John Bormann

John William Bormann

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 205 lb.
• School University of Texas at San Antonio
• High School Navarro High School
• Debut April 30, 2017
• Final Game April 30, 2017

• Born April 4, 1993 in Danville, VA USA

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Biographical Information

Catcher John Bormann made one skinny big league appearance, coming up straight from Class A in 2017.

He hit .407 in high school, winning team MVP all four years. He also threw for over 1,700 yards as the school's quarterback in football and made 140 tackles at safety. He hit .211/.250/.276 as a college freshman at the UTSA, then .286/.349/.355 as a sophomore, fielding .996 and picking off 14 runners, leading NCAA Division I entering the postseason. In his junior year, he produced at a .288/.341/.404 clip and led Conference USA with 13 pick-offs. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 19th round in 2014 but did not sign. His senior year, he hit .273/.384/.398 and scored 44 runs in 58 games and was named All-WAC. He was a 24th-round selection by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2015 amateur draft; Tyler Stohr was the scout. He began his career with the Bristol Pirates of the Appalachian League, hitting .235/.286/.286 with no homers and 11 RBI in 25 games in 2015. In 2016, he played 52 games with the West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League, hitting .243/.286/.339 with 2 homers and 20 RBI. He was assigned to the Bradenton Marauders of the FSL to begin 2017.

On April 30, 2017, he got an unexpected call to drive across the state of Florida and join the big league Pirates who were playing the Miami Marlins that afternoon. Regular catcher Francisco Cervelli was unavailable because of a sore foot shortly before game time, and the team needed an emergency backup. The top four catchers on the minor league depth chart were all in Pennsylvania and couldn't make it in time (Elias Díaz, Jacob Stallings, Tomas Morales and Zane Chavez). Daniel Ortiz, fresh off his major league debut, was sent down to make room. Backing up Chris Stewart, he made his debut that day, pinch-hitting for Josh Harrison and striking out against Jarlin Garcia in the 9th inning of a 10-3 loss. After the game, he was sent back down as Díaz was called up. Bormann has hung around the Pirates chain since as organizational depth.

Sources

• UTSA bio
• The Baseball Cube
• 2017 Pirates Media Guide
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Related Sites

• John Bormann on mlb.com