Jeff Granger | |||
---|---|---|---|
Pitcher | |||
Born: San Pedro, California |
December 16, 1971 |||
|
|||
MLB debut | |||
September 16, 1993, for the Kansas City Royals | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
April 25, 1997, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Games pitched | 87 | ||
Strikeouts | 219 | ||
Earned run average | 3.09 | ||
Teams | |||
|
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.
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.
Still owns the Orangefield 400m school record with a sub 50 second performance.
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 Texas A&M Aggies 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. Granger engineered two memorable last-minute drives in 1992. After being pulled from the season opening Disneyland Pigskin Classic game against Stanford for a weak passing performance, he returned to throw a game-trying pass to tight end Greg Schorp. On a subsequent drive, he scrambled 33 yards to the Cardinal 29 yard line to set up a game-winning field goal by Terry Venetoulias as the Aggies prevailed 10–7. Granger led the Aggies to a 4–0 start that season, and top 5 early season ranking. Later against Texas Tech, Granger escaped a sack on a third-and-eight at the Raiders' 42-yard line and hit Schorp with a first-down pass that set up another Venetoulias game-winning field goal as time expired.