Jason Marquis

Jason Scott Marquis is a professional baseball player from the United States of America and plays as a pitcher. Marquis was a student at the Paulo Intermediate School 75. He was part of the South Shore Little League team and they finished third in the Little League World Series in 1991. Marquis would go on to become only one of the 25 players who has gone on to play in the MLB.

Marquis went on to attend the Tottenville High School where he led the Pirates to two consecutive league titles in 1995 and 1996. Marquis was scheduled to join the University of Miami but he decided to opt for the MLB teams instead after being picked at 35th overall in the 1996 Free Agent Draft, by the Atlanta Braves.

It started with the Danville Braves in the Rookie Advanced league for Marquis and soon, he had 14 wins to his name to lead the South Atlantic League. In 1998, he came to the California League and was the youngest pitcher in the league. Playing with the Class A Danville 97s, Marquis had 2 wins in 22 appearances and struck out 135 batters in 114.2 innings with just 41 walks to his name.

The following year, Marquis was at the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and began with an incredible 20 scoreless innings. He had just 1 ERA against his name in 6 starts and had 3-0 record with a 0.28 ERA. That meant promotion and it was time for the AA-League for Marquis, and he headed to the Greenville Braves. In 2000, he was named as the number 5 prospect in the Braves’ organization and was playing with the AA- Greenville Braves as well as with the Richmond Braves in the AAA-league.

As a 21-year old, Marquis was called up to the Major League by the Braves in June. He made his debut as a relief pitcher against the Pittsburgh Pirates and a few days later, was sent back to the Richmond Braves in the AAA-League. He was recalled to the team in September, playing 15 games and winning one as a relief pitcher.

By 2001, he had been promoted from relief pitcher to the starting role along with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Kevin Millwood. The following year, he was again kept in that spot as the fifth starter. In 2003, there was a complete revamp of the pitching lineup and that meant that Marquis would be relegated to the Bullpen with just 21 appearances. In December that year, he was traded out to the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2004, Marquis became a regular in the starting lineup of the Cardinals and ended the season with a 3.79 ERA and 138 strikeouts along a 15-9 record that helped the Cardinals win the National League title. The following year, he had an on-off season where he started strongly but teetered off into a 7-game losing streak.

He ended the season with a 13-14 record and a 4.13 ERA. The same year, Marquis shone with the bat and for a pitcher, has been known to have a wonderful eye. He had 27 hits at a .310 batting average and hit 10 RBI and 1 home run in 87 at-bats. This performance won him the Silver Slugger award. In 2006, Marquis and the Cardinals had one of the most forgettable seasons in their history. Marquis ended the season with a 6.02 ERA while giving away a league-leading 136 allowed runs. He also led the league in losses (16).

In December that year, Marquis moved to the Chicago Cubs with a 3-year, $21 million contract. In his first season with the Cubs, Marquis went at 4.60 on his ERA stats but had a 12-9 record. By his second year at the Cubs, his numbers were dropping drastically and it wasn’t until August that Marquis managed a winning month with a 3-1 record. In the post-season, Marquis was offered the spot of a reliever and played just one game in that role.

In January 2009, he was traded out to the Colorado Rockies, in exchange for Luis Vizcaino, to take the third spot in the starting rotation.