Jonathan Lucroy
Jonathan Charles Lucroy is an American former professional baseball catcher. Between 2010 and 2021, he spent 12 seasons in Major League Baseball playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Atlanta Braves.
Born in Eustis, Florida, Lucroy began catching for his Little League Baseball team before attending Umatilla High School, where he set a school record with 22 career home runs. After high school, Lucroy played college baseball for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, serving as the team's starting catcher beginning during his sophomore season. In three seasons with Louisiana, Lucroy set a school record with 182 career runs batted in, 414 total bases, and 54 doubles. He also spent two seasons playing collegiate summer baseball with the Sanford River Rats and Winter Park Diamond Dawgs of the Florida Collegiate Summer League. Lucroy left the Cajuns after three seasons when he was taken by the Brewers in the third round of the 2007 MLB draft.
Lucroy had a quick rise through the Brewers' farm system, making his major league debut in 2010 after an injury to Gregg Zaun. He was supposed to return to the minor leagues shortly after this debut, but the severity of Zaun's injury forced the Brewers to keep Lucroy in Milwaukee for the remainder of the year, and he soon usurped George Kottaras as the Brewers' starting catcher. With the Brewers, Lucroy was a two-time MLB All-Star, and he became the face of the franchise after Ryan Braun was implicated in the Biogenesis scandal. By 2016, however, Lucroy began looking for a trade, and after an unsuccessful trade attempt by the Cleveland Indians due to Lucroy not waiving his no trade clause, he and Jeremy Jeffress were sent to the Rangers that July. While Lucroy's first season with Texas helped them capture the AL West title, and he won a gold medal at the 2017 World Baseball Classic during the offseason, Robinson Chirinos soon surpassed Lucroy as the Rangers' starting catcher in 2017, and he finished out the year with the Rockies.
After going unsigned during the usual free agency period, Lucroy joined the Athletics in March 2018, where his offensive difficulties were offset by his work with Oakland's pitching staff. When Lucroy and Oakland could not come to contractual terms for the 2019 season, he joined the Angels instead. Lucroy's tenure in Los Angeles was cut short by a concussion and broken nose in July, but he was able to finish the season with the Cubs, who had struggled to find a replacement for the injured Willson Contreras. Lucroy mostly missed the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, spending time at the Red Sox alternate training site, and had brief tenures with Washington and Atlanta when both teams were in need of a veteran catching presence.
Early life
Lucroy was born on June 13, 1986, in Eustis, Florida. His father Steven worked as a greenskeeper for local golf courses, while his mother Karen stayed at home to take care of Lucroy and his two younger brothers, David and Matthew. He grew up supporting the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball, and one of his favorite players was Chipper Jones. Lucroy began catching around the age of 10, when he was playing Little League Baseball under a team coached by his father. He started in the position at the request of his father, as Lucroy was one of the only players unafraid of being hit by the ball, and he stayed there after developing a talent in the position.Lucroy was an early standout at Umatilla High School, where he batted.310 with 10 doubles as a sophomore in 2002. He followed that performance by batting.500 with 10 home runs, nine doubles, and 35 runs batted in as a junior, while committing only two errors behind the plate. He finished his high school baseball career with a.450 batting average and 10 home runs as a senior in 2004. In addition to holding the Umatilla record with 22 career home runs, Lucroy collected a number of honors throughout his career: he was an All-State honorable mention as a freshman, All-Area second team as a sophomore, and All-Area first team, All-State first team, and All-Central Florida second team as a junior. In 2011, Umatilla High School retired Lucroy's No. 6 jersey.
College career
In November 2003, during senior year of high school, Lucroy committed to play college baseball for the Ragin' Cajuns of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, beginning with their 2005 season. Lucroy was one of three catchers for the Cajuns during his freshman year, splitting time with seniors Adam Massiatte and Justin Morgan. Although preference was given to the two senior catchers, Lucroy was a strong enough hitter that his college coaches did not want him to stay on the bench, and so by April, he was promoted to the team's designated hitter. On April 18, 2005, Lucroy was named the Sun Belt Conference player of the week for picking up the 14th five-hit game in Louisiana–Lafayette history, against the rival New Orleans Privateers. Although he caught in only six games for the Cajuns, Lucroy's time as a designated hitter allowed him to bat.379 with five home runs and 48 RBI as a freshman, and he helped take the team to a 48–19 record and a Sun Belt Conference regular season championship. After the season, Lucroy was named to both the All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team and the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team. After the regular season ended, Lucroy played collegiate summer baseball with the Sanford River Rats of the Florida Collegiate Summer League, where his league-leading RBIs landed him a spot on the all-star team.As the Cajuns' new starting catcher in 2006, Lucroy opened his sophomore season by kicking off a five-run comeback eighth inning for Louisiana–Lafayette with a bases-clearing double in their opening day 8–2 defeat of Louisiana–Monroe. Although the transition to full-time catching saw Lucroy's batting average drop to.243 through the end of March, he led Louisiana–Lafayette with four home runs in that same frame. He found his stride by the end of the season, finishing with a.333 average and a team-leading 12 home runs with 58 RBI. Although Louisiana–Lafayette lost both the regular season and Sun Belt Conference baseball tournament championship titles to Troy University, Lucroy was named to the All-Sun Belt Tournament team after recording 11 hits, including seven extra-base hits, and nine RBI in 17 tournament at bats. That summer, Lucroy returned to the FCSL, helping the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs to a championship title while leading the league with six home runs and 29 RBI. Between Sanford and Winter Park, Lucroy batted.325 in two seasons of collegiate summer baseball, with eight home runs and 41 RBI in 60 games.
