Joe Thurston

Joseph William Thurston

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.
• School: Sacramento City College
• High School Fairfield (CA) High School
• Debut September 2, 2002
• Last Game August 5, 2011
• Born September 29, 1979 in Fairfield, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Joe Thurston was a 4th round selection for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1999 Amateur Draft. Primarily a second basemen, Thurston played 184 games over seven major league seasons with five different clubs. He ended his time in the majors batting at a .226 clip. The only full season he spent in the bigs was with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2009. Thurston had a long career at the minor league level, tallying 1,965 hits and a .292 average over 15 seasons. He also performed well at the 2011 Baseball World Cup, hitting .439 for Team USA and making the All-Star Team.

Following his retirement from playing after the 2014 season Thurston joined the Portland Sea Dogs staff in 2015 as a coach. He was then a coach for the Billings Mustangs in 2016. Thurston moved to the Seattle Mariners' chain with the Modesto Nuts in 2017-2018 and Everett AquaSox in 2019. He was scheduled to be hitting coach of the Arkansas Travelers in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to Covid-19 then did coach Arkansas in 2021. Thurston moved to the Philadelphia Phillies' organization as hitting coach of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in 2022-2024.