Jason Varitek

Jason Andrew Varitek was born April 11, 1972, in Rochester Michigan. His first taste of baseball glory came in Little League when he led his team to the US Championship bracket and eventually the World Championship Game where they lost to Seoul, South Korea.

Varitek attended Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, Florida where he won a state championship with the team. He went on to attend Georgia Institute of Technology where he helped the team reach the 1994 College World Series. While at Georgia Tech he made the US 1992 Olympic Team and captured the Dick Howser Trophy, considered to be the Heisman Trophy of baseball. To cap off his collegiate career he was named Baseball America's 1993 College Player of the Year and had his number (33) retired by the Yellow Jackets, the only Tech player to so far receive the honor.

Jason Varitek was first drafted in the 23rd round of the 1990 Draft by the Houston Astros. Subsequently he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round of 1993, and finally signed with the Seattle mariners after they picked him up in the 1st round of 1994.

His early professional career saw him play two seasons in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Hyannis Mets before joining AA team Port City in the Southern League. Varitek spent 1995 and 1996 with Port City before moving up to Triple-A Tacoma in 1997.

Jason Varitek was eventually traded with team mate Derek Lowe to the Red Sox during the 1997 season in return for relief pitcher Heathcliff Slocumb. After several lukewarm seasons with Seattle’s minor league teams, Varitek caught on fire at Triple-A Pawtucket, and won a trip to the Majors on September 24, 1997.

Jason Varitek managed 3 hits in his first two games for Boston in 2010, all them home runs. Starting the season as back up to Victor Martinez, Varitek came out all guns firing. His season debut saw him smash two homers in an 8-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals. This is the kind of performance that helped get Varitek elected as team captain.

"He's got that 'C' on his chest for a reason," said Red Sox ace Josh Beckett. "He's one of our emotional leaders. To see him do well is important to all of us." http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100410&content_id=9197314&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos

Varitek followed with another homer against the Rays on April 16 in his second appearance of the season, an opposite field shot off Tampa Bay rookie Wade Davis."He took a very good swing," Terry Francona said. "On a night when the ball is not carrying very well, he hits the ball the opposite way. That's a terrific swing. That's two games now he's taken three pretty good swings

Jason Varitek led all stoppers in the American League with a 3.87 catcher ERA. He swatted 14 home runs, 22 doubles and hit safely in 86 of his 109 games while posting a .313 OBP (On Base Percentage). The season started off well enough for Varitek as he hit .267 between the end of April and the beginning of June, but the latter half of the season saw his hitting slump to a meager .179 for the remainder of the season. Defensively he did a little better, ranking second in fielding percentage, .997 in the AL, but falling short in other areas. His 108 steals-against was the highest in the league, and he conceded several 8 steal games, definitely a low-point in his career.

There was little to shout about in 2008 for Jason Varitek. Though it was his busiest year since 2005 – he appeared in 131 games, 120 as a starter – he struggled offensively and ended up hitting what at the time was a career low .220. His .209 average in the following season would surpass even that. He did though establish himself as the king of Boston’s catchers in home-run hitting, as he belted 13 to take his all-time tally to 158. Again Varitek had a reasonable start to the year, through May he was averaging .295, but mid-season saw him struggle. He went hitless in 24 straight at-bats in June to set a career high, and in 61 games extending to August 4, he went 31-for-186 (.167) and ended the season with a pitiful streak of 5-for-39 in his 15 final games. Defensively Varitek had an average year, though his fielding average 0f .9958 was second highest in the American League. He struggled against base-stealers however, only managing to throw out 13 of 69 runners. A highlight of the year for him was catching Jon Lester’s no-hitter on May 19, 2008, his fourth ever, which set a Major League. At the end of the 2008 season, Varitek opted for free agency.