Jeff Samardzija

Jeff Samardzija

Jeff Samardzija ("suh MARJ ah") was born in Merrillville, Indiana on January 23, 1985 and grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana. Valparaiso is just over an hour from Chicago. He was a multisport athlete playing football, basketball and baseball while attending Valparaiso High School.

Upon graduation in 2003 he enrolled at the University of Notre Dame and was member of the football and baseball teams.

He made a name for himself as a pitcher finishing second in the Big East Conference in both ERA (2.95) and opponents' batting average (.209). The Cubs noticed him and drafted him in the 5th round in 2006.

In addition to being an outstanding pitching prospect he became an outstanding wide receiver. He became an NFL prospect in 2005 when he caught 77 passes for 1,215 yards, 15 of those for touchdowns. He followed that up in 2006 with 78 catches for 1,017 yards. That included 12 touchdowns in 13 games.

Jeff Samardzija at first planned to play both football and baseball professionally but decided on baseball and withdrew his name from the NFL draft. I'm sure he would have done very well in either sport but I think it was wise to choose one and not both. I don't know this for sure but I don't think his contract with the Chicago Cubs would have been as great if he wanted to play both.

He started his baseball career in the summer of 2006 before his senior year at Notre Dame. It was after the football season that he announced that he would his intent to play baseball full time and signed a 5 year contract with the Chicago Cubs. This was a major contract for a guaranteed $10,000,000 with options in years 6 and 7. It also comes with a no trade clause. Jeff Samardzija has been a Cubs fan like me since he was a kid.

He started in 2007 and moved on up the minor league ranks to the Triple-A club in Iowa in June 2008. He impressed the Cubs enough to be called up on July 25 to fill in for Kerry Wood who was placed on the DL.

He did make a very favorable impression with his poise especially being only 23 at the time. He had great stuff and has been clocked over 96 mph on his fast ball. Jeff Samardzija was immediate fan favorite being well known in Chicago from his Notre Dame highlights.

However he didn't make the grade in spring training and started the year back in Triple-A Iowa. It's been said the Cubs wanted to stretch him out to be a starter. Don't know where that was going but as of April 23 he was called up to the big team. The Cubs obviously needed help in the bull pen.

Jeff Samardzija hasn't performed up to expectations out of the bullpen this year and was sent back to AAA Iowa May 6, 2009. The idea that was announced was to put him in a starting role position as compared to a reliever. Didn't last very long this time. The Cubs have a lot invested in Samardzija so I imagine we will be seeing him soon. Not sure what the plan is since it doesn't look like there is much room in the starting rotation.

Samardzija has performed better at AAA and was rewarded by being called up again as of June 30, 2009. Still not any room in the rotation especially with Randy Wells doing so well. So its back to the bullpen. Jeff replaces Jose Ascanio who was optioned to AAA. Not really sure the story on Ascanio and why he was sent down.

For most of 2010 Jeff Samardzija with AAA Iowa. He wasn't very effective beginning of the year. He was part of the September 2010 call ups and did make a start in which he pitched very well and notched his first win. The plan is to give him another start before the end of the year.

Samardzija throws a 2-seam fastball, 4-seam fastball, splitter, mixed in with a slider and a changeup. Samrdzija's fastball is clocked between 96mph-99mph and his changeup is resides in the mid 80s and his slider is around the low 80s.

Shop Chicago Cubs Merchandise and Memorabilia