Jair Jurrjens is a starting right handed pitcher with the Atlanta Braves. Jurrjens started his career as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Tigers. Jurrjens was born and raised in Willemstad, Curaçao, in the Netherlands Antilles, which is in the Caribbean. Jurrjens older brothers, friends, and fellow countryman player Andruw Jones played together on the Netherlands National Baseball team for the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Baseball America listed Jurrjens as the Braves' third best prospect entering the 2008 season. Jurrjens went down in Curaçao history books for being the first pitcher from Curaçao to reach the major leagues. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2008/265139.html While with the Detroit Tigers, Jurrjens began his career with the West Michigan Whitecaps the Tigers single A affiliate 2005. While pitching for the Whitecaps, he had a12-6 record with 108 strikeouts with only 36 walks. The following year, Jurrigens had a 5-0 record with a 2.08 E RA. By 2007, Jurrjens was making his major league debut against the Cleveland Indians, winning his second start against the Indians in another series a few days later. In 2008, Jurrjens came to the Braves with Gorkys Hernandez through a trade for Edgar Renteria who was traded to the Tigers. He had his first start with the Braves on April 3, 2008, and won the game. Jurrjens would finish the season with a 13-10 record and a 3.68 ERA good enough for him to finish third in National League Rookie of the Year voting. Although he started off slow in 2009, Jurrjens avoided a sophomore slump by finishing 7-3 in the second half of the season with a 2.24 ERA and finished the season overall with a 14-10 record and 2.60 ERA. So far in 2010, Jurrjens has struggled and has been put on the 15-Day disabled list because of a strain hamstring but should be just about ready to rejoin the Braves soon. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100505&content_id=9820222&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

Jair Jurrjens came to the Braves from the Tigers with high expectations like another Atlanta great, John Smoltz. Smoltz was around the same age when he was trade to them for Doyle Alexander. The Tigers got an experienced pitcher and the Braves had an up and coming pitching star in Smoltz.

Apparently the Tigers didn’t learn their lesson from the last time they made a trade with the Braves. Jurrjens became one of the top prospects in the organization and has proven that the hype he received as a rookie was no joke. In his sophomore season, Jurrijens was 14-10 as starter last year with a 2.60 ERA. His record should have been better, but he did not receive a lot of run support by the Braves last season. Jurrjens along with pitchers,Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson and the rest of the Braves pitching staff, was the backbone last year for this team and continue to be the strength of the Braves.