The Pitcher Who Wouldn't Quit: Jason Stanford
- Jeff Perro
- Nov 7
- 18 min read
Updated: Nov 10
"In my three years of high school baseball, I threw a total of 13 innings on the mound." That line wouldn’t describe many Major League pitchers — but Jason Stanford’s journey to The Show was never ordinary.
"More so because I was fast and I was athletic and I could play the outfield," says Stanford. "Then junior year rolls around and I pitch a little bit. Senior year, I get hurt in a car accident, so I play very sparingly. A lot of times, as a a sophomore, I'd come in as a pinch runner and steal second, steal third and then set it up to be able to score runs. So it was cool in that sense. I did get a little bit time during the summertime to get on mound a little bit here and there."
During his senior year of high school, Jason's parents asked if he wanted to go on the senior trip to Cancun or if he wanted to do something else. He replied that wanted to play baseball. He had no college offers, being as he'd only pitched a handful of innings. He'd rather use the time to get some innings in front of baseball's decision makers. He says, "There was a gentleman by the name of Frank Trujillo that put together this all-star traveling team out of Tucson. We go to Hawaii for two weeks and we play against some of the big dogs."
Stanford got the start against one of those big dogs, Cherry Creek, Colorado. Among the future Major Leaguers on that 1995 Cherry Creek team were Darnell McDonald and Stanford's future batterymate, Josh Bard.
"I pitched really well, six innings, gave up a couple runs," recalls Stanford. "Nothing too crazy, against that lineup. I was a left-hander that threw underneath the hitting speed. I was able to get guys out on weak contact". That performance impressed Frank Trujillo who asked if Jason had any interest in pitching at the college level. Which, of course, is why he skipped the Cancun trip with his friends. "And the cool thing about it, his college roommate was a junior college coach at Barton County Community College in Kansas."
"That was my lone chance to go play college baseball," explains Stanford. "I could have walked on at U of A [Arizona.] I could have walked on at Pima Community College, they actually asked me to redshirt as a freshman. And I was like, I'm not going to redshirt at a junior college, I'll just go to school at the U of A. If I'm done playing baseball, I'll just go to school in Tucson and just get my degree and move on."
"It's interesting, you know, as I go deep into my playing career, my first start at every level was extremely impressive," note this foreshadowing stated by Stanford. "Freshman year, first start collegiately, complete game shutout. It's against Colby Community College up at Colby. The wind's blowing out. I have a 10 strikeout performance, which for me is a lot. I wasn't a strikeout pitcher. I was a pitch-to-contact guy just hoping to get outs. Somehow, someway I figured out how to get seven innings worth of outs and not give up a run and have 10 punches."
Stanford dominated two seasons with Barton County CC, 1996 and '97. He credits the development of his change up and really learning his way around the weight room as the keys to his JuCo success.
The guy with one lonely college baseball offer after graduating high school found himself with THIRTY-SEVEN offers after his sophomore year of college. The offers ranged from Division I to NAIA schools. Jason was nearly ready to enroll at McNeese State in Louisiana, but there was a last minute coaching change. His role with the program was suddenly uncertain.
UNC-Charlotte came calling. They had some scholarship funds freed up after the draft and needed an out-getter. He flew over to Charlotte, fell in love with North Carolina, the school, and the baseball program and signed on the dotted line.
Jason Stanford's career at UNC-Charlotte got off to a slow start. He made a few appearances out of the bullpen mixed with some weekday spot-starts. Then, he was scheduled to start a non-conference game versus the ACC's Wake Forest.
"I go complete game shutout against Wake Forest," remember Stanford. "And that was the first time in like 50 years, something like that, that anybody had shut out an ACC opponent non-conference at home. like at their place. I was named National Pitcher of the Week for Collegiate Baseball and USA Baseball. Junior year, I go 10-1 as a starter. My lone loss was in the regional against Texas A&M, If you go back and look at that lineup and just that roster itself, I want to say they had five to seven draft picks in the first five round. You come in you're 10 and 0, on the season, you're like, 'Okay, I got this.' And then, you face this team and you're like, 'Okay, I just got thumped.' But it was fun, you know, being able to go down there to the regional and go in and compete."
Despite that being named First Team All-Conference, Stanford was not drafted following his junior year. He says "I filled out questionnaires and things like that, but nobody really came out and said 'Hey, we're hot on you.'"
