Johnathan Richard Buck (born July 7, 1980) is an American former 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 ...

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 ...

. He played in

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 ...

(MLB) for the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

, Florida/Miami Marlins,

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

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

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

and

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 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 ...

. He went to high school in Taylorsville, Utah.

Career

Houston Astros

Buck was initially drafted by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

in the 7th round of the 1998 Amateur draft. He was signed to a minor league contract on June 11, 1998. By 2002, Buck was highly regarded for his defensive ability, becoming one of the game's top minor league catchers and 68th top prospect in all of baseball."Astros 2002 Prospect Report"
Santillo, M and Goldfine, J (2002), USA Today."2002 Top 100 Prospects"
Pouliot, M. Rotoworld. In 2003, Buck moved farther up prospect lists. He was listed as the 21st-best prospect in baseball by John Sickels."Top Prospects of 2003"
Sickels, J. Minor League Ball.

Kansas City Royals

On June 24, 2004, the Astros traded him to the

as part of a three-way deal to acquire Carlos Beltrán, sending Buck and cash to Kansas City and Octavio Dotel to the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. Mark Teahen and Mike Wood went from the Athletics to the Royals as well. The Royals immediately put Buck in their starting lineup, replacing injured veteran

Benito Santiago Benito Santiago Rivera (born March 9, 1965) is a Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican former professional baseball player. He played for 20 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2005, most prominently as a member of the ...

. Buck made his major league debut on June 25. Although he initially appeared overmatched by major league pitching, his batting average reached a low of .138 on July 7. Buck impressed the team with his defensive ability and his handling of pitchers. His hitting improved with time, and by September 25 he had raised his average to .243 with 12

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 ( ...

s, and 30 RBIs. In 2006, Buck fought with teammate Runelvys Hernández in the Royals dugout during a game against the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

."Royals pitcher, catcher fight in dugout"
, Associated Press.

Toronto Blue Jays

On December 16, 2009, Buck signed a one-year contract with the

worth $2 million. On April 29, 2010. Buck hit 3 home runs in a single game against the

. Buck was elected to the 2010 American League All-Star team on July 4, along with fellow Blue Jays Vernon Wells and José Bautista. In his first All-Star Game, he went 1–2 with a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. Buck finished his only season in Toronto with career-highs in batting average (.281), hits (115), home runs (20), RBI (66), doubles (25),

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

(.489), and on-base plus slugging (.802).

Florida/Miami Marlins

Buck agreed to a three-year contract with the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The team plays its home games at LoanDepot Park. The ...

worth $18 million on November 15, 2010. The deal was confirmed on November 17. In his first game with the Marlins, he hit a grand slam off

pitcher Mike Pelfrey. In 2011, he had the lowest percentage of runners caught stealing of all major league catchers, at 17%. In 2012, Buck hit .192/.297/.347 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI in 106 games while throwing out 27% of runners.

New York Mets

On November 19, 2012, Buck was traded to the

along with Josh Johnson, José Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Emilio Bonifácio in exchange for Jeff Mathis, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Álvarez, Yunel Escobar, Jake Marisnick, Anthony DeSclafani, and Justin Nicolino. On December 17, the Blue Jays traded him, Noah Syndergaard, Travis d'Arnaud, and Wuilmer Becerra to the

for R. A. Dickey,

Josh Thole Joshua Michael Thole (pronounced toll-EE) (born October 28, 1986) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Early life Thole grew up in Breese, Ill ...

, and Mike Nickeas. Buck began 2013 as the starting catcher, with Anthony Recker as his backup. After a great April in which he hit .241/.269/.575 with 9 home runs and 25 RBI, Buck cooled down some. On August 17, Buck was placed on paternity leave, and he was replaced on the roster by the catcher he was traded with, Travis d'Arnaud. d'Arnaud took the starting role when Buck returned, and Buck would soon be traded.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On August 27, 2013, Buck and

Marlon Byrd Marlon Jerrard Byrd (born August 30, 1977) is an Americans, American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers, ...

were traded to the

in exchange for infield prospect Dilson Herrera and a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

, identified on August 29 as Vic Black. He finished the season as the backup to Russell Martin. In 110 games total (9 with Pittsburgh), he hit .219/.285/.362 with 15 home runs and 62 RBI.

Seattle Mariners

On January 14, 2014, Buck agreed to a 1-year, $1 million deal with the

. He was projected to split time at catcher with Humberto Quintero and Mike Zunino. On July 7, Buck's 34th birthday, the Mariners designated him for assignment. After clearing waivers unclaimed, Buck became a free agent.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Buck signed a minor league contract with the

on July 21, 2014. He was assigned to the Triple-A

Salt Lake Bees The Salt Lake Bees are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team that plays in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. Based in South Jordan, Utah, the team plays its home games at The Ballpark at Am ...

. The Angels designated Buck for assignment on October 7, after claiming Alfredo Marte and Roger Kieschnick on waivers. He rejected an assignment to Triple-A, becoming a free agent.

Retirement

In January 2015, Buck agreed to a minor league contract with the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

. The contract included an invitation to major-league

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 ...

. Buck was expected to start the 2015 season at Triple-A. However, on March 26, he announced that he was retiring from professional baseball.

Personal life

Buck's wife Brooke gave birth to twins twelve weeks prematurely in May 2008. The twins' names are Cooper and Brody. In August 2013, his wife gave birth to their third son, Bentley. In December 2011, Buck assisted in rescuing two elderly women from an overturned car in

Sunrise, Florida Sunrise is a city in central-western Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The population was 97,335 at the time of the 2020 census. History Early history In ...

. By 2025, Buck would found a mental health training business that utilized sports training techniques to assist first responders with dealing with work-related stress.https://www.ksl.com/article/51299581/what-a-baseball-swing-can-teach-first-responders-about-mental-health

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, John 1980 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American League All-Stars Kansas City Royals players Toronto Blue Jays players Florida Marlins players Miami Marlins players New York Mets players Pittsburgh Pirates players Seattle Mariners players Los Angeles Angels players Auburn Doubledays players Gulf Coast Astros players Michigan Battle Cats players Lexington Legends players Round Rock Express players New Orleans Zephyrs players Omaha Royals players New Hampshire Fisher Cats players Salt Lake Bees players Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from Wyoming People from Taylorsville, Utah Sportspeople from Salt Lake County, Utah Baseball players from Utah People from Kemmerer, Wyoming