Joe Xavier

Joseph Ronald Xavier

• Bats Left , Throws Right
• Height 5' 9" , Weight 165 lb.
• School Fresno State University
• High School Selma High School
• Born March 18, 1963 in Selma, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Shortstop Joe Xavier was picked in the 13th round of the 1985 Amateur Draft (325th overall) by the Oakland Athletics. He had set the all-time Fresno State University record for doubles (69) and RBI (170, since-broken). Through the 2008 Amateur Draft, he is the only player ever drafted with a last name starting with the letter "X". No player whose name starts with the letter has ever played in the major leagues either; Joe came closest, as he played two seasons in AAA.

Xavier split the 1985 season with the Pocatello Gems and the Modesto A's. In 67 games, he hit .258 with 13 doubles, a triple, and 3 home runs. He hit .252/~.344/.335 in 61 games for Pocatello.

Back with Modesto in 1986, Joseph improved to a .276 batting average with an OBP around .398 and a slugging percentage of .423. In 104 games, Xavier had 72 walks, 27 doubles, 8 triples, and 3 home runs.

Xavier moved up to Double-A Huntsville in 1987 where he had the best offensive season of his career. He posted a .301 batting average, OBP around .395 and .429 slugging percentage with 77 walks, 23 steals, 37 doubles, 7 triples, and 4 homers. He led the Texas League in doubles and sacrifice hits (12) and was 9 walks behind TL leader Greg Tubbs. His OBP was close to league leader Pete Stanicek (.408) and he ranked 6th in average. He moved to second base to make room for Walt Weiss at shortstop.

His solid season earned Xavier a promotion to the Triple-A Tacoma Tigers in the Pacific Coast League in 1988 where he hit .282/.343/.352 in 87 games. Joseph also took the mound for one perfect three-up three-down inning. He served a utility role, backing up Ed Jurak (among others) at shortstop, Lance Blankenship at second base and Larry Arndt at third base.

1989 saw Xavier still in Triple-A but with the Denver Zephyrs in the Milwaukee Brewers system. His offense fell off to .262/~.316/.341 in 84 games as a utility infielder. The next season, he posted just a .224/.303/.290 batting line for Denver in 38 games. Xavier pitched two innings for Denver - one in 1989 and one in 1990. In each outing, he gave up a run.

Xavier finished his career with the 1990 Greenville Braves in the Southern League where he hit .238/.297/.286 in 4 games.

Xavier is the nephew of Bobby Cox. Xavier's son, Joey, was a junior 1B/OF at St. Catharine College in 2012.