Ivan DeJesus

Ivan DeJesus Jr. is a professional baseball player from Puerto Rico who plays as a shortstop. A student at the prestigious Puerto Rico Baseball Academy, DeJesus was picked in the 2005 MLB Amateur Draft, directly out of the academy. DeJesus was picked at 51st overall, in the second round.

DeJesus started at the Ogden Raptors in the Rookie League. He started slowly but showed considerable improvement towards the latter half of the season, ending the year with a .208 batting average. He moved to the Gulf Coast League Dodgers for the second half of the season, batting at .339 for the remaining 121 at-bats.

He moved to the A-League to play for the Columbus Catfish, batting at .277. In the following season, DeJesus moved up to the AA-League, playing for the Inland Empire 66ers, batting at .287 with 4 home runs. At this time, he was named as the 6th highest prospect as well as best defensive infielder for the season.

In 2008, while playing for the Jacksonville Suns, DeJesus hit a career high 7 homers to bat at .324 for the season, with an on-base percentage of .419. Considered 12th in the list of best prospects in the Dodgers organization, by Scout.com, DeJesus had a 23-game hitting streak to close the season. Named to the Baseball America Minor League All Star team, DeJesus was noticed by the entire MLB fraternity.

DeJesus was part of the Arizona Dodgers in the 2009 season, playing in the Rookie League to recover from an injury he suffered during a collision over home plate. He missed the entire season during the recovery process, however upon returning to regular action, was named to the 40-man Los Angeles Dodgers’ MLB roster for 2010.