Jon Singleton

Jonathan Lee Singleton

Bats Left, Throws Left
Height 6' 2", Weight 235 lb.
High School Robert A. Millikan High School
Debut June 3, 2014

Born September 18, 1991 in Harbor City, CA USA

Biographical Information[edit]

Jon Singleton entered 2012 as Houston's top prospect but was unable to translate his minor league success at the major league level.

Singleton was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 8th round of the 2009 amateur draft; the scout was Demerius Pittman. Singleton debuted with the GCL Phillies and hit .290/.395/.440 in 31 games that summer. Baseball America rated him as the 7th-best prospect in the Gulf Coast League, between Adrian Salcedo and Destin Hood. In his first full season, Jonathan did a fine job with the 2010 Lakewood Blue Claws. At age 18, he batted .290/.393/.478 with 25 doubles, 14 home runs and 77 RBI. He tied Brian Conley for third in the South Atlantic League in OBP (behind J.D. Martinez and Jared Clark), was 4th in slugging (behind Martinez, Clark and Nolan Arenado), ranked 10th in RBI and led first baseman in fielding percentage (.995). Baseball America ranked him as the SAL's top prospect (followed by Arenado and Tyler Matzek) and Most Exciting Player and Philadelphia's second-best prospect.

The Californian began 2011 with the Clearwater Threshers and was at .284/.387/.413 with 56 walks after 93 games. He was then dealt with fellow prospect Jarred Cosart, Josh Zeid and a player to be named later (Domingo Santana) to the Houston Astros in exchange for Hunter Pence. Assigned to the Lancaster JetHawks, he produced at a .333/.405/.512 clip after the deal while being used in the outfield in addition to his regular first base spot. He finished the season with 70 walks and a .392 OBP overall. Baseball America listed him as the #5 prospect in the California League (between Zack Wheeler and Arenado), #7 in the Florida State League (between Carlos Martinez and Matt Szczur) and #1 in the Houston organization.

Singleton opened 2012 with the Corpus Christi Hooks; after 87 games, he was hitting .276/.398/.493 with 13 home runs, 61 runs and 61 walks. He put on a fine show for the US in their 17-5 win in the 2012 Futures Game. He hit 5th for the USA and started the game at first base. He had their first hit, a single off Jose Fernandez in the second inning. He drew a Felipe Rivero walk to open the 4th and scored on a double by Tommy Joseph to make it 5-4, giving the US its first lead (one they would not relinquish). An inning later, he singled against Enny Romero. In the 6th, against Ariel Pena, he singled home Mike Olt and scored on a homer by Nick Castellanos. He was finally retired in the 7th, flying out versus Kyle Lotzkar. While he reached base four times, so did Castellanos, who took home the MVP instead.

On January 9, 2013, Major League Baseball announced that Singleton had incurred a 50-game suspension for violating its minor league drug program. The violation was not for PED use however, but for the recreational drug marijuana. He was limited to 90 games by the suspension. Splitting his time between Quad Cities, Corpus Christi and the AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks, he hit .230/.351/.401 with 11 homers and 44 RBI. He opened up about the problem in spring training in 2014, explaining that he had come to realize that he had become a drug addict, having used the drug on and off since the age of 14, and needed to work against the fact that he enjoyed smoking weed. A month-long stay in a rehabilitation center had helped but he realized that it was up to him to ensure the craving did not again derail his career. The Astros' brass were supportive and had ensured that he received the best possible help. he began the season with Oklahoma City, where he hit .267/.397/.544 in 54 games, with 10 doubles and 14 homers.

