Sports odds and ends
Jay Jackson has traveled the baseball world since being drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the ninth round in 2008. Though he never played for the Cubs he has, however, logged MLB time in San Diego (2015), Milwaukee (2019), San Francisco (2021), Atlanta (2022) and Toronto (2023).
Minnesota back in February signed the 6-1 pitcher as a free agent.
All total, Jackson has nearly 20 years as a pro baseball player. He will reach 100 big league games sometime this season. After his MLB debut in 2015, Jackson has spent time with five organizations—now six—as well as playing four years in Japan.
“I was a starter and it just didn’t work out,” noted Jackson. “So obviously, being a reliever ended up being better for my career. I’ve always said early in my career [that] whichever way I can help the team more early in my career” he is willing to do.
“I tell people all the time…I just take every day as a blessing and enjoy every single moment of every day,” said Jackson before he headed out for stretching and pitching work before a recent Twins game.
Jackson’s arsenal of pitches: slider, four-seam fastball, changeup and sinker.
“I was a two-way player in high school” at Greenville, S.C.’s Christ Church Episcopal, where he was a three-time all-region player and all-state his senior year, then a first-team selection when Jackson pitched at Furman (S.C.) University. “But I got drafted as a pitcher coming out of college,” he said.
A righthander, Jackson has been a starter in the minors (126 starts) but only once in the majors. As a reliever he has appeared in over 400 games total, and earned his first big league win last season with Toronto.
Jackson’s off-field pursuits include a clothing line, Jaxland, whose motto is “in smiles we trust.” The clothing line donates a portion of its proceeds to charities that support neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) or hospitals.
“It takes a community to build one person to be successful. You don’t really ever do it by yourself,” explained Jackson. “If I’m able to help other people around me,” he’s all for that.
Now in Minnesota, Jackson said he’s looking forward to getting more involved in the local community. “I’m gonna go and try to find some places and some things to do to help and be impactful, and figure out some things in ways that I can help the community to help bring baseball to people and people to baseball.”