Name (Japanese): ジョン・エドワーズ
Date of Birth: January 8, 1988
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois
High School: Keller High (Texas)
Family Status: Married, three sons
Position: Relief Pitcher
Height: 196 cm (6’5″)
Weight: 108 kg (238 lbs)
Throws/Bats: Right/Right
Wore #: 42
Originally drafted by: St. Louis Cardinals, 2006 (Round 14)
Signed With Tigers on: December 21, 2019
Top Squad Debut on: June 19, 2020 @ Giants (1 IP 1 H 0 R)
Warm-Up Song: Jimmy Dean – Big Bad John
Career NPB Stats:
| Yr | Team | ERA | GP | GS | CG | SO | No BB | GC | W | L | HLD | HP | SV | W% | IP | BF | H | HR | K | K/9 | BB | HBP | WP | BK | R | ER | AVG vs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Tigers | 2.38 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 22.2 | 86 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 6.75 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | .218 |
| 2021 | Tigers | 2.57 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 7 | 31 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 9.00 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | .240 |
| NPB Career | 2.43 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | .000 | 29.2 | 117 | 23 | 3 | 24 | 7.28 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 8 | .223 |
Brief Biography:
Jonathan Benjamin Edwards was born in Illinois but moved to Texas at a young age. He played both football and baseball in his youth but eventually focused on baseball. He was, in fact, drafted in the 14th round of the 2006 MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals as an outfielder, and spent several seasons playing Rookie-class and A-ball, though he was released after not getting desirable results by the end of the 2010 season. The next year, he played for the San Angelo Colts of the North American baseball league, where he started as an outfielder but eventually made the transition to pitcher midseason. Edwards signed a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers during the 2011 offseason, getting as high as Double-A in his first year. He remained at (or below) that level until the middle of the 2014 season, when he got promoted to Triple-A and pitched well through 12 games. He joined the Rangers’ active roster that same year, making his debut on August 15, 2014 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He finished the year on the top squad, but that offseason, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Though the outlook was bleak, he fully recovered and started the 2015 campaign in Triple-A. Despite an early call-up, he did not get good results and ended up being part of a mid-season trade and found himself with the San Diego Padres. He only played in a few games on the top squad, and got re-signed to a minor-league deal for 2016. He got released at the start of the 2017 season and did not play anywhere the rest of that year. After signing a minor-league deal with the Cleveland Indians in 2018, he spent much of the next two seasons bouncing between Double- and Triple-A. He got a September call-up in 2018, but was DFA’ed in September 2019.
Jon reached a deal with the Hanshin Tigers on December 21, 2019. He was expected to be a set-up man for closer Kyuji Fujikawa in 2020, but neither had the season that the team expected. Edwards injured himself in the practice games leading up to the delayed start of the regular season (June 19) and played through the injury for a while, even pitching on Opening Day, but ultimately he got shut down for over a month to rest his shoulder. When he replaced Onelki Garcia on the top squad in August, he performed reasonably well, and even found himself pitching in winning situations when two of the bullpen pitchers tested positive for Covid-19. In the end, he finished the year with 23 mound appearances and a respectable 2.36 ERA. This earned him a one-year contract offer for 2021.
Much like the previous year, regulations for import roster spots were loosened due to Covid-19 protocols. In response to this, the team once again loaded up on foreign players. They would, in fact, have 8 imports in 2021 (5 pitchers, 3 position players), and Jon was low on the depth chart. As a result of roster limitations, he spent the majority of the 2021 season on the farm team. He got called up twice but also got sent down twice due to call-ups for rotation pitchers Wei-Yin Chen and Raul Alcantara. Ultimately, Jon left Japan with his family towards the end of October due to a family emergency back in the United States, and never returned. His release was announced on November 30.
Though he did not play in many games, thus limiting his impact on the field, Edwards was reportedly very well-received by teammates and coaches alike, especially on the farm, where he spent most of his playing time. He also did some volunteer community work behind the scenes. This never got the attention of the media, but his humanitarian heart impacted the community. No word on his plans in 2022 and beyond, though in an off-the-record conversation with H-TEN early in 2021, he indicated that he had many ambitious projects lined up for his post-playing days.
Related Articles:
Edwards & Gunkel Meet the Press (January 28, 2020)
Edwards Signing Crowds Import Roster (December 21, 2019)