Ryan Jorgensen

Who is Ryan Jorgensen?

Ryan Wayne Jorgensen is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He attended Kingwood High School and Louisiana State University.

Jorgensen was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the Major League Baseball Draft two times, but did not sign either time. In 1997, he was drafted in the 29th round and in 1998 he was drafted in the 24th round. In 2000, he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 7th round as the 193rd overall pick and this time he did sign a contract.

On March 27, 2002, Jorgensen was traded to the Florida Marlins along with pitchers Julián Tavárez, José Cueto, and Dontrelle Willis for pitchers Antonio Alfonseca and Matt Clement. He would spend the next four years in the Marlins organization. He made his major league debut on August 8, 2005 and played in both games of a doubleheader. He made his first major league start in the second game and went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts. He would appear in 4 games and had just four hitless at-bats for the Marlins in 2005.

Jorgensen was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for second baseman Carlos Piste during spring training in 2006. He played for the Louisville Bats, the Reds' Triple-A affiliate, for the whole season. In 2007, Jorgensen began the season for the Bats again. When David Ross went down with an injury, Jorgensen had his contract purchased by the big league club on August 14, 2007. On August 15, 2007, in a start for the Reds, he recorded his first big league hit, a home run, in his first at-bat for the Reds off Chicago Cubs' pitcher Ted Lilly.