Gregg Jefferies

Gregory Scott Jefferies (born August 1, 1967) is an American former infielder/outfielder in Major League Baseball who had a 14-year career from 1987 to 2000. He played for six MLB teams, primarily the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. He was a highly touted prospect who became the first two-time winner of the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award. In 2017, Baseball America called him their most highly regarded prospect until Andruw Jones. He went on to become a two-time All-Star.

Jefferies was born in Burlingame, California. His father, the baseball coach at Parkside Junior High School in San Bruno, California, developed Jefferies as a baseball player by pushing him through an intense workout eight hours per day, six days per week, which involved, among other things, swinging a baseball bat underwater. Jefferies attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, where he played baseball and football. While he was in high school, his brother played baseball at the University of San Francisco. Jefferies initially committed to play both college baseball and football at Cal State Fullerton after high school.

The New York Mets drafted Jefferies out of high school in the first round, with the 20th selection of the 1985 MLB draft. Jefferies hit .331 in his first year in the minor leagues, moving from Kingsport of the Appalachian League (rookie) to Jackson of the Texas League (AA) in two years. He was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year for both 1986 and 1987, becoming the first player to receive that distinction in consecutive years.

Jefferies hit .367 with 20 home runs, 48 doubles and 101 RBI for Jackson in 1987, earning Jefferies a brief call-up from the Mets at the end of the 1987 season. He went 3-for-6 in 6 games, at the age of 20, making him the youngest player in the major leagues that season.

The Mets decided they needed to make room for Jefferies, but didn't know where to play him, as the veteran team was full at the spots Jefferies played in the minor leagues (shortstop, third base and second base). The outfield was full as well, with the team finding it difficult to get outfielders Lenny Dykstra and Mookie Wilson playing time alongside Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds, so Jefferies was sent to Triple-A Tidewater to start the 1988 season.

After spending most of the 1988 season at Triple-A, hitting .282, Jefferies was recalled at the end of August and allowed to play out the year as a starter, mostly at third base. He responded by hitting .321 over the last 29 games of the 1988 season. The team had an MLB-best 24–7 record after his debut and finished with a league-best 100 wins en route to the National League East title. In his only postseason games, Jefferies batted .333 with two doubles as the Mets lost the National League Championship Series.

The Mets made a full-time roster spot for Jefferies when they traded Wally Backman to the Minnesota Twins, leaving second base open for Jefferies. But Jefferies faltered, hitting .258 with little selectivity as a rookie in 1989.

During a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 27, 1989, Jefferies was the last batter to ground out before the Mets lost the game. Jefferies then heard some unkind comments from his former teammate Roger McDowell and charged the mound, starting a bench-clearing brawl.