southsider2k5 Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 (edited) #57 Jeffrey Michael Bajenaru Jeff was drafted out of Oklahoma in the 36th round of 1999 the major league baseball draft. Jeff ended up signing with the Sox in 2000. He made his debut in the minors pitching with Bristol for a short stint before earning a promotion to Winston Salem. Jeff followed his 2000 season up with another solid year in 2001 earning 10 saves for the Warthogs, and earning an end of the year promotion to Birmingham. 2002 was a set back for Jeff as he didn't pitch a single inning instead sitting out after having Tommy John surgery on his elbow. 2003 saw the resumption of Jeff's quick march to Chicago, as he posted a 3.20 era with 14 saves and 62 Ks in 64 innings of work. 2004 was an incredible year that had Jeff starting at Birmingham again, but this time he owned AA hitters with a 1.34 era, and getting 12 saves and an incredible 51 Ks in only 33 IP. This earned Jeff a ticket to AAA Charlotte where he continued his dominance only allowing a 1.80 era in 20 innings worth of work with 16 Ks and only 3 walks, while earning 10 more saves. Then after an emergency appendectomy to White Sox middle reliever Cliff Politte, Jeff got the call he had waited his whole life for. Jeff made his major league debut against the Seattle Mariners on September 4th and struggled. Jeff worked sporatically during the last month of the season, and his numbers reflected that. His numbers did improve during his stint, and they did earn him a trip with the White Sox top prospects to the Arizona Fall League. Currently Jeff is quickly improving after struggling a little to start in Arizona, he has seen his era come down to 6.07 after a rough debut. He has gotten 17 Ks in only 13 innings of work, and has not earned any saves yet. Jeff's outlook in 2005 is soley up to him. As the Sox pen stands now, there could be a slot open to be earned by Jeff or a couple of other minor leaguers such as Felix Diaz, Jason Grilli, or Arnie Munoz. The back of the pen is pretty well set, but could see an arm added. Jeff's best opportunity could be working mop up duty and first arm out of the pen, much like Neal Cotts and Jon Adkins did this year. If the Sox aquire another arm, or Jeff gets beat out by one of the Sox other prospects, Jeff would most likely open 2005 as the Charlotte Knights closer, with a distinct possibility of a quick call up. Side note- Jeff does surf Soxtalk as man_hands. Jeff is a very approachable guy, who has contributed to the site, both by answering tons of questions, and even doing a question and answer session for us. http://www.futuresox.com/modules.php?op=mo...order=0&thold=0 We are proud and humbled to have him as a member here, and wish him the best of luck in the big show. Edited November 9, 2004 by southsider2k4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 9, 2004 Author Share Posted November 9, 2004 Baj's career stats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 26, 2004 Author Share Posted November 26, 2004 Footnote on Jeff from Baseball America at the end of AFL Bajenaru, one of 27 players in the AFL with previous Major League experience, had a strong finish and struck out 23 in 18 1/3 innings over 14 games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted March 6, 2005 Author Share Posted March 6, 2005 On Friday March 4th Jeff made his spring debut throwing the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 10-9 loss. Jeff held the Dbacks down giving the Sox a chance to rally, only giving a hit and a walk in his one inning of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 9, 2005 Author Share Posted April 9, 2005 Jeff is opening 2005 as the closer at AAA Charlotte for his first full season with the Knights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 20, 2005 Author Share Posted April 20, 2005 So far as the closer for Charlotte, Jeff has appeared in 5 games, compling a 2.08 era, in 4 1/3 innings of work. He has issued 4 walks vs 3 strikeouts and has no saves for the 1-10 Knights. Save opportunites have been nonexsistant so far for Baj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted May 10, 2005 Author Share Posted May 10, 2005 The latest update on Baj is that he has a solid scoreless innings streak going on. Currently he is 1-0 with 1 save for a 9 win Charlotte team with an 0.71 era in 12 2/3 IP. Over that span he has only gave up 5 hits, but has given up 8 walks. He also has 11 Ks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted June 13, 2005 Author Share Posted June 13, 2005 Updated stats from Man-Hands... (1-1) 7 saves, 28 games, 31.1 IP, 15 BB, 35 K, 17 Hits, 2 HR. Baj has factored into 8 of the 20 wins that Charlotte has as a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted July 13, 2005 Author Share Posted July 13, 2005 Jeff Baj has continued his "man-hand"ling of AAA hitters. His numbers continue to astound, especially when you factor in the field he plays his home games at. Currently Jeff is 3-1 with 12 saves. In 40 games covering 47.2 IP, he has a tiny era of 1.13, getting 57 strikeouts over that span. He has only given up 30 hits, to go along with 23 walks, giving him a WHIP barely over 1.00 as well. Charlotte as a team has managed to move out of last place passing up Richmond with their 30th win. So for perspectives sake, Baj has factored into half of the Charlotte Knights wins in 2005. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted July 13, 2005 Author Share Posted July 13, 2005 Also another honor for Jeff Bajenaru, he was named to the AAA All-Star team for 2005. Congrats to Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Baj got traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Alex Cintron on March 8th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts