Joel Matthew Naughton (born 27 August 1986) is an Australian

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 catc ...

for the

Brisbane Bandits The Brisbane Bandits are a professional baseball team in Brisbane, Queensland that plays in the Australian Baseball League and is one of the six founding teams of the league. From the 2010/11 season till the 2012/13 season their home ballpark ...

Professional career

Philadelphia Phillies

Naughton made his professional debut in 2005 with the Rookie-Level

Gulf Coast League Phillies The Florida Complex League Phillies are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Phillies. The team plays i ...

. He batted .275 with three doubles, one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

and 11

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

in 29 games. In 2006 Naughton spent the season with Class-A Short-Season

Batavia Muckdogs The Batavia Muckdogs are a collegiate summer baseball team in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL). They are located in Batavia, a city in Genesee County, New York, United States. Their home field is Dwyer Stadium in the city o ...

. He hit safely in 19 of 23 games from 17 July to 26 August. He spent the 2007 season with Class-A

Lakewood BlueClaws The Jersey Shore BlueClaws (formerly Lakewood BlueClaws) are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Lakewood, New Jersey, and are named for their locat ...

. He hit safely in his first seven games of the season going 9-for-23. He also hit safely in nine straight games from 30 June to 15 July batting .351. Naughton spent the season with Class-A Lakewood. He was named a

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

midseason All-Star. He ended the season hitting safely in six straight games going 13-for-26. Naughton had 19 multi-hit games, including four with three-plus hits. He also hit .307 with 12 RBIs in the seventh inning or later. With the Class-A Advanced

Clearwater Threshers The Clearwater Threshers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Clearwater, Florida, and have played their home games at BayCare Ballpark since 20 ...

in 2009 he hit .240 with seven home runs 37 RBIs in 82 games. In 2010, he made a fa improved .308 with the Threshers, slugging .429. However, Joel was hampered by an arm injury towards the end of the season and although he debuted for the

in the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it s ...

on 11 November, he only played four more games as he underwent surgery to be fit for the 2011

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

. He played in 2011 spring training for the Phillies and delivered a game-winning hit in one of the games. He was promoted briefly to AAA in May then was returned to High A. He requested his release and left the Phillies on 13 June 2011.Phillies release minor leaguer Joel Naughton
Pro Rumours

Personal life

Joel was a graduated from Grace Lutheran College in 2003 and played for the

Pine Hills Lightning The Pine Hills Lightning Baseball Club is a baseball club that participates in the Greater Brisbane League competition and Brisbane Metropolitan Region competition. It is the 4th largest baseball club in Australia and second largest after the Re ...

in the

Greater Brisbane League The Greater Brisbane League or formerly the Greater Brisbane Baseball Board league (GB3) is the largest baseball league in the Australian state of Queensland and covers all teams from Brisbane North, South, West, Metro as well as three Gold Co ...

References

External links

1986 births Living people Australian expatriate baseball players in the United States Baseball catchers Baseball players from Brisbane Batavia Muckdogs players Brisbane Bandits players Clearwater Threshers players Florida Complex League Phillies players Lakewood BlueClaws players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Sportsmen from Queensland 21st-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-baseball-bio-stub