| Joe Kehoskie | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 18, 1973 Auburn, New York, U.S.A. |
| Residence | Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico Miami, Florida, U.S.A. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Baseball agent |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Website | |
| www.jkbaseball.com | |
Joe Kehoskie (born January 18, 1973 in Auburn, New York, U.S.A.[1]) is an American sports agent who represents baseball players.[2] He has worked in professional baseball in a variety of capacities since 1984.[3]
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Kehoskie was born and raised in Auburn, New York,[1] a small city 25 miles southwest of Syracuse in the Finger Lakes region of central New York.
He is a 1990 graduate of Auburn High School,[4] from which he graduated in three years.[3]
Kehoskie was hired as a batboy by his hometown Auburn Astros, then the short-season Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros, in 1984 at age 11.[3] He worked for the team through 1991 in a variety of roles including office assistant, official scorer, and clubhouse manager.[5] From 1989 to 1991, he also covered the team as a correspondent for The Citizen, Auburn's daily newspaper.
In early 1992, Kehoskie was hired by the Rochester Red Wings, then the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, where he was a member of a staff that included Joe Altobelli, Russ Brandon, Josh Lewin, Bob Socci, and Glenn Geffner.[6][7] He worked for the Red Wings until late 1994.[8]
Among the notable Red Wings players during this period were Jamie Moyer, Mark Parent, Gregg Zaun, Jeffrey Hammonds, and Jeff Manto, while Jerry Narron (future manager of the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds) and Mike Young were notable field staff.[9]
Kehoskie worked in the Minor Leagues for 11 years with the goal of becoming a Major League Baseball general manager.[1] However, he found entry-level opportunities in MLB to be limited in the years during and after the 1994–95 baseball strike, which had caused cutbacks throughout the sport.[10][11] After failing to land a job with an MLB team and wanting to remain in baseball in a job involving baseball operations and scouting, he started working as a player agent in 1996.[1]
Kehoskie has been the president and CEO of Joe Kehoskie Baseball since at least 2000.[12] One of his earliest clients was left-handed pitcher Brad Pennington, who had pitched for the Rochester Red Wings when Kehoskie worked for the team.[13]
In 1998, Kehoskie was asked to represent a group of five Cuban defectors in Costa Rica,[14] who became the first of approximately two dozen Cuban players he has represented to date.
Aside from Cuban defectors, Kehoskie has worked extensively in Latin America, including the representation of players from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Among the notable players Kehoskie has advised or represented are José Bautista and Félix Hernández.
Since the early 2000s, Kehoskie has been quoted frequently in the media on baseball-related topics including Cuban defectors,[15][16][17] baseball in Cuba,[18][19][20] and the use of PEDs in Latin America.[21][22]
In 2000, Kehoskie accurately predicted a $30 million contract for Cuban pitcher José Contreras more than two and a half years before Contreras left Cuba.[14] More recently, he predicted Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who signed a six-year, $30.25 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds in early 2010, would struggle to become an MLB starting pitcher.[23][24]
Kehoskie has been quoted several hundred times in print and online media outlets including the New York Times,[24] Los Angeles Times,[17][20] Washington Post,[25][26] Miami Herald,[18] ESPN.com,[23] and Vanity Fair.[2] He has also been quoted in more than a half-dozen books.[27]
Kehoskie has been interviewed on the radio by, among others, Cindy Brunson on ESPN Radio, Adam Schein on WFAN, and George Stroumboulopoulos on CBC Radio.[28]
Kehoskie was featured in a 2001 episode of ESPN's Outside the Lines series and has made many other national and international TV appearances:[28]
| Year | Show | Episode | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Stealing Home | Cuban baseball defectors | |
| ESPN Outside the Lines Primetime | "Witness to a Defection" | Cuban baseball, MLB | |
| 2002 | ESPN Outside the Lines Sunday | "Holding an Ace" | José Contreras, MLB |
| 2006 | ESPN Outside the Lines Nightly | "Risky Road Trip" | 2006 WBC, Cuban baseball |
| CBC News: The Hour | March 9, 2006 | 2006 WBC, Cuban baseball | |
| 2007 | Al Jazeera English | June 19, 2007 | Baseball in the D.R. |
Kehoskie currently lives in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.