R.I.P. Kevin Batiste, former Blue Jays outfielder
Kevin Batiste, who played six games with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1989, passed away on April 2 in Tomball, Texas at the age of 57. No cause of death has been given.
April 16, 2024
By Kevin Glew
Canadian Baseball Network
Kevin Batiste, who played six games with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1989, passed away on April 2 in Tomball, Texas at the age of 57.
No cause of death has been given.
Batiste was a surprise call-up from double-A by the Blue Jays in June 1989 after Canadian outfielder Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.) injured his knee after crashing through the bullpen door while practicing fielding balls off the fence at the then brand new SkyDome.
At the time, the Blue Jays had several higher profile outfield prospects in their upper minors, including Glenallen Hill, Mark Whiten and Derek Bell, but the Blue Jays opted to promote the speedy 22-year-old Batiste.
“I was told they wanted a good defensive player with some speed,” Blue Jays assistant GM Gord Ash told the Toronto Star about the decision to call up Batiste, “and the No. 1 guy in that area, somebody capable of playing all three outfield positions, was Batiste.”
Ash added that Batiste’s defensive work in the outfield had impressed many in the organization.
“I think if you took a poll of everybody in our organization, Batiste might come out ahead of anybody we’ve got as a centre fielder,” Ash told the Toronto Star.
Batiste would join the Blue Jays on June 13, 1989 and spend 10 days with the club. He was employed primarily as a pinch-runner but he did manage a single in each of his two major league starts to finish 2-for-8.
Born on October 21, 1966 in Galveston, Texas, Batiste was a standout quarterback and centre fielder at Ball High School. In his senior season, he batted .345 with two home runs and 14 stolen bases in 84 at bats. It was enough to convince the Blue Jays to select him in the second round of the 1985 MLB draft.
Batiste turned down a football scholarship from Southern Methodist University to sign with the Blue Jays.
“I’d rather play baseball than football,” Batiste told the Toronto Star.
Moose Johnson, one of the Blue Jays’ top scouts at the time, was very high on Batiste.
“Batiste has the sort of ability that allows him to play a shallow centre field,” Johnson told the Toronto Star. “He has great range and a great arm, he’s also a football quarterback.”
Batiste signed and was sent to the Blue Jays’ Rookie Ball affiliate in Medicine Hat, where he batted .248 with four triples and 13 stolen bases in 70 games.
He split the following season between the Blue Jays’ class-A affiliates in Ventura County and Florence, batting a combined .216 and swiping 34 bases in 127 games.
But it was his 1987 campaign that stands out the most. With the class-A Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays, Batiste would steal 70 bases, while upping his batting average to .267 in 130 games.
He’d split the next two seasons between double-A Knoxville and triple-A Syracuse before being called up by the Blue Jays.
He made his big league debut with the Blue Jays on June 13, 1989, when he was sent in to pinch-run for Ernie Whitt in the top of the ninth inning after Whitt had a one-out single against the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium. Batiste was promptly picked off first base by Dan Plesac, but the Blue Jays still won 4-3.
The following day, Batiste made his first major league start in right field. He singled off Brewers’ right-hander Mark Knudson with one out in the sixth for his first hit in the Blue Jays’ 6-1 victory.
Five days later, Batiste enjoyed his second – and final – major league start. Starting in left field and batting eighth, he recorded a bunt single off California Angels left-hander Chuck Finley and scored his first major league run on a sacrifice fly by Junior Felix in the third inning in a Blue Jays’ 6-2 win at Anaheim Stadium.
The Blue Jays announced they were sending Batiste back down to double-A Knoxville on June 23 while they were still on the West Coast. Unfortunately, Batiste was arrested at the Oakland International Airport for carrying a loaded gun in his checked luggage. Batiste, who hailed from Texas, didn’t know this was illegal and had actually had the gun in his luggage during his entire tenure with the Blue Jays.
The gun, which had been given to him by a friend, also turned out to be stolen. The young outfielder would spend 12 hours in jail before being bailed out by Blue Jays travel secretary John Brioux.
Batiste initially faced three possession charges: carrying a loaded weapon, carrying a concealed weapon and carrying stolen property. But two of the charges were dropped and he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of carrying a concealed weapon.
Batiste accepted blame for carrying the gun.
“I was immature,” he told the Houston Daily Cougar in 1991. “I should never have had that gun.”
After his arrest, the Blue Jays sent Batiste to counseling, but the young outfielder didn’t believe he needed it, which expedited his trade to the Atlanta Braves on December 17, 1989 (along with Ernie Whitt) for Ricky Trlicek.
“Toronto felt like I had some sort of paranoia that I didn’t believe I had,” Batiste told the Galveston Daily News in August 1991. “I had just made a mistake. Eventually, they felt like if I didn’t want the counselling, they didn’t want me. So, it was off to the Braves.”
Batiste spent one season with the Braves’ double-A affiliate in Greenville, batting .235 with 14 stolen bases in 98 games before he was let go.
Still only 24, Batiste decided to go to college and play football. He made the University of Houston Cougars as a free safety in 1991.
“I’ve set a lot of high goals – like being the next Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson,” Batiste told The Galveston Daily News during the preseason that year. “But even if those things don’t happen, I know I’ll be out there busting my butt for the University of Houston. They gave me another chance, and I’m going to make the most of it.”
Batiste played in 11 games for the Cougars and had two interceptions. It would be his only season in college football.
In recent years, Batiste had worked as an umpire in the Galveston Umpires Association.
“He loved sports especially his favorite football team the Dallas Cowboys,” reads part of his obituary. “Kevin was a people person who never met a stranger.”
Batiste is survived by his parents, Bertha and Herman, three children Kavin, Kevin and Kennadi, as well as four grandchildren.
You can read his obituary and leave condolences here.