Jonathan Henry Jay (born March 15, 1985) is an American professional baseball coach and former outfielder who is the outfield, base running, and quality control coach for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played 12 seasons in MLB for the Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Angels.
A product of the University of Miami, Jay played college baseball for the Miami Hurricanes. He was the Cardinals’ second (of three) second-round selection(s) (74th overall), in the 2006 MLB draft. Through the end of the 2020 season, Jon Jay has the third highest modern-day career fielding percentage for a center fielder at .996, behind only Darin Erstad and Shane Victorino.
Jay made his big league debut for the Cardinals in 2010, after batting .301, with 4 home runs (HR), a .780 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), and 2 stolen bases (SB), in 105 major league games. The starting center fielder for four consecutive National League Championship Series (NLCS)-qualifying clubs as a Cardinal (2011−14), he was a World Series champion in 2011, as the Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers. Between 2011 and 2013, Jay established an errorless record streak for National League (NL) center fielders at 245 games. In 2012, he finished tenth in the NL in both batting average and on-base percentage (OBP).
After wrist injuries limited Jay's effectiveness in 2015, he was traded to the Padres. Always active in the community, Jay has hosted celebrity bowling tournaments for charity. He signed a one-year US$4M contract to play the 2019 season with the Chicago White Sox.
Jay was born in Miami, Florida, and spent his youth there. His parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba—his mother from Matanzas and his father from Santiago in the 1960s. He is of distant Spanish descent. His father, Justo Jay, spent 19 years in prison for his role in the cocaine trafficking organization of Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon. Jay attended George Washington Carver Middle School and Christopher Columbus High School.
Showing exceptional baseball skill in high school, Jay played on the state championship-winning team during his senior year in 2003. He received a scholarship at the University of Miami and played for the Miami Hurricanes baseball team. During his three years at UM, Jay had a combined .387 batting average (BA), with 31 doubles (2B), four triples (3B), seven home runs (HR), and 108 runs batted in (RBI), in 120 games played (G). In 2005, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Cardinals selected him in the second round (74th overall) of the 2006 MLB draft.
After signing with St. Louis, Jay made his professional debut that year with the Swing of the Quad Cities and spent the whole season there, slashing .342/.416/.462, with three HR and 45 RBI in 60 games. In 2007, he played with the Palm Beach Cardinals, where he batted .286, with two homers and ten RBI in 32 games, and the Springfield Cardinals, where he posted a .235 average, two HR, and 11 RBI in 26 games. Jay began 2008 with Springfield, and after batting .306/.379/.457, with 11 HR, and 47 RBI, in 96 games, he was promoted to Memphis where he ended the season with a .345 batting average, one HR, and ten RBI, in 16 games. Jay spent 2009 with Memphis, where he compiled a .281 batting average, with ten HR, 54 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in 136 games. He began 2010 with Memphis.
Jay made his Major League debut on April 26, 2010 with the St. Louis Cardinals, after having begun his second consecutive season with the Memphis Redbirds. During his rookie season, he played in 105 games and made 323 plate appearances (PA), batting .300, with 19 doubles, and a .359 on-base percentage (OBP). In the outfield, Jay played all three positions. Stationed mainly in right field, he collected five assists.
On July 27, 2011, the Cardinals traded starting center fielder Colby Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays, clearing the way for Jay to take over as the regular center fielder. That season, he led the team in games played (159) and batted .297 with a career-high 10 HR.
In Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, Jay had a key hit in the 10th inning and later scored the tying run on a line drive into centerfield by Lance Berkman.
On May 15, 2012, Jay was moved to the 15-day disabled list due to lingering shoulder soreness after running into the outfield wall the month before, but he returned shortly thereafter. For the year, he finished with career-bests in batting average (.305) and OBP (.373), both of which placed tenth in the National League (NL). His 19 stolen bases (SB) were another career best. He hit four HR and collected 40 RBI, 22 doubles, and scored 70 runs.
Between August 24, 2011, and July 30, 2013, Jay established a new NL all-time errorless streak record for center fielders at 245 games against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is also the longest streak for all Cardinals outfielders. Curt Flood, a former Cardinal, owned the previous center field record of 226 games spanning from Sep 3, 1965 to Jun 2, 1967.
With increased playing time in 2013, Jay established career-highs in PA (628), doubles (27), runs (75), BB (52), and RBI (67). However, his batting average (.276) and SLG (.370) slumped to career lows. Jay was third among NL center fielders in games played (153), fourth in putouts (335), first in double plays (three), and second in fielding percentage (.997). Conversely, advanced defensive metrics showed he was ten runs below average for center fielders for defensive runs saved (DRS), ranking 32nd in MLB. From 2011 to 2013, Fangraphs rated his arm at 21st out of 21 centerfielders who played at least 2,000 innings. Runners advanced for extra bases on Jay in 60 percent of plays.
The Cardinals agreed with Jay on a one-year $3.25 million contract on January 17, 2014, to avoid arbitration. Through 2013, Jay had a career batting average of .300 with a .356 OBP and a .400 SLG.
After the Cardinals acquired outfielder Peter Bourjos in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the offseason of 2013, Jay's role on the club was expected to be reduced during 2014. Bourjos's impressive defensive ability was one of the main reasons for the trade, as Jay's 2013 defensive campaign was probably the worst of his career. But after a poor offensive April for Bourjos, Jay's playing time started to increase throughout the season, as Bourjos found himself on the bench more and more. By the end of the season, Jay finished batting .303, with three home runs while driving in 46 runs. Although appearing in only 17 fewer games in 2014 than in 2013, Jay had 135 fewer at-bats, and could not contend for the batting title, where at one point in September he was batting well over .320, which was higher than the final .319 batting average of Justin Morneau, who won the batting title. He led the major leagues in hit by pitch, with 20. During the postseason, where Jay had historically struggled throughout his career, he batted .478, going 14-29 throughout the NLDS and NLCS.
In the off-season preceding the 2015 season, Jay had surgery on the left wrist, which did not heal completely. He struggled through other injuries on the same wrist, such as a bone bruise and tendinitis, hampering his ability to hit effectively. Jay missed a number of games in the month of May, and another 57 from July 1 to September 4.
On December 8, 2015, Jay was traded to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Jedd Gyorko. After a productive first couple of months of the season for the Padres, Jay suffered a broken forearm on June 19 and was placed on the DL on June 28. He was reactivated on September 6 and finished the season with a .291 batting average in 90 games played.
Jay hit .287 in seven seasons with the Cardinals and Padres. As a free agent, Jay signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Chicago Cubs on November 29, 2016. On July 6, 2017, Jay pitched a scoreless 9th inning in an 11–2 defeat by the Milwaukee Brewers. Jay had a batting average of .296 in 379 at-bats for the Cubs in 2017.