Jon Jay had a long and solid career in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Angels over 12 years. In 1201 games the outfielder slashed a solid .283/.348/.373/.721 with 37 homeruns, 341 runs batted in and 55 stolen bases.
Primarily as a centerfielder and a hitter in the top of the order, Jay was a spark plug for the Cardinals even winning a championship with the team in 2011. Over 67 career games in the postseason with St. Louis and the Cubs he hit .225 with 16 runs batted in and five stolen bases.
Today Jay is a coach with the Cardinals big league club with some longitude when it comes to dealing with the players. The native Miamian, who won a championship with the Hurricanes in 2003 was also the Marlins first base coach for two seasons and has all the characteristics of a future manager.
Jon, how’s it feel to come home?
Oh, it’s amazing, you know, you know, the city of Miami means so much to me. So to come here and be in front of my people, it means the world to me.
You have two other Cuban-Americans on this team, you have Nolan Arenado and and Ryan Fernandez. Have you given them any advice, any tips or anything?
As far as what?
Career advice im the baseball, because you played in the major for a long time and you have a lot of experience.
Yeah, you know, Fernández, obviously is a reliever, but you know, we’ve had some conversation early on, some training or whatnot, but I just trying to help them out with whatever I can.
In your career, do you have any aspirations in the in the distant future to be a manager?
You know, people ask me that all the time. And you know, Saint Louis gave an unbelievable opportunity here with this staff where I really have a lot of leeway to, you know, jump into all different areas. So, you know, for now I’m happy with what I’m doing, but you never know what happens in the future.
In 2016 you go to Cuba, being a Cuban descent, tell us about that trip and how you felt about going to see your your actual home in Matanzas?
Yeah, it was a very emotional trip for me even before I went there, you know, just talking to my grandparents and just letting them know that I had a strong desire to go visit, you know, where our family’s from and all that. So I got their permission, which is what I really was looking for. And it was just a great trip when I was there, you know, I felt at home, you know, just talking to the people. I just felt like it was just an unbelievable opportunity. But also understanding the sacrifices my grandparents made for me, and I’m always appreciative of that.
In a perfect world, and possibly in the democratic Cuba, would you ever like to be part of their WBC staff?
You know, that’s what sucks, the politics, how I’m not getting into that stuff. But, you know, in an ideal world, you know, I would just want justice in Cuba and things to be done right there. And then, you know, the baseball stuff will take care of itself.