Former Gator Catcher Brian Jeroloman Called Up To The Major Leagues
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 | Baseball
Former Gator catcher Brian Jeroloman was called up by the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday afternoon. He was a sixth-round pick (180th selection) by the Jays in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft and had recently been playing for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s in the Pacific Coast League. Toronto will host the Kansas City Royals in a three-game series starting tonight before the Tampa Bay Rays arrive at the Rogers Centre for a four-game set beginning Friday.
A three-year standout at Florida during the 2004-06 seasons, Jeroloman boasted a .285 career average, drove in 115 runs, totaled 22 doubles and belted 15 homers. He was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2004 and earned second-team All-SEC recognition in 2005, when he was chosen to the Johnny Bench Award Watch List as the nation's top catcher and threw out an SEC-leading 37 (out of 78) runners attempting to steal against him. The Orange and Blue claimed the SEC title and was the runner-up at the NCAA College World Series in '05.
Jeroloman will join six other former Gators on the MLB level this season, a group that includes Bryan Augenstein (2005-07, St. Louis Cardinals), Mark Ellis (1996-99, Oakland Athletics/Colorado Rockies), Matt LaPorta (2004-07, Cleveland Indians), Darren O'Day (2003-06, Texas Rangers), Ryan Raburn (2000, Detroit Tigers) and David Ross (1998, Atlanta Braves).
