Jeff Juden

Career

Juden was one of the top high school pitching prospects in the nation after his senior season while leading Salem High School to the Massachusetts state championship in 1989 where he was 30-4 with a .44 era with 488 strikeouts in 254 innings pitched over 3 years completing every game he ever started for Salem High School. Jeff is a High School All-American and was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Baseball Player of the Year, Boston Globe All-Scholastic spring highlighted player. the Houston Astros selected him with the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 1989 Major League Baseball draft. He was the 3rd highest paid bonus paid in the 89' MLB Draft. Jeff began his professional career by going 10-0 in his first 10 starts with the Osceola Astros of the Class-A Florida State League, and he was selected to the FSL All-Star Team before getting moved up to AA Columbus Mudcats in 1990. In 91' and 93' Juden was a part of 2 PCL Championsip teams as a member of the Tucson Toros of the Pacific Coast League winning it all those years. Jeff Juden made his major league debut on September 15, 1991, becoming the youngest active player in baseball that year when he appeared in relief of Chris Gardner in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. Jeff got his first MLB hit and Rbi batting Left handed. It was the first time he ever hit left handed in a game in his life. Jeff also had a 4 rbi game from both sides of the dish in his MLB career where he only compiled 13 hits and 13 rbi's all together in total. A true character of the game.

Despite his early promise, Jeff battled some injuries early on in his career when he had elbow surgery with the Phillies in 94'-95'. Jeff started his MLB career 3-11. After his surgery, Juden was a winning pitcher in the Major Leagues with a 24 and 21 record from 1996 on until his release by the NYY in the spring of 2000. He was only given 1 outing that spring vs. the Pittsburg Pirates. Juden was known as a strikeout artist. Jeff played on many teams with only 1 thing on his mind. That was to win a World Series. When he recognized the team he was on was going nowhere, he wanted out. All Jeff wanted to do is win. He wrote that song and it is on his CD. Jeff's best season was the 1997 when he was the National League Pitcher of the week Beating Roger Clemens in front of a record crowd on Canada Day in Toronto and Denny Neagle of the Braves who also shares Juden's obscure grandslam record. Jeff pitched 161 ¹⁄₃ innings for the Montreal Expos and Cleveland Indians, compiling an 11–6 record with 136 strikeouts and a 4.46 earned run average (ERA) and became an American League Champion in Cleveland. Jeff's second hit of his career was batting Right Handed vs the Dodgers left handed reliever John Cumming in a game that Japanese sensation Hideo Nomo Started. It was agrand slam on August 25, 1995, in a game where he also got his first MLB win, complete game helping to set the record as the third National League pitcher to do so that season. Jeff also pitched in over 60 games in the Big Leagues without losing during his streak spanning over a year and a half's time and winning 10 in a row on that run.

Juden was involved in a large number of trades throughout the course of his career. He and closer Doug Jones were traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1993 season in exchange for Mitch Williams. In 1995, he and prospect Tommy Eason went to the San Francisco Giants for infielder Mike Benjamin. Two years later, Juden moved from the Montreal Expos to the Indians for reliever Steve Kline at the trading deadline, and after that season ended, he and Marquis Grissom went to the Milwaukee Brewers, in a deal for Mike Fetters, Ben McDonald, and Ron Villone. This deal was enveloped in controversy after it became clear that McDonald had suffered a career-ending shoulder injury shortly before it had been completed.

Juden last pitched in the major leagues in 1999 as a member of the 1999 World Series Champion New York Yankees. He retired after that season, and an attempt at a comeback in 2004 with the Nashua Pride of the independent Atlantic League proved unsuccessful. He ended his career with a 27–32 record, 441 strikeouts, and a 4.81 ERA in 533 career major league innings.

Personal life

Since retiring from baseball, Juden has been coaching little league, Babe Ruth League, and 1 year in the Prospect League with the inogural season of the Hannibal Cavemen as the pitching coach. Jeff has two sons. Fredrick and Dalton Juden who enjoy playing baseball and basketball. In 2002, Jeff wrote, recorded, and co-produced his first album with Keith Ridenhour at Ridenhour Studio's in South Florida. The cd was mastered by Dan O'Brien. The CD is titled Anything You Wanna to Be". The CD wasn't publiclly released until 2012 by cdbaby.com. The reason Jeff recorded this record is so it can be used as a donation to a charity the helps chidren with childhood cancer. Jeff lost his little sister Kimberly Ann to Neuroblastoma at the tender age of 6. Jeff was only 9 so fighting for this cause is very personal to him as it is so many others. Through time Jeff has worked with countless charities to help the causes that he believes in. Although he was doing the work, he wasn't taking the camera's in their with him. Today he hopes to start his own foundation and continue to Rock for the cause with some of the great movements out there like "Stand-Up To Cancer". Until then, he will continue to make special guest appearances with causes he believes in to make a positive difference to those in need. In business, Jeff is the Executive Vice President of Stars and Stripes Sports. An athletic development company that uses cutting edge data driven technology. Contact Jeff to learn more.