James Michael Jeffcoat (born August 3, 1959) is an American retired 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, former head coach in

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, ...

, and former professional player. He pitched 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) between 1983 and 1994 for four different teams.

Playing career

Jeffcoat was first selected in the 1977 MLB draft by the

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, but did not sign. He played

for

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

. He was selected in the 1980 MLB draft by 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 ...

, whom he signed with. Jeffcoat's professional playing career began in 1980 and ended in 1994, doing which he pitched in 283 games in

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

, compiling an 85–59

win–loss record Win–loss may refer to: * Win–loss analytics, analysis of the reasons why a visitor to a website was or wasn't persuaded to engage in a desired action * Win–loss record, also winning percentage * Win–loss record (pitching), the number of ...

. At the Triple-A level, he had a 58–36 record with 3.91

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) in 215 games (97 starts). Jeffcoat pitched in 255 major-league games during parts of 10 seasons. He primarily pitched for the Texas Rangers, pitching 149 games (41 starts) for them during 1987–1992. He pitched to an overall MLB record of 25–26 with a 4.37 ERA, three

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

s, and seven saves.

Coaching career

Jeffcoat was the head coach of

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is ...

from 2002 to 2018. He was terminated in early 2018 following publication of an email in which he stated that he didn't recruit players from the state of Colorado, due to Colorado's marijuana laws, as such players "have had trouble passing our drug test" while also stating "thank your liberal politicians." The university terminated Jeffcoat for "derogatory remarks". On December 17, 2020, Jeffcoat was hired to be the manager of the

Cleburne Railroaders The Cleburne Railroaders are a professional baseball team based in Cleburne, Texas, that plays in the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. The team, which began play in 2017, plays i ...

of the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

. On June 30, 2021, he retired as manager of the team.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffcoat, Mike 1959 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Batavia Trojans players Charleston Charlies players Chattanooga Lookouts players Cleveland Indians players Edmonton Trappers players Florida Marlins players Louisiana Tech Bulldogs baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Oklahoma City 89ers players Omaha Royals players Phoenix Firebirds players Phoenix Giants players San Francisco Giants players Texas Rangers players Waterloo Indians players 20th-century American sportsmen