Jack Cressend

[William Malone]

John Baptiste Cressend was born on May 13, 1975 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Boston Red Sox after going undrafted out of Tulane University in 1996. Boston released him during the 1999 season with his ERA at the Double-A level sitting north of seven. The Minnesota Twins signed Cressend to a minor league deal a few days later, and converted him to a relief pitcher. He was the Edmonton Trappers closer at the Triple-A level in 2000, before getting promoted to the big leagues that August.

Cressend pitched 13.2 innings out of the Twins bullpen down the stretch in 2000, posting a 5.27 ERA. This actually wasn't a terrible result at the height of the steroid era, as his 5.27 ERA came out to an even 100 ERA+. He spent most of the 2001 campaign as a long reliever at the Major League level, going 3-2 with a 3.67 ERA across 44 appearances and 56.1 innings. This gave him the second best ERA of any Twins reliever, regardless of sample size. Only Eddie Guardado was better (3.51). He had seven outings that season with at least two innings pitched, and zero runs allowed.

Major League Baseball suspended Cressend for three games in April of 2002 for intentionally throwing at Ricky Gutierrez of the Cleveland Indinas. The rest of 2002 didn't go much better for him, as he finished the year with a 5.91 ERA in just 32.0 innings out of the Twins bullpen. Minnesota released him after the season, and he was claimed off of waivers by the Indians.

He had a bit of a resurgence with Cleveland in 2003, pitching to a career best 2.51 ERA over 43.0 innings. He was released after his ERA ballooned north of six in 2004. Cressend retired after spending the 2005 season in the Red Sox minor league system.

He has remained very active in baseball since hanging up the cleats, working as a scout with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2006-08 and again from 2012-14. Between those stings, Cressend was a pitching coach for Tulane University and the University of Houston. As of 2025, he is a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has worked for the Dodgers since 2015.

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