Prior to his senior year, Jason Stanford was chosen as a preseason all-conference, all-everything by almost every college baseball publication that existed. This solidified his belief that he was going to be a Major League baseball player. The man who was previously an Academic All-American was so confident, that he just quit going to class.
However, baseball didn't start well for Jason Stanford in '99. "First outing, we're in UNC-Wilmington facing George Mason and I give up eight runs in the first inning,' recalls Jason. "Thirty scouts are there. They're there for me and a bunch of other guys in this tournament and I just completely crapped the bed. Velocity was way down. Like I was an upper-80's lefty. There, I was like 83 to 85. I was bouncing fastballs. I get off to a slow start, I was 0-3 starting the season. I don't have good numbers. Basically, the scouts have all written me off. I had a couple Scouts that I was really tight with and they're like, 'Jay, like right now, like there's nothing we can do about it, man.'"
The 2000 MLB Draft happened. The name "Jason Stanford" was, again, not announced.
"I turned my season around, I had better numbers," says Stanford. "I ended up going eight and six that year. So half of the season, I was able to go eight and three overall. And the sad thing about it was my last loss. I was 8-2 going into my last start and I ended up losing. That was what ended my 18 game win streak in the conference. But for all of that, I still wouldn't change it for anything. Because it defined me, it changed my own perspective on life of how to grow up and how to basically say, like you are who you are, but make sure that you don't take anything ever for granted. I think too, by having the adversity on the mound, by having the struggles on my own, not going to class, it allowed me to grow as a young man on my own."
UNC-Charlotte graduation happened. "Jason Stanford" was not called there, either.
"It was just that it was that last semester," Stanford asserts. "Junior year was fine. Senior year, first semester, totally fine. But it was that last semester where, yeah, you have 15 hours and that's all you need to graduate. Fifteen hours. And like I said, ultimately, I threw it in the trash and was banking on being drafted. I put everything as a baseball player, not as a student-athlete. Ultimately I moved back to Kansas. I moved to Lawrence. I get a job teaching baseball lessons at a little indoor place there, then I get hired on at the University of Kansas in the athletic department in the video graphic design department. I was going to go back to school, try to finish my degree in communications, and then ultimately just carry on with my life."
"Everything happens for a reason," believes Jason. "And now, you know, as you're older, you realize that things. You have a couple paths and the path that you choose isn't always the wrong path. It might just take you a little bit longer to get to the path that you are supposed to be."
"I'm teaching lessons to a young high school player from Lawrence High, he's a catcher and I'm throwing a bullpen that day," recollects Stanford. "You know, just to stay fresh. I'm still athletic enough and I'm still healthy. The Cleveland Indians scout, Steve Abney, shows up to look at at this gentleman. He looks at me and he's like, 'I would like you to come back and throw a bullpen in a couple days.' Sure, not a problem at all. I come back, and this is early October, throw another bullpen. He likes what he sees. So, he invites myself and the girl I was with at the time to dinner. We go to this little Italian place in Lawrence, Kansas, of all things, Italian place in Lawrence, Kansas. We sit down, we're having dinner and he slides over manila envelope. He says, Hey, Jason, 'Go ahead and pull the information out of there and take a look at it. Sure enough, it's a minor league contract for the Cleveland Indians. Signed it right there in front of him. I was ecstatic."
Jason's first spring training finally rolls around in February 2000. He checks into his cramped, bug-infested Winter Haven, FL motel and meets his roommate, a 37-year-old veteran attempting to claw his way back to the big leagues. It wouldn't be long before Stanford was staying in a double room with an empty bed, however, as the roommate was promptly released.
Stanford was abruptly shown the unforgiving truth of professional baseball: it could all end in a heartbeat, without notice or ceremony.
Jason performed well during spring training and was spared. He was told he would be with the short-season Mahoning Valley Scrappers for his first professional assignment. Being assigned to a short-season team first means an assignment to extended spring training until your actual season starts. Extended spring training (referred to simply as "extended") is a lot like regular minor league spring training; the same motel, drills, practices, lifting, and scrimmages against other teams without spectators or recorded statistics. Baseball Purgatory.
He got a call to the office at 10 am of the first day of extended. Jason Stanford's residency in Baseball Purgatory would be brief. The summons meant one of two things, up (promoted) or out (released.)
