bringing his career in affiliated baseball to an end, although it was not going anywhere before the incident either.

Aftert his playing career, he became a coach for his alma mater, Menlo College, while residing in San Mateo, CA.