Jeff Granger

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=maroon
bgcolor2=maroon
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
name=Jeff Granger
position=Pitcher
bats=Right
throws=Left
birthdate=birth date and age|1971|12|16
debutdate=September 16
debutyear=by|1993
debutteam=Kansas City Royals
finaldate=April 25
finalyear=by|1997
finalteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
stat1label=Games
stat1value=27
stat2label=Strikeouts
stat2value=19
stat3label=ERA
stat3value=9.09
teams=
*Kansas City Royals (1993-94,1996)
*Pittsburgh Pirates (1997)
highlights=

Jeffery Adam Granger (born December 16 1971 in San Pedro, California is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

High School

Granger was a star quarterback and pitcher for Orangefield High School in Orangefield, Texas. In 1990, his senior year, he led the Orangefield Bobcats to the state semifinals with a 23-6 record. Also an outstanding hitter, he still holds the Texas state record for longest hitting streak (42 games). In football, he was named the #6 Texas high school prospect in the class of 1990 by the Austin American-Statesman, and the #2 quarterback overall.

College

In two seasons for Texas A&M Granger had a record of 16-6 with 251 strikeouts in 220 innings during his first two seasons. In 1993, he broke the Aggie record with 150 strikeouts and broke Roger Clemens' Southwest Conference career strikeout record. He was the College Station Regional MVP in the College World Series, and was all-SWC as well as being named a first team All-American. Granger was a finalist for the Golden Spikes award and also pitched for Team USA in international play.

He also played quarterback for the Aggie football team, and was briefly the starter. Highlights included a 4 TD performance against Tulsa playing in place of an injured Bucky Richardson in 1991 and a two last-minute drives in 1992: Granger engineered two scoring drives in the 4th quarter to edge Stanford 10-7 and later against Texas Tech, Granger escaped a sack on a third-and-eight at the Raiders' 42-yard line and tight end Greg Schorp with a first-down pass that set up the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Professional career

Granger was drafted in the 1st Round (5th overall pick) of the 1993 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals. He was only 21 when he broke into the majors with the Royals in September of that same year after only 7 impressive starts at single-A Eugene in which he struck out 56 batters in only 36 innings. He began the 1994 Season at AA Memphis and was called up to the big leagues for two respectable (but not overpowering) starts in May. Although he had dominated at the minor league level, it was clear that he needed some finesse to compliment his impressive velocity, and the Royals kept him at AA Wichita in 1995. Granger was moved to the bullpen the following season and made a smooth transition, compiling an impressive 2.34 ERA for the AAA Omaha Royals. Unfortunately, he was once again hit hard in 15 relief appearances for the major league club. In December 1996, Granger was traded by with Jeff Wallace, Joe Randa, and Jeff Martin to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jeff King and Jay Bell.

Granger began the 1997 season with the Pirates, but was shelled in 9 relief appearances and sent down to AAA Calgary, where he struggled for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, it would be his last major league action.

Granger spent the next three seasons struggling in the minor leagues for five different clubs in four different organizations. He even attempted to resurrect his career with the Long Island Ducks, but ultimately retired from baseball. Although he was a phenomenal two-sport college athlete and was able to play four seasons in the major leagues, unfortunately Granger didn't end up being the major-league All-star that most envisioned him becoming, instead becoming a cautionary tale against rushing players to the major leagues.

External links

*baseball-reference|id=g/grangje01
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDD143AF935A1575BC0A964958260 New York Times Article]
* [http://www.sptigerbaseball.com/coaches.shtml Hitting streak in coach's bio]
* [http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21752 Art of pitching article]
* [http://www.uil.utexas.edu/athletics/archives/baseball/tournament_records.html UIL records]