Athletes - Boof Bonser

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Boof Bonser

	Athletes - Boof Bonser

Boof Bonser (born John P. Bonser) was born on October 14, 1981 in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. Bonser is a right-handed pitcher in the Minnesota Twins organization and is currently on the roster of the AAA Rochester Red Wings.

High school career

Boof attended Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida. In four years he compiled a record of 24-9 and a 1.99 ERA. In his senior year, he went 7-3, 1.88 and hit .523 with 11 home runs. He was named the 2000 Pinellas County (FL) High School Player of the Year and played in the 2000 Florida State All-Star game.

Minor league career

Minor League Team History
Year	Level	Team	Uniform Number
2000	A	Salem-Keizer Volcanoes	34
2001	A	Hagerstown Suns	16
2002	AA	Shreveport Swamp Dragons	?
2002	A	San Jose Giants	50
2003	AA	Norwich Navigators	?
2003	AAA	Fresno Grizzlies	?
2004	AA	New Britain Rock Cats	26
2004	AAA	Rochester Red Wings	26
2005	AAA	Rochester Red Wings	35

Bonser was selected out of high school by the San Francisco Giants in the first round (21st overall) of the 2000 amateur draft and was subsequently signed by Alan Marr. Bonser made his proffesional baseball debut at age 18 for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. In 2001 he had a breakout season for the Hagerstown Suns, leading the South Atlantic League league in wins (16), and finishing second in the league in strikeouts (178). This stellar performance earned Bonser South Atlantic League Most Valuable Pitcher and Post-Season All-Star honors, as well as the distinction of being one of baseball's best prospects.

From 2002 to 2003 Bonser cooled down, but nonetheless progressed steadily through the Giants' system, reaching the AAA level at the end of the 2003 season with the Fresno Grizzlies.

On November 14, 2003, Boof was traded to the Minnesota Twins organization along with pitchers Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano for catcher A.J. Pierzynski and cash. Boof was assigned to AA New Britain for 2004, and was promoted to AAA Rochester for a spot start at the end of the season.

In 2005 Boof spent the entire season at Rochester, where he led the International League in strikeouts (168) and tied for the league lead in games started (28).

Bonser is no longer one of baseball's elite pitching prospects, but he still has the potential to make the majors as a back-of-the-rotation starter. Although a longshot, Boof could earn a spot on the Twins' major league roster in spring training.

MLB.com recently ranked Boof the 52nd best prospect in Major League Baseball according to their online fantasy baseball preview.

Trivia

After the 2001 season, he legally changed his name from John to Boof, a nickname he had since childhood.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Boof Bonser ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Boof Bonser; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Boof Bonser

High school career

Minor league career

Trivia

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay