Jonathan Jaspe

Jonathan Jesus Jaspe Volcan

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 205 lb.

• Born April 11, 1985 in Caracas Venezuela

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Biographical Information

Jonathan Jaspe has played in the US, Venezuela, Panama and France and been on the Venezuelan national team.

Jaspe made his US debut with the 2005 Pulaski Blue Jays, hitting .299/.346/.431 while throwing out 24% who tried to steal. His 7 errors tied Tom Lagried for the most by an Appalachian League backstop, though he just missed the top ten in average by .004. He was 3 for 5 that winter for the Cardenales de Lara, then 0 for 3 in the postseason. Despite a solid 2005, he returned to Pulaski the next year, putting up better power numbers (.290/.344/.487, 22 2B, 7 HR, 48 RBI in 60 G) and gunning down 38%. He was 6th in slugging, led catchers with eight double plays, led the loop in doubles (two ahead of Ronald Ramirez), tied for 9th in home runs, led in extra-base hits (31), was second in RBI (four behind Jerad Head) and was second with 116 total bases (one behind Larry Williams). He did not make the All-Star team as Nevin Ashley was picked as the top catcher.

Moving up to the Lansing Lugnuts in 2007, he hit .281/.368/.388 with 23 doubles, 52 runs and 52 RBI in 95 games, fielding .992 and throwing out 45%. He tied Eddy Rodriguez for the best caught-stealing rate in the Midwest League. He was 0 for 1 for Lara in 2007-2008. With the '08 Lugnuts, he batted .290/.340/.420 and threw out 44%, losing his starting job to Matt Liuzza. In the winter, he was 1 for 4 with a walk, run and RBI.

Jaspe and Liuzza were the main catchers for the 2009 Dunedin Blue Jays; Jonathan had a .271/.319/.416 batting line and a 38% caught-stealing rate. He backed up José Yépez for Lara that winter, hitting .200/.259/.240 in 23 games. In 2010, he batted .238/.285/.354 for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, catching 44% of base-thieves as the main back-up to Brian Jeroloman. Again backing up Yépez with the 2010-2011 Cardenales, he hit .244/.295/.463 in 19 games. Out of the Jays chain, he played in 2011 for the independent Yuma Scorpions (.327/.372/.440 in 49 G) and the Kansas City T-Bones (.296/.324/.396 in 20 G). He played in Panama in 2012.

He was with Venezuela for the 2015 Premier 12 but did not get into a game as Juan Apodaca and Yépez did the catching. He signed with France's Rouen Huskies for 2016. In the 2016 CEB Cup, he was 7 for 14 with two walks, two doubles, two runs and five RBI in four games, handling 27 chances error-free. He was 5th in the event in average (between Larry Infante and Eric Herman), tied Mathieu Lapinski for 5th in OBP, 5th in slugging (between Clement Epichon and Roman Boiko) and tied for 6th in RBI. When Rouen won the 2016 French Division I, he hit .277/.319/.394 with 16 runs and 16 RBI in 17 games, fielding .994.

In the 2017 European Champions Cup, he was 7 for 12 with two walks, four runs and two RBI in four games. He tied Alex Sambucci for second in average (.032 behind Paolino Ambrosino), tied Maik Ehmcke for 3rd in OBP and tied for 3rd in hits. He was a huge part of Rouen's title run this time, with a batting line of .429/.483/.676 with 26 runs and 28 RBI in 27 games. He tied Felix Brown for second in average (.006 behind Jacques Boucheron), was second in slugging (.018 behind Boucheron), ranked 7th in OBP (between Pierrick Lemestre and Leonel Cespedes), tied Dylan Gleeson and Alexander Perdomo for 8th in runs, tied Brown for second in hits (45, 4 behind Kyosuke Yamada), was 4th in RBI, tied for 3rd with 11 doubles, led with five homers (two ahead of Maxime Lefevre), led with 71 total bases (one ahead of Brown) and led in putouts and double plays (playing 1B primarily).

He was back playing in France in 2021, with the Montigny Cougars, batting .289/.438/.316 with 12 runs in 12 games. He coached for the French national team in the 2021 European Championship.