Jeff Goldbach

Jeffrey Michael Goldbach

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 210 lb.

• High School Princeton Community High School

• Born December 20, 1979 in Evansville, IN USA
• Died March 7, 2021 in Greensboro, NC USA

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Biographical Information

Jeff Goldbach caught in the minor leagues and for the USA national baseball team.

Goldbach was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 2nd round of the 1998 Amateur Draft, and he hit .265/.329/.463in 38 games for the AZL Cubs in his first season. He crushed 18 homers with a .271/.377/.489 batting line for the Lansing Lugnuts in 1999. He tied Hee-seop Choi for 6th in the Cubs chain in homers, tied for 5th with 82 runs, was 8th with 72 RBI (between Tony Schrager and Choi) and was 4th with 64 walks (between Bo Porter and Eric Hinske). In the Midwest League, he tied for 8th in dingers and was named the All-Star catcher at year's end. However, Goldbach slumped to .200/.264/.312 for the Daytona Cubs in 2000, and he struggled again in Daytona a year later as he hit .193/.276/.324 in 46 games. He also played 32 games for the AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, and his batting line there was .204/.278/.357. Goldbach stayed in Daytona in 2002, and he improved to .261/.340/.445 with 11 homers in 76 games. He now backed up Yoon-min Kwon at catcher, also seeing action at DH.

The Indiana native left the Cubs chain after that season, and he hit .178/.259/.288 as a backup catcher to Jason Dewey for the Texas Rangers' Frisco RoughRiders in 2003. He also hit .229/.317/.404 for the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks and .231/.298/.414 for the Joliet Jackhammers, and he made it onto the USA's roster for the 2003 Baseball World Cup. He batted .176/.263/.588 while splitting catching with Brian Jones; two of his three hits were long balls and the third was a double. Both of his home runs came against Silver Medal winner Panama.

Goldbach recorded a .233/.349/.406 batting line for the Jackhammers in 2004, and he batted .266/.331/.452 for them in 2005. He went to the Evansville Otters in the middle of the '05 season, and he crushed 19 homers with a .339/.380/.674 batting line. He broke the Otters team record for most homers in a season though he only played 52 games for them. He tied Ryan Sullivan for 9th in the Frontier League in circuit clouts. Goldbach played 92 games with 17 homers and a .306/.373/.516 batting line for the Otters in 2006. He was third in the Frontier League in home runs (behind Ian Church and Ryan Gill) and third with 69 RBI (behind Pat Peavey and Church). That ended his professional career. He was shot and killed by his neighbor in 2021.

Overall, Goldbach hit .252/.332/.439 with 690 hits and 113 homers in 9 seasons as a professional player.