Jacob Ray Rogers (born April 18, 1995) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2019.

Amateur career

Rogers attended Canyon High School in

Canyon, Texas Canyon is a city in, and the county seat of, Randall County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,836 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Amarillo, Texas, metropolitan statistical area. Canyon is the home of West Texas A&M University a ...

, and played for the school's baseball team. In 2013, as a senior, he batted .492 with six

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s and 48

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(RBIs).

Undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

out of high school in the 2013 MLB draft, he enrolled at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Tulane Green Wave The Tulane Green Wave are the athletic teams that represent Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). There are 14 Green Wave intercol ...

. In 2015, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate ...

with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thous ...

, and was named a league all-star. In 2016, as a junior at Tulane, he hit .261 with seven home runs and 28 RBIs in 61 games. After the season, the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

selected Rogers in the third round of the

2016 Major League Baseball draft The 2016 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 9, 2016, to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 2015 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be di ...

Professional career

Houston Astros

Rogers signed and made his professional debut with the

Tri-City ValleyCats The Tri-City ValleyCats (often shortened to Cats) are a professional independent baseball team based in Troy, New York. The Tri-City name refers to the three nearby cities of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy which make up New York State's Capital ...

and after batting .253 with two home runs and 12 RBIs in 25 games was later promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits where he finished the season, batting .208 in 21 games. He started the 2017 season with Quad Cities where he posted a .255 batting average with six home runs and 15 RBIs and was promoted to the

Buies Creek Astros The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and play their home games at Segra Stadium. From 2017 to 20 ...

where he greatly improved, posting a .265 average with a career high 12 home runs and 55 RBIs in 83 games.

Detroit Tigers

On August 31, 2017, the Astros traded Rogers to the Detroit Tigers, along with

Franklin Pérez Franklin Eduardo Pérez Montoya (born December 6, 1997) is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. Career Houston Astros Pérez signed with the Houston Astros as an international free agent in July 2014. He made his profes ...

and Daz Cameron, for Justin Verlander. Detroit then assigned him to the

Lakeland Flying Tigers The Lakeland Flying Tigers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Lakeland, Florida, and play their home games at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. ...

where he played in two games. Rogers spent 2018 with the Erie SeaWolves, hitting .219 with 17 home runs and 56 RBIs in 99 games. He returned to Erie to begin 2019 before being promoted to the

Toledo Mud Hens The Toledo Mud Hens are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. They are located in Toledo, Ohio, and play their home games at Fifth Third Field. A Mud Hens team has played ...

. Rogers was named to the 2019

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National Le ...

. On July 30, 2019, the Tigers selected Rogers' contract and promoted him to the major leagues. He had been hitting .250 between AA and AAA with 14 home runs and 52 RBI, while throwing out 25 of 48 base stealers (52.1%). Rogers played that night and got his first major league hit in the 7th inning, an RBI single off

Taylor Cole Taylor Cole (born April 29, 1984) is an American actress and former fashion model. Early life and modeling Cole was born in Arlington, Tarrant County, Texas. Cole attended Mirabeau B. Lamar High School, where she traveled with the Junior ...

of the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

. In the next game on July 31, Rogers hit his first major league home run off the Angels' José Suárez. In 35 games for Detroit, Rogers hit .125 with 4 home runs. Rogers did not make an appearance for the Tigers in 2020. Rogers was optioned to the Tigers' alternate training site in Toledo to start the 2021 season. He was recalled to the major league club on May 7. On July 19, Rogers was placed on the 10-day injured list with a forearm strain. On August 18, the Tigers transferred Rogers to the 60-day injured list after the strain did not respond to treatment. On September 8, the Tigers announced that Rogers had undergone

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...

and would miss at least a year. On April 6, 2022, Rogers was placed on the Tigers' 60-day Injured List.

References

External links

Tulane Green Wave bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Jake 1995 births Living people People from Canyon, Texas Baseball players from Texas Major League Baseball catchers Detroit Tigers players Tulane Green Wave baseball players Hyannis Harbor Hawks players Tri-City ValleyCats players Quad Cities River Bandits players Buies Creek Astros players Lakeland Flying Tigers players Erie SeaWolves players Toledo Mud Hens players Mesa Solar Sox players