Biography

2004: January 13, 2004 - Jay Payton signs a 2 year contract with the San Diego Padres, agreeing to play CF. The contract is valued at $5.5 million.

2003 Highlights:

Enjoyed the best all-around campaign of his career, setting personal highs in games played (157), at-bats (600), runs (93), hits (181), doubles (32), homers (28), RBI (89) and walks (43) batted .302 (181-for-600) for the year, which was the highest qualifying average of his career his 181 hits ranked 11th in the National League and 22nd in all of baseball, while his .302 average finished 19th in the senior circuit started out as the club's No. 2 hitter but was shifted to the 6-hole in late June where he flourished with a .333 (75-for-225) average, 17 doubles, a triple, 13 homers and 44 RBI in 69 games that average was the third highest in the NL among 6-hole batters, minimum 150 AB's finished the year with 53 multi-hit games, tied for ninth in the NL of those 53, eight were 3-hit affairs and three were 4-hit games batted .322 at home but a very solid .281 on the road, which trailed only Todd Helton (.324) among Rockie regulars his power numbers were almost equal, as he hit 16 doubles, 13 homers and 50 RBI in Denver, compared to 16 doubles, 15 homers and 39 RBI on the road all three of his multi-homer games came on the road grounded into a National League-leading 27 doubleplays, which matched Todd Zeile's club record set in 2002 only Paul Konerko (28) hit into more GDP's in the majors the club's everyday leftfielder, Payton committed only 4 error's in 316 total chances started 143 games in left field, four in center and once in right three of his four errors came in LF, where he finished with a .990 fielding percentage among all major league leftfielders this season, he played in the sixth most games (149), notched the sixth most innings (1230.0), saw the fourth most total chances (307) and averaged the fifth most chances per 9.0 innings (2.25) notched 6 OF assists overall, one off his career high of 7 set in 2000 as a Met opened the year with a .314 average in April, but then slipped the next two months, batting .295 in May and .273 in June rebounded in July and August, hitting at a combined .343 (70-for-204) with 18 doubles, 11 homers and 42 RBI Payton's .345 July average was the fourth highest in a single month throughout in his career strung together a season-best 10-game hit streak June 13-22, batting .333 (14-for-42) carried the offensive load during the club's six-game roadtrip July 29-Aug. 3, hitting safely in all six contests with a .423 average (11-for-26) went 6-for-13 with a double in three games at Cincinnati (July 29-31), including a career-high tying 4 hits on July 29 then went 5-for-13 in the weekend set at Pittsburgh, including a 3-for-6 effort with 2 homers and a career-best 7 RBI in the series finale on Aug. 3 the 7 RBI fell just one shy of the franchise record and were the most by a Rockie since Todd Hollandsworth drove in 7 on April 15, 2001 vs. Arizona was one of only 13 players to collect at least 7 RBI in the majors this year and his 2 home runs (both 3-run shots) marked his second career multi-homer game, first since May 3, 2002 at Houston his batting average did not fall below .300 after July 26 and reached as high as .314 with just a month to play before a .233 September (21-for-90) brought it down to .302 notched four straight multi-hit games Aug. 26-29, including 2 home runs on Aug. 29 at Dodger Stadium delivered his third multi-HR game of the year (fourth career) on Sept. 3 at Pac Bell.

2002 Highlights:

ACQUIRED from New York Mets along with RHP Mark Corey and OF Robert Stratton in exchange for OF Mark Little and RHP John Thomson, July 31, 2002.

CAREER

Payton looks to open the 2003 campaign just as he finished 2002, as one of the hottest hitters in baseball ... the former Georgia Tech star hit .338 (77-for-228) after the All-Star Break last summer, including a .335 mark with Colorado (57-for-170) ... primarily a centerfielder, Payton made 25 of his 41 starts for the Rox in leftfield and enters spring training as the projected starter at that position ... owns a .494 (43-for-87) lifetime average at Coors Field, tops among all players with at least 80 at-bats in the ballpark ... now in his 10th pro season, Jay's career has included two league MVP campaigns: Eastern League in 1995 and NY-Penn League in 1994.

2002

After being acquired from the New York Mets at the trade deadline, Payton hit safely in 29 of 47 games for Colorado, compiling a .335 (57-for-170) average with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 8 homers and 28 RBI ... combined with both teams to hit a career-best .303 (135-for-445) ... was one of the better second half hitters in all of baseball, posting a .338 (77-for-228) average after the All-Star Break, 10th highest in the majors ... after coming over from the Mets on July 31, Jay was in the starting lineup the following day as the team's leftfielder in Pittsburgh ... went 2-for-5 with a run scored and stolen base ... from there, he would go on to hit safely in seven of his next nine starts (.389, 14-for-36) ... in his first 24 games as a Rockie, Jay posted a .409 (38-for-93) average, hitting safely in all but four starts ... from Aug. 6-27, he batted .425 (34-for- 80) ... prior to heading west, Payton hit .351 (26-for-74) for the Mets in July with a season-best eight-game hitting streak, July 15-22 (14-for-29, .483) ... outdid his .351 July average the following month by hitting at a .374 (40-for-107) clip in August, the highest monthly average of his career (min. 50 AB) ... named National League Co-Player of the Week (Jason Schmidt) for the first time in his career, Aug. 19-25 ... over the seven day stretch, he batted .375 (12-for-32) with 3 homers and 12 RBI ... tied a career-high with 5 RBI on Aug. 22 vs. Montreal and then drove in 4 the next evening vs. the Mets ... on Sept. 2 vs. Arizona, Jay scored a career-high 4 runs and tied the franchise record with 3 doubles ... for the year, he totaled 33 multi-hit games, 18 two-hitters, 12 three-hitters and the three-four hitters ... had homers in back-to-back games on three separate occasions, all coming from Aug. 17-27 when he connected on a total of 7 homers in 11 games ... recorded his first career multi-homer game May 3 in Houston ... batted .339 (76-for-224) in his home parks, including a .473 (35-for-74) mark at Coors ... committed only one error in 971.1 innings ... the miscue came July 30 vs. Houston ... all of his action with the Mets came in centerfield, where he compiled a .994 fielding percentage with 6 outfield assists ... for Colorado, he made starts in left (25), center (15) and one in right without committing an error ... combined, he had a .996 (261/262) fielding percentage and set a career-high with 9 OF assists ... his only rightfield start came in Houston, Sept. 11 ... in the game, Payton strained his right oblique muscle and was forced to leave in the third inning ... he would miss the next six games before seeing action as pinch hitter Sept. 19 vs. St. Louis.