A major league baseball veteran and an Alabama Sports Hall of Fame inductee has joined the Jacksonville State program.
Rusty Greer, a 15-year member of the Texas Rangers organization will serve JSU in a graduate manager role on head coach Jim Case’s staff.
The Rangers drafted him 279th overall in the tenth round of the 1990 MLB Draft. On May 16, 1994 he made his MLB Debut versus the Oakland Athletics. He hit a home run in his second at-bat. In 1996, he had one of the best seasons of his career, batting .332 (fifth in the American League) and recording his first of three 100-RBI seasons. The next season he finished seventh in the AL with a .321 batting average and hit a career high 26 home runs. For his career, he had a .305 batting average and a slugging percentage of .478. Greer spent his entire 15-year career in the Rangers organization. In 2007, he was inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
Greer was one of the most decorated players in University of Montevallo baseball history. For three years, from 1988 to 1990, Greer ruled the Falcon outfield. In 1988 he was selected as an NAIA Honorable Mention All-American. In 1990, Greer achieved NAIA First Team All-American status and was voted team MVP.
A four-time letter winner at Albertville High School in baseball and basketball, Greer earned All-State honors as a senior.
Greer's collegiate story started off with a bang. He posted the best-ever freshman season at Montevallo, batting .451 with 54 RBI and seven home runs and was selected All-District 27 and All-Area 5. In his career, he amassed 216 hits, scored 158 runs, hit 54 doubles, 25 home runs, 133 RBI, had 53 stolen bases and a career batting average of .394.
He lives in Colleyville, Texas with his wife, Lauri, and their kids Mason, Taylor and Clayton.
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