"I go upstairs, I sit down, both Neil [Huntington] and Ross [Atkins, the Indians' Farm Director and Assistant Farm Director] are there. Neil looks at me and he's like, hey, 'You've had a really strong spring. We just wanted to inform you to pack your bags. You're going to Columbus, Georgia."
Stanford was reassigned to the Columbus RedStixx, the Indians low-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. In a nine month period, The guy went from teaching high school prospects and working in tv production at the U of Kansas, trying to figure out civilian life after baseball, to being named a midseason all-star in the Sally League. Over the next three months, he'd finish his revolution around the sun with a promotion to high-A Kinston, then to AA Akron for the final few days of the season.
"I'm sitting there in Altoona. I get the last start of the season and Wedgie [Akron Aeros' manager Eric Wedge] comes to me and he says, 'Hey, Stan, he goes, it's nice to meet you. I'm not here to put pressure on you, but we need this win tonight.' Typically like managers don't come and say that to people or anything like that.' And sure enough, I go out there, I go five and a third against a high caliber powered offense. I give up one run, I get the win. It puts us in a one game playoff against Reading back at home. We ended up losing that game, the one game playoff, but to be able to give us a chance, I was ecstatic. And so that was my first year of pro ball. To go from short-season A ball to AA in one year, to have great numbers, to just see what pro baseball life was like. I was just ecstatic."
The success in the high minors continued into 2001 and 2002. Stanford split time between AA Akron and the AAA Buffalo Bisons both seasons. He also spent time with Team USA during the 2001 Baseball World Cup, leading the team to a silver while going 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 15 K in 12 innings.
"2003 rolls around," remembers Stanford. "I get off to an unbelievable start in AAA. I'm pitching in early July we're facing Ottawa. And I gave up one run in the first. I walked Tim Raines Jr. He steals second, gets over to third, sacrifice fly, scores. It's the only run that I was giving up that game. I come in from the first, my manager's Marty Brown. He says 'Hey, Stanny, you're done for the day." I'm like, 'What?! Wait, what?! I'm done for the day?! No chance.' I kind of throw a fit. You know, I'm throwing my glove down, pissed! [Pitching coach] Terry Clark, who I had my very first year of pro ball comes to me. He's my pitching coach now in AAA. He calls me down into the tunnel. He's like, 'Hey, he goes, you need to relax, man. You cannot show those type of emotions when you're facing Torii Hunter, Matt LeCroy and the rest of Minnesota Twins, right?'"
He continues, "I'm like, 'TC, what are you talking about?' He goes, 'You just got called up to the big leagues, man. You are no longer a minor league pitcher, you are a big league pitcher.' I went to my knees. I buckled. I started crying. Like just everything that you could think of as a young kid, young man, like all the, dreams, right? The grind, it just, it all, you know, come to fruition right then and there. and it was very awesome because everybody else on the team and the roster already knew that I was being called up. It was kind of like a bullpen session for me, throw my one inning, throw 20 pitches, whatever, and then be called done for the day.
"So that was on July 3rd that took place," speaks Stanford of his big league call up. "I fly up the next day, July 4th. July 6th, I make my debut and sure enough, wouldn't you know, right? First stop, I go out and I compete. I go five innings. give up two runs. I come out, it's tied 2-2, and we end up winning that game. But it was just, it was crazy, you know, to face that lineup. And one of the big moments in the game, bases loaded, two outs, we're losing 2-. It was the fourth inning and I've got a 3-2 count and my go-to pitch was my change-up. Like my fastball was good. It wasn't great, but it was good. And so I go 3-2 change-up bases loaded, rookie debut. Hits it to my shortstop, Ricky Gutierrez, and he throws it over to first base for the out and we were able to get out of it. And it was just, one of those moments, you know. I go back out for the fifth and go one, two, three. Just everything about your debut, like everybody always asks 'What was it like?' It was everything that you could ask for and then some."
He continues, "My mom and dad were both able to make it. I had eight or nine of my closest friends from elementary school all happened to get out there. A couple of my buddies from college were able to make it out there. And it was just an unbelievable moment and experience and just one that I'll live out forever, of course."
Jason earned a spot on the Indians' Opening Day roster in 2004 as the team's fifth starter. Adversity found him during his second start of the season. "I feel some twinges in my elbow and sure enough, my second start against Minnesota. My elbow is on fire. It happens as I'm warming up for the fifth inning. I feel some twinges in my elbow. I finish the fifth inning, I finish the sixth inning and then the next day can't even play catch. I'm put on the DL immediately."
"They shut me down for six to eight weeks of no throw, Stanford states. "So I'm getting there every day, I'm rehabbing, missing out. Jake Westbrook at that point takes my rotation spot and he goes off, he had a great '04 season. Later in the season, I start traveling with the team again, getting close to coming back, thinking that I'm healthy. I'm doing long toss, all this stuff, throw bullpens. We go on a road trip to Seattle and Anaheim. After the Anaheim trip, we were gonna reassess and then kind of make a decision at that point. So I throw my bullpen in Seattle. I felt fine. At that point, I'm gonna do a live simulated game in Anaheim. It was at the moment that I do the live simulated game and I tried to ramp up a little bit and I couldn't. At that point we go sit down with the orthopedic locally and he says, 'Through the testing, I think that you have a tear or a fray in your ligament.'"
The next step was a trip to Birmingham, Alabama for a visit with the renown Dr. James Andrews. Dr. Andrews confirmed the tear. He performed Stanford's Tommy John surgery the next day, Thursday July 29, 2004.
"I start my rehab right away the next morning," Stanford remembers. "I wake up and feel really groggy, and I start my rehab process right then and there down in Birmingham. It was a long recovery, it was a long road. I would not change it for anything. The reason I say that is, it really defined who I was trying to make a comeback, right? So throughout the whole process of playing professional baseball, it was always a grind. It was always, I had to prove myself. I had to prove myself and you know, at each level I did. This was just another roadblock. For me, it was how to get healthy, but not fast, make sure that I was completely healthy and how to get back to the big leagues and be able to help."
Jason Stanford made a fifteen appearances across the Indians minor league system in 2005. "Velocity was back to being what it was, 89 to 91, and it was cool. The thing that was lacking though was my breaking ball, wasn't as sharp as it was before and my changeup was kind of flat, you know, and my changeup was my big pitch. So having that flat, you know, was just something a little bit different that I had to get accustomed to." He'd finish his comeback season strong, with AAA Buffalo, he made 4 appearances (1 start) and recorded a 1.29 ERA with 7 strikeouts over 7 innings worked.
Stanford began 2007 with the Buffalo Bisons. "I go back down to AAA to start and I put together some really strong numbers early on in 07. At that point we had a young pitcher, Jeremy Sowers. He was the next phenom to come through the system, first round draft pick from Vandy. He goes up and he kind of struggles up in the big leagues. So, midway through the season, I'm pitching extremely well and consistent. We're in Richmond, Virginia and Scott Radinsky is our pitching coach. And he's like, 'Hey, grab a bat, grab some batting gloves. Ewe need to go to the cages and you need to hit a little bit.' Sure enough, right after the game, Torey Lovullo calls me in the office and Torey tells me I'm going to Miami tomorrow to pinch against the Marlins. I go down, pitch against the Miami Marlins and was able to get my first win coming back from Tommy John."
"And again, you know, we've talked about those first starts, right? At every level. Well, sure enough, that first start, I go into the seventh inning, I give up one run, I even lay down a sacrifice bunt against Dontrelle Willis."
Jason made one more start. He gave up three runs in the first inning, but was able to pitch through 6.2 innings, allowing 6 earned on the day. The Indians moved him to the bullpen. He had good outings mixed with some bad, but coming out of the 'pen didn't fit Stanford. Most successful relievers have dominating velocity or at least a wipeout pitch.
Stanford was granted free agency at the end of the season. The Washington Nationals picked him up prior to 2008. After struggling over eight appearances with the AAA Columbus Clippers, he was released by the Nationals.
His old friends, the Cleveland Indians, called with an offer (with a catch.) The team had a hole at AAA, but that hole would likely be temporary when several pieces of their long-term puzzle were expected to return to the mound. It was the eighth season in which Jason would take the mound for the Buffalo Bisons, but it'd only last a month.
His next stop for 2008 was Potros de Tijuana of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol. Translated, that means he was pitching for the Tijuana Colts of the Mexican Baseball League. Stanford loved the experience of playing south of the border, but the Chicago Cubs reached out to his agent. He would finish the 2008 season making 7 starts with the AAA Iowa Cubs.