On June 2, 2014, the Astros took the unprecedented decision of signing Singleton to a five-year contract extension even though he had not yet played his first big league game. The five-year deal included team options for three additional seasons and guaranteed Singleton a minimum of $10 million, even if he were to turn out to be a complete bust, while its top value was $30 million if all three options were to be exercised. Singleton wanted some immediate financial security because he needed to provide for an indigent father, while the Astros were hoping to contain costs in case Singleton turned out to achieve all of his potential. Had the two sides not agreed on a contract, the first baseman would have remained in the minor leagues until the time when his eligibility for salary arbitration would have been delayed by another year; with the contract in place, the Astros were free to bring him up immediately without it creating future costs, and they did just that, with their current first base unit of Jesus Guzman, Marc Krauss and Chris Carter not producing much offense. Krauss was sent down to make room for Jon on the roster. His major league debut on June 3rd was a successful one, as he homered off Matt Shoemaker, had two RBIs and also drew a walk in a 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. On June 8th, he hit his first career grand slam, connecting off Glen Perkins of the Minnesota Twins in the 9th inning of a 14-5 win; as teammate Carter had also hit a slam earlier in the game, it marked only the second time in franchise history that the Astros had hit two grand slams in a game. However, he had trouble making consistent contact in the majors, ending up with a batting average of only .168 in 95 games, although he did slug 13 homers and collect 44 RBIs.

Playing for the AAA Fresno Grizzlies on May 13, 2015, Singleton had a tremendous night, as he went 4-for-6 with 2 homers, one of them a grand slam, and drove in a team-record 10 runs in a 17-6 beating of the Albuquerque Isotopes. He had 8 RBIs by the end of the 3rd inning and finished one shy of the Pacific Coast League record of 11. His grand slam was his second in three games, and his big night gave him 35 RBIs in 32 games. He was leading all of the minor leagues in homers (11) and RBIs at that point. In 102 games for Fresno, he hit .254/.359/.505 with 22 homers and 93 RBIs. He also played 19 games with Houston, but still failed to get off the interstate in terms of batting average, hitting .191 with 1 homer and 6 RBIs in 19 games.

2016 turned out to be a very disappointing season for Singleton, as he spent all year with Fresno, but only hit .202 in 124 games. There were still some good numbers, like 17 doubles and 20 homers and he did draw 83 walks, but the lack of consistent contact was not what the Astros were looking for. They did not bring him up when rosters expanded in September, and on November 19th, he was placed on waivers with the aim of outrighting him to the minors in order to clear a spot on the team's 40-man roster. In 2017, continuing his backward progression, he moved down one level to AA Corpus Christi, where he had last played in 2013. He continued to struggle to get hits, with a batting line of .205/.376/.397 in 117 games. He drew an impressive 107 walks, leading to the solid OBP, and while he hit 20 doubles and 18 homers, he had only 41 singles and scored just 55 runs. On January 23rd, he hit a new low when it was reported he had failed a third drug test, earning him a 100-game suspension. On May 21st, the Astros decided to cut ties with Singleton, handing him his release.

He was out of baseball for three full years, with the COVID-19 pandemic intervening along the way. It was also a period during which marijuana, the drug whose consumption led to his repeated suspensions, was legalized in a number of states and in Canada and removed from MLB's list of banned substances. In 2021, he joined the Diablos Rojos del Mexico, in the Mexican League. In 46 games, he hit .321 with 15 homers and 36 RBIs. At age 29, he was again looking like the all-world prospect from a decade earlier, and this convinced another major league team to give him a shot, namely the Milwaukee Brewers. In 2022, he was with the Nashville Sounds of the International League, where he hit .219 in 134 games. However, he could still draw a walk, finishing with an OBP of .375 thanks to 117 free passes, and the power was still there, with 22 doubles and 24 homers, for a slugging percentage of .434. It was enough for the Brewers to call him up that September, although he did not get into any games, and to keep him on their 40-man roster after the season, ensuring that he would take part in spring training in 2023 with a chance of making the team. He started that year in Nashville and was hitting .258 in 49 games, with an OBP of .384, with 10 homers and 29 RBIs, when he was called up to Milwaukee on June 3rd. His stay with the Brewers was short-lived, as he went 3 for 29 in 11 games, then was designated for assignment when the team wanted to send him back to the minors on June 21st. He elected for free agency and signed with his original team, the Houston Astros. He was assigned to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys where he hit .333 in 33 games, earning a second call-up. In his third game with Houston, on August 11th, he hit his first major league homer since 2015 off Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels, then repeated with another long ball in his next at-bat as Houston won the game, 11-3. It was the first multi-homer game of his career.

Sources[edit]

2012 Astros Media Guide
2011 Baseball Almanac

Related Sites[edit]

https://www.mlb.com/player/jon-singleton-572138 Jon Singleton on mlb.com]
BR Minors page
APNewsBreak: Astros prospect details drug struggle

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