Jay Bell

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Jay Stuart Bell

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.

High School Tate High School

Debut September 29, 1986
Final Game September 28, 2003
Born December 11, 1965 in Eglin AFB, FL USA

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[edit] Biographical Information

Shortstop Jay Bell was one of the first players signed by the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks. Since 2005, he has been a D-Backs coach.

When he led the league with 39 sacrifice hits in 1990, it was very unusual. Only he and Bert Campaneris had gotten 35+ sacrifice hits in a season since 1950.

Bell played 18 years in the big leagues, primarily as a shortstop. A first round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1984, by 1986 he had broken into the majors with the Cleveland Indians. At age 22 he was the starting shortstop for the 1988 Cleveland Indians.

From 1989-1996 he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He lasted much longer than teammates Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds, who left the team in 1991 and 1992, respectively. The Pirates were division-winners in 1990-92.

Bell began to show power late in his career. In 1997 in his only year with the Kansas City Royals, he hit over 20 home runs for the first time in his career (his previous high was 16 in 1991). In 1999 with the Diamondbacks, he hit 38 home runs at age 33, and drove in over 100 RBI for the only time in his career.

He was an All-Star with the Pirates in 1993, a year in which he won his only Gold Glove, and also was an All-Star with the Diamondbacks in 1999. Other than leading the league twice in sacrifice hits, he never led the league in any category, although he was second once in runs scored, third once in doubles, third once in triples, and third once in sacrifice flies.

Because of the power surge late in his career, the most similar players to Bell, based on the similarity scores method, are seen as Bobby Grich, Toby Harrah, and Alan Trammell. His OPS+ of 101 is lower than theirs, though.