I get a call from, a Taiwanese team, asking if I could, be of their services and, they send over the contract. I look it over, at that point, my wife at the time was a lawyer.
"I was getting ready to sign to go play in Taiwan and try to regenerate my career overseas. Once we were getting to the finalization of signing the contract, we found out that my family was not going to be able to go over there, being that our daughter was less than six months old."
Being across the world from his wife and newborn daughter was very unappealing to Jason Stanford. He decided to conclude his career as a professional baseball player.
What was next for Stanford? "I started teaching baseball lessons and then I opened up my own academy [Stanford Baseball Academy.] I wanted to stay in the game professionally. I reached out to the Indians and asked them if they had any opportunities on the coaching side. They didn't because, at that point, that was January or February, they were set for the year. But Mark Shapiro [then, Indians General Manager] told me to reach out to their TV station and radio station and just to see if there was an opportunity there. And so I did. It was kind of crazy because Brian Anderson, the left-handed pitcher that's currently the analyst from the Rays was doing color and pre and post for the Indians. And when he got that job with the Rays, it opened up a position in 2009 with the Indians. I reached out and kind of did a mock interview, then did a formal interview, and then got on the air and did a couple shows. They were like, 'Hey, just be yourself, talk baseball, and have commentary with our host.' So one thing led to another, got the job that year and did the pre and post."
"You have to do a lot of homework and studying of the players and whatnot," explains Stanford. For me it was trying to walk that fine line without being too critical of the players, but also get a point across. You still gotta go in the clubhouse, you still gotta face these guys daily. Yes you're a player and yes they know who you are but, at the same time, if you start criticizing guys about why they're not doing this or that, now all of sudden they don't want to talk to you. So it was, it was a fine line and a lot of it was talking and getting to know the players, even though I already knew them, but kind of explaining my position on how I was going to present things on the air. And they were good with that. I just told, told the story of what guys go through on a daily basis."
Stanford held this role with the Indians for seven seasons, until SportsTime Ohio was purchased by Fox. Despite his show exceeding every performance metric and ratings goal, Fox brought in their own people. By the time Fox made their decision, it was December. Every other team already had their people in place.
While Jason was doing his work in TV and radio, he was also working with high school players. Now, with a little more time on his hands, he opened his instruction to younger players. His mission was to develop men, not just baseball players. He, himself, learned to be an effective fundraiser, raising money to provide equipment and scholarships to kids that wouldn't otherwise be able to stay in the game.
"I had some really good kids that they were, decent baseball players, but they were great kids," Stanford acknowledges. "They respected everybody. They showed up on time. They worked hard. They were unbelievable in the classroom. And the families, the parents, allowed myself and my staff to do our job. They just allowed us to do our thing. And the bulk of those kids went on and they played collegiately."
In 2018, an opportunity presented itself for Jason Stanford to return to the pro ranks as a pitching coach. Neil Huntington, who was the Indians' Farm Director when Jason began his pro career, was now the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They had an opening for a pitching coach with their short-season West Virginia Black Bears.
"A couple other guys from the Indians were actually over there as well," says Jason. "Made the transition nice. I will tell you that first year, you think you know so much about baseball. I did not know anything. I knew how to play. I knew how to compete. I did not know the coaching aspect of it and how long staff actually stayed working. And that was I will tell you and anybody listening. That's an eye opening experience to say the least. I was really fortunate because I was strong playing as an attention to detail player. So that transitioned myself over to the coaching aspect of it. So tons of notes, tons of video, too much information from these guys. You might have all this information that you want to unload on them, they might just need one thing to get them where they need to be."
The Atlanta Braves caught wind of Stanford's reputation as a being knowledgeable with strong attention to detail. For 2019, they offered him a full-time job as pitching coach of the Danville Braves, with added responsibilities with their young pitchers. Stanford loved the position and his place within the game that he loved, but the time away from family was depressing.
And then,.....
COVID HIT.
The cancellation of the minor league season meant Jason no longer had a job. Again, he was a free agent. Jason returned to Ohio and his previous role with youth travel teams and the Stanford Baseball Academy. His son was now 9 years old and was beginning to excel on the baseball field. Jason's travel teams are always set up as nonprofit organization. He's more interested in helping his community and seeing kids enjoy the sport than he is making a fortune.
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