During his junior year at Louisiana–Lafayette, Lucroy tied his own school record with five hits in a 10–6 win over South Alabama. That May, Lucroy received his second career Sun Belt Conference player of the week award when he went 8-for-14 with four extra-base hits and a 1.000 slugging percentage in a three-game sweep of Louisiana–Monroe. By the end of the month, Lucroy had helped take Louisiana–Lafayette to the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title, leading the team with a.373 batting average, 87 hits, 19 doubles, 59 RBI, and 155 total bases, the last of which was a school record. He was one of three Cajuns named to the All-Sun Belt Conference First Team that year, joining pitcher Buddy Glass and designated hitter Scott Hawkins. Despite falling to New Orleans in that year's Sun Belt Conference tournament, Lucroy was once again named to the All-Conference first team, while Louisiana–Lafayette clinched a spot in the 2007 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. Facing Texas A&M in the regional finals, Lucroy hit his 18th home run of the season and recorded his 182nd collegiate RBI, breaking Damian Grossie's all-time school record. Louisiana–Lafayette's tournament run came to an end the next night when Texas A&M defeated them 5–2 in the elimination game. Lucroy finished his collegiate career with a school-record 184 RBI, 414 total bases, and 54 doubles, and was also among the school's top hitters with 241 hits, 35 home runs, a.612 slugging percentage, and a.356 batting average.
Professional career
Draft and minor leagues
Following his junior year of college, the Milwaukee Brewers selected Lucroy in the third round, 101st overall, of the 2007 MLB draft. He signed with the team only two days after the draft, agreeing to a signing bonus of $340,000 and beginning his professional baseball career. After signing with the Brewers, Lucroy joined the Rookie-level Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League, with whom he batted.342 with four home runs and 39 RBI in 61 games and 234 at bats. He was named both a Pioneer League Post-Season All-Star and a Baseball America Rookie All-Star for his performance that year. When the regular minor league season ended, Lucroy joined the North Shore Honu of the Hawaii Winter Baseball league, where he developed his defensive abilities in preparation for a promotion to Low-A for the 2008 season. He batted.299 in 23 winter league games, with eight RBI and 23 hits in 77 at bats. In addition to playing baseball, Lucroy, who had majored in environmental and sustainable resources at Louisiana, kept a blog about Hawaiian ecology for the Minor League Baseball website.Lucroy started the 2008 minor league season with the Low-A West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League. After batting.310 with 74 hits, 10 home runs and 33 RBI in West Virginia, Lucroy was promoted to the Brevard County Manatees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League on June 19, the day after his appearance at the South Atlantic League All-Star Game. His offensive momentum did not slow with the promotion: by July 12, Lucroy was batting.338 with four home runs and 18 RBI in 21 Florida State League games. Batting third in the Manatees' lineup, Lucroy hit.292 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI in 64 games after his promotion. In addition to his offensive performance, Lucroy's coaches in West Virginia and Brevard County valued his defensive abilities. By 2008, Lucroy could complete a throw from home plate to second base in 1.68 seconds, with 1.8 seconds considered MLB-caliber. In a 2016 retrospective, longtime Brevard County public address announcer J. C. Meyerholz referred to Lucroy as "one of the best positional players in my 12 years with Manatees".
Lucroy received an invitation to the Brewers' spring training in 2009. Ultimately, the Brewers passed over Lucroy and Ángel Salomé in favor of promoting Carlos Corporan to the major leagues, and Lucroy spent the season with the Double-A Huntsville Stars of the Southern League. That July, Lucroy appeared in the Southern League All-Star Game, recording an RBI for the North Division in their 7–0 shutout of the South Division team. After a slow start to the season, Lucroy ultimately batted.267 with nine home runs, 66 RBI, and 112 hits in 419 at bats and 125 games, including a franchise record-tying 22-game hitting streak in August. After the conclusion of the regular minor league season, Lucroy joined the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League, where his home run and two RBI within the first games helped push Lucroy over Salomé in the Brewers' farm system. Lucroy appeared in 17 fall league games, where he batted.310 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 58 at bats.