Jay Tessmer (born December 26, 1971) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

. He played for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

from 1998 to 2002. Tessmer played professional baseball for eight years, nearly all of them spent with an affiliate of the Yankees. He retired after the 2002 season, where he saw the most of his action with the Yankees' AAA affiliate, the

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, merch ...

Early career

Tessmer attended Cochranton High School in Cochranton, Pennsylvania, and was named All-

Crawford County Crawford County is the name of eleven counties in the United States: * Crawford County, Arkansas * Crawford County, Georgia * Crawford County, Illinois * Crawford County, Indiana * Crawford County, Iowa * Crawford County, Kansas * Crawford County, ...

for baseball as a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

. He played in the

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1995 College World Series The 1995 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1995 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Serie ...

for Miami, and was named Coral Gables Regional

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

. The

selected Tessmer in the 19th round of the

1995 MLB draft The 1995 Major League Baseball draft began June 1995 to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 1994 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not s ...

. He began playing for the team's Single-A affiliate in

Oneonta, New York Oneonta ( ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in southern Otsego County, New York, Otsego County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is one of the northernmost cities of Appalachia. Oneonta is home to the State Un ...

, pitching 38 innings with two wins and a 0.95

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA). The following season, he moved up to the

Tampa Yankees Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the county seat of Hillsborough C ...

and had a 1.48 ERA and 35 saves.

Later career

Tessmer was promoted to the AA

Norwich Navigators Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

for 1997, but struggled and fell to 3–6. He returned to Norwich the next year and after improving his ERA to 1.09, he was promoted to Triple A where it was boosted to 0.49. That season, he made his Major League debut against the

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

, where he struck out two hitters. He ended his abbreviated Major League season with one win and a 3.12 ERA. In 1999, he had three wins and forty-two strikeouts at AAA, and again played briefly for the Yankees, posting a 14.85 ERA over six games. He struggled with his consistency in 2000, however, going 4–8. In January 2001, the Yankees traded Tessmer to the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

for David Lee. He played for the Rockies' AAA affiliate, and won one game, but had a 6–10 walks/strikeout ratio, and was traded again to the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

. Playing in Indianapolis, he threw 39 strikeouts and had a 4.37 ERA. His contract was not renewed, and he returned to the Yankees in 2002. He played two games in the majors, with a 6.75 ERA. He spent the rest of the year in AAA, winning five game and earning a 4.37 ERA. He would not return to professional baseball. Jay was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame at its 45th Annual Induction Banquet on Thursday, April 11, 2013.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tessmer, Jay 1971 births Living people Baseball players from Crawford County, Pennsylvania Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Columbus Clippers players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball pitchers Miami Hurricanes baseball players New York Yankees players Norwich Navigators players Oneonta Yankees players People from Meadville, Pennsylvania Tampa Yankees players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela