Jason Motte

Motte was born in Port Huron, Michigan. He graduated from Valley Central High School, Montgomery, New York in 2000 and played catcher on the varsity baseball team. Valley Central is also the alma mater of former MLB pitcher Matt Morris. He then attended Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. At Iona, Motte could throw to second base from behind the plate as fast as 1.76 seconds, and was clocked at throwing 85 mph from this position. While Motte never pitched for Iona, the school\'s pitching coach reported that, with shinguards on, Motte once released a 94 mph pitch from the mound at practice.\n', ' Cardinals selected Motte in the 19th round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft as a catcher. In 2003 with the Peoria Chiefs, in 48 games at catcher he committed four errors with five passed balls. Early in his minor league career, he struggled as a hitter. He batted .222 in 2003, .175 in 2004, and .176 in 2005. On June 29, 2005, Motte went on the disabled list (DL) for a thumb fracture while playing for the High-A Palm Beach Cardinals. Entering the 2006 season, Motte had compiled a .188 career batting average. He also had just 21 walks, 13 doubles and four home runs in 209 minor league games as a catcher. However, his arm strength and accuracy were difficult to ignore. Motte threw out 53 of 109 would-be base stealers for a 49% rate. He also recorded 160 assists in his first 181 games. Spurred by the thumb injury, declining batting average, and conspicuous throwing abilities, Motte converted to pitching.\n', ' The results as a pitcher showed much more promise than attempting to become a Major League hitter. Between State College and Quad Cities in 2006, Motte pitched his first 39 professional innings (IP). He struck out 38 (SO) and posted a 3.69 earned run average (ERA) while allowing 10.6 hits per nine innings pitched (H/9). The next season, he improved across the board. Between Palm Beach and Springfield, he totaled 59 IP, 69 SO, a 1.98 ERA, and 6.6 H/9. That performance made him one of the Cardinals\' top pitching prospects and the Cardinals added him to their 40-man roster in early December 2007 to avoid exposing him to the Rule 5 draft.\n', '