Jay Canizaro

[William Malone]

Jason Kyle Canizaro was born on July 4, 1973 in Beaumont, Texas.

The San Francisco Giants selected him in round four of the 1993 MLB Draft. He made his big league debut for the Giants in 1996, batting .200 with two home runs and eight RBI across 43 games. Canizaro wasn't called up again until 1999, when he appeared in 12 games after rosters expanded in September. San Francisco released him in the off-season, and Canizaro signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins.

Minnesota called Canizaro up to the Majors in early May, and he scored two runs in his Twins debut. Starting second baseman Todd Walker eventually got traded to the Colorado Rockies. Twins manager Tom Kelly went with a committee of Canizaro, Jason Maxwell and Denny Hocking to fill the void. Infield prospect Luis Rivas also joined the mix in September. Canizaro wound up hitting .269 with seven home runs and 40 RBI for the Twins that summer.

He was expected to compete for the starting second base job heading into 2001, but tore his ACL during spring training. He missed the entire season, and Rivas wound up establishing himself as the full time second baseman. Canizaro returned as a bench player in 2002, but a few more injuries limited him to just 38 games. He hit .214 with no home runs and 11 RBI.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed Canizaro to a minor league contract in 2003. He spent the year in Triple-A, and retired after the season.

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