Random Brave Wednesday - Joe Ayrault
A catcher who got his shot simply for being a catcher
(I've been following the Braves since 1991. Every so often, on a Wednesday, I want to look at a random player from the era I watched the team. Today's player, chosen by a random generator, is...)
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The 1996 Braves team had 42 players on it. Five are in the Baseball Hall of Fame while many believe Andruw Jones should be a sixth. Jason Schmidt, Javy Lopez, Ryan Klesko, and Jermaine Dye were just beginning successful careers in the majors. Mixed in with all of this star power was a 24-year-old catcher out of Sarasota, Florida. He would be a September call-up for the Braves, come to the plate five times, and head back to the minors the following year.
He'd never return to the majors, but his career in baseball was not even close to being over.
Joseph Allen Ayrault graduated from Sarasota High School ahead of his 1990 selection in the fifth round. The Braves’ draft haul that year produced seven future major leaguers from pitchers Mike Potts and Brian Bark to position players Ed Giovanola, Tony Graffanino, Brian Kowitz, and the aforementioned Ayrault. Oh, and Larry Wayne Jones.
After his selection, Ayrault quickly got to work, hitting .276 in the Gulf Coast League (now the Florida Complex League). His OPS of .695 would prove to be 35 points higher than his career average.
Ayrault spent another year in rookie ball, this time with the Pulaski Braves, before joining Macon in the A-level South Atlantic League. Offensively, he wasn't completely overmatched at the plate, but was hardly grabbing attention at the same time. 1993 would see Ayrault head to Durham, where he hit six homers for the second of three consecutive seasons. Finally, he headed to Greenville next and really struggled. Sure, he hit those six homers, but he also OPS'd a career-worst, at the time, .628 while hitting .229.
A return to Greenville came and Ayrault got his numbers a bit closer to his career averages.
In 1996, now 24, Ayrault hit .229 with Richmond. He found a new career-worst OPS with .616 and grounded into a dozen double plays. On the positive note, he threw out 32% of potential base thieves.
In the majors, the big-league club was 84-51 with not just a commanding lead in the NL East of 11.5 games, but a nine-game lead on the Padres for the NL's best record. Lopez was doing well as the starting catcher and, in his first season, Eddie Perez had already established a good relationship with Greg Maddux. But Bobby Cox wanted a third catcher as he always did. At the deadline, the Braves moved Tyler Houston in a trade with Cubs, opening a spot for a potential third catcher. That left either Ayrault or Darron Cox from Richmond. Obviously, Ayrault got the call or we would be talking about the other guy. Cox would later get his own cup of coffee with the 1999 Expos.
Our friend Joe wouldn't have to wait long to get into a game. With the score tied 1-1 at Wrigley on September 1, Lopez led off the 12th inning with a single. After he was pinch-run for, Ayrault prepared to come in. The Braves didn't score and the Cubs would score the winning run the following inning, but Ayrault at least got to play on a major league field for a frame. A dozen days later, he again caught an inning, but did not bat.
It wasn't until September 24 as the Braves got blasted by the Marlins that Ayrault finally got an at-bat in. Facing Livan Hernandez, he flew out to foul territory in right field. A day later, Lopez was a little shaken up after a single by Greg Colbrunn scored Jeff Conine from second to make it 2-0 Miami. Ayrault replaced Lopez immediately and singled off future Brave, Chris Hammond, to open the 8th. He would be stranded. It was his only major league hit.
Ayrault would play three more times. That included a two plate-appearance stint in the penultimate game of the season where he reached base the hard way via a HBP by Mark Dyer. In the final game of the year, he struck out against Omar Daal in his final major league at-bat.
But Ayrault's season wasn't yet finished. He'd land on the postseason roster as, like I said, Cox loved keeping a third catcher around. While Ayrault would not be used in the playoffs, it was definitely an experience for a guy who was a longshot to even get to the majors.
The following year, Ayrault had one of his finest offensive years. Unfortunately, the Braves had already brought in veteran Tim Spehr to be their third catcher, leaving no room for Ayrault despite a .823 OPS over 31 games between Richmond and Greenville.
His playing days were coming to a close, but Ayrault's time in baseball wasn't nearly finished. I’m unsure exactly when he started to transition into a coaching role, but 1997 was his final year in affiliated ball. After stints as a hitting coach for the Rangers and Reds' organizations, Ayrault got his first managing gig in 2007 for his hometown Sarasota Reds. He spent three seasons there before moving to the Brewers' organization, which has become a new home for the Florida native. He managed two years in rookie league with Helena and five years in Advanced-A Brevard County. In 2017, after the Braves left Carolina for the Florida Fire Frogs, the Brewers took over the Mudcats with Ayrault as their manager. He'd spend four years with the pandemic cancelling one season. For the last two years, he's been the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers manager in the Advanced-A Midwest League. He’s two games away from managing his 2000th game.
He's been a minor league manager twice as long as his playing career lasted, but his playing career did have a month in the majors, allowing him to catch the likes of Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.
So...that's pretty cool.
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