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Jonathan Paul is back for his 10th season with the
Metros, and has done just about everything for the club since bursting onto the scene in 2003. And the term "burst
onto the scene" perfectly describes the multi-positional athlete, who was the Metros Top Pitcher award winner during
his rookie season. That year, he led the Metros in Games, Innings, Strikeouts, Shutouts and Wins, while posting a 3.63
ERA. Since then, J.P. has gone on to win 23 games (while losing only 14) in his 262 career innings. But that's
not where the story ends. The 32 year-old also made a yearly contribution from his position in the infield, and
from his spot in the Metros batting order. The offensive high point came in 2007, when he became just the 2nd Metros
regular during the wood-bat era to surpass the .400 barrier, finishing at .404. His career batting average stands at
.297, having collected 1124 plate appearances, along with 10 HR's, 144 RBI's, and 32 SB's. These career numbers place
Mr. Paul on the Metros Top 20 lists in 9 batting and 11 pitching categories...an impressive feat, indeed! J.P. hails
from Perth, Ontario and came up through the ranks at the All-Star level in Ottawa. At the age of 16 he was selected
to play in the highly-regarded Ottawa Canadians program, which led to him signing with Norwalk Community College in Connecticut,
where he starred for two seasons. J.P. returned home and played in the National Capital Baseball League, where he was
voted Rookie-of-the-Year in 2000 and then Top Pitcher in 2001. Fortunately for the Metros, he was hired by a Niagara firm
in the fall of 2002, and the rest, as they say, is history. And just because Jon is in his 10th season, don't expect
any kind of slow down. In 2011, J.P. played in 37 games and ammassed 154 PA's, while batting .283 and tossing in 25
BB's and 20 RBI's. And for good measure, he pitched 13 innings, picking up 2 wins and posting a 1.38 ERA.
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