Max Pentecost

Maxwell Glen Pentecost (born March 10, 1993) is an American former professional baseball catcher. Prior to playing professionally, Pentecost attended Kennesaw State University, where he played college baseball for the Kennesaw State Owls baseball team. He was selected in the first round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft by the Blue Jays.

Max Pentecost
Catcher
Born: (1993-03-10) March 10, 1993
Winder, Georgia
Bats: Right Throws: Right

High school and college

Pentecost attended Winder-Barrow High School in Winder, Georgia. He suffered an arm injury during his senior year, which required surgery.[1] The Texas Rangers selected Pentecost in the seventh round, with the 234th overall selection, of the 2011 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft.[2][3] He opted not to sign with Texas, instead enrolling at Kennesaw State University, where he played college baseball for the Kennesaw State Owls in the Atlantic Sun Conference. After his sophomore year at Kennesaw State, he played for the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league, where he was named the most valuable player.[1][4] He was also named Perfect Game's College Summer Player of the Year.[5] As a junior, Pentecost won the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Award and Johnny Bench Award.[6] He was also a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy.[7]

Professional career

Pentecost was seen by Jim Callis of MLB.com as a likely first round pick in the upcoming 2014 Major League Baseball draft, and the best pure catcher in the draft.[1] The Toronto Blue Jays selected Pentecost in the first round, with the 11th overall selection.[8] Pentecost signed with the Blue Jays on July 2, for the full bonus slot value of $2.9 million.[9][10] He was assigned to the Gulf Coast Blue Jays of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League because he did not have his passport at the time. Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos had intended to assign Pentecost to the Vancouver Canadians of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League.[11] In his second professional game on July 8, he went 5-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and two runs batted in (RBIs).[12] Pentecost was promoted to Vancouver on July 15.[13] He played until August 7, when a wrist injury ended his season. In 25 total games, Pentecost batted .324 with 12 RBIs.[14] On October 1, Pentecost was named eighth-best prospect in the Northwest League by Baseball America.[15]

In January 2015, Pentecost was named by MLB as the 10th best catching prospect in baseball.[16] He underwent shoulder surgery in February 2015,[17] and missed the entire 2015 season while rehabbing.[18] Prior to the start of the 2016 minor league season, Pentecost was ranked 9th on MLB's top 10 catching prospects list.[19] He opened the 2016 minor league season on the disabled list with the Lansing Lugnuts of the Class-A Midwest League.[20] On May 12, Pentecost appeared in his first game in over 16 months, and hit the first home run of his professional career in a 5–0 win for the Lugnuts.[21] As he was not cleared to catch, Pentecost continued to play as a designated hitter.[22] After hitting .314 with seven home runs and 34 RBI the Lugnuts in 62 games, Pentecost was promoted to the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays. He played 12 games with Dunedin in 2016, and hit .245 with three home runs and seven RBI.[14] Aside from one rehab game in the Gulf Coast League, Pentecost spent the entire 2017 season with Dunedin. He was limited to 72 games due to two separate disabled list stints, and hit .274 with nine home runs and 54 RBI.[14] Pentecost played for the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League (AFL) during the offseason,[23] but he was deactivated in the last week of the AFL's season due to shoulder pain. The Blue Jays opted not to place him on their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.[24]

On January 24, 2018, the Blue Jays invited Pentecost to spring training.[25] He spent the 2018 season with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Class AA Eastern League, hitting .253 with 10 home runs and 52 RBI in 89 games.[26][14]

On March 22, 2019, it was announced that Pentecost had left Blue Jays' spring training, and was considering retirement.[27] His retirement was confirmed on April 3.[28]

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References
  1. Callis, Jim (April 18, 2014). "Pentecost best true catcher in 2014 Draft class". MLB.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  2. Cochran, Jeff (June 8, 2011). "Bulldoggs' Pentecost taken in 7th round". onlineathens.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  3. Bridges, Chris (June 8, 2011). "BASEBALL: Rangers select Pentecost in seventh round". mainstreetnewssports.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  4. Kennedy, Brendan (July 2, 2014). "Blue Jays sign first-round picks Jeff Hoffman, Max Pentecost". thestar.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  5. "Pentecost earns summer league honor". gwinnettdailypost.com. August 22, 2013. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  6. Lutz, Jeffrey (June 26, 2014). "Kennesaw State's Max Pentecost wins Johnny Bench Award". Kansas.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  7. Scardigli, Brandon (June 5, 2014). "BSB: Pentecost Named Finalist for Dick Howser Award". ksuowls.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  8. Nicholson-Smith, Ben (June 5, 2014). "Jays draft RHP Hoffman, C Pentecost in first round". Sportsnet. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  9. Ross, Jaime (July 2, 2014). "Blue Jays sign first rounders Hoffman, Pentecost". MLB.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  10. Dakers, Tom (July 2, 2014). "Blue Jays sign their first round draft picks". bluebirdbanter.com. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  11. Cahill, Teddy (July 7, 2014). "Blue Jays first-rounder makes pro debut". MLB.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  12. Cahill, Teddy (July 8, 2014). "Toronto's No.2 prospect returns from TJ surgery". MLB.com. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  13. Mueller, Ryan (July 15, 2014). "Max Pentecost to Make Vancouver Début". jaysjournal.com. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  14. "Max Pentecost Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  15. Dakers, Tom (October 1, 2014). "Five Blue Jays on Baseball America's Top 20 Northwest League Prospects List". bluebirdbanter.com. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  16. Callis, Jim (January 22, 2015). "2015 Prospect Watch: Top 10 catchers". MLB.com. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  17. Nicholson-Smith, Ben (February 20, 2015). "Blue Jays 1st rounder Pentecost undergoes surgery". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  18. Moore, Jeff (September 20, 2015). "Takeaways from Blue Jays' 2015 minor-league season". Sportsnet. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  19. Rosenbaum, -Mike (January 21, 2016). "2016 Prospect Watch: Top 10 catchers". MLB.com. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  20. Rosenbaum, Mike (April 7, 2016). "Where the Blue Jays' Top 30 prospects are starting the season". MLB.com. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  21. Goldberg-Strassler, Jesse (May 12, 2016). "Pentecost debuts with a smash as Lugs shut out Cubs". MiLB.com. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  22. Davidi, Shi. "Playing Catch-Up". Sportsnet. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  23. Mitchell, Scott (August 29, 2017). "Gurriel Jr. headlines Jays' Fall League assignments". TSN.ca. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  24. Davidi, Shi (November 24, 2017). "Blue Jays Notebook: Shoulder issues kept Pentecost off 40-man roster". Sportsnet. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  25. "Blue Jays announce non-roster invitees to major league camp". Sportsnet. January 24, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  26. Hall, Alex (July 6, 2018). "Healthy Pentecost contributing". New Hampshire Union Leader.
  27. Davidi, Shi (March 22, 2019). "Blue Jays prospect Max Pentecost leaves camp to evaluate future". Sportsnet. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  28. "Max Pentecost: Officially retires". cbssports.com. April 3, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
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