Joe Borchard

In the 2001 Baseball Prospectus annual, this comment was penned for a White Sox prospect:

“He’s credited with a strong arm and the athleticism to play center field and has been compared to Larry Walker and Dale Murphy.”1

Joe Borchard didn’t have a career on the level of those greats, but still managed to put together a noteworthy athletic résumé.

Joseph Edward Borchard was born on November 25, 1978, in Panorama City, California, to Joseph and Janice (Beckman) Borchard. Joe the elder was drafted by the Kansas City Royals out of Moorpark (California) College in the 48th round of the 1969 major-league amateur draft, though he didn’t sign. He is a descendant of German immigrants who arrived in theVentura County area in the 1860s.2 Janice was born in Guam; her family moved to California when she was in the sixth grade.3 Janice and Joe, who ran a farm growing tomatoes and strawberries in Camarillo (California), had three children, Julie, Joe, and Jill.4

Young Joe was a three-sport athlete at Camarillo High School, playing football and baseball as well as basketball. He finished as Camarillo’s all-time leading passer, with over 6,000 yards and 51 touchdowns, including 2,906 yards and 30 TD as a senior.5 He was named the 1996-97 Ventura County High School Male Athlete of the Year by the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame. On the hardwood, he suffered torn ligaments in his left ankle during a layup drill in midseason, which shortened his senior season.6

Borchard was a switch-hitter; “I started switch-hitting when I was 12,” he told a sportswriter. “My dad was also a switch-hitter. He taught me how to do it. He just saw a lot more advantages than disadvantages with it, and I agreed with it.”7

As a junior, Borchard hit .341 with 31 RBIs for Camarillo, adding a 3-1 record and a 2.48 ERA on the mound.8 As a senior he was even better, with a .415 batting average, 11 home runs, and 42 RBIs.9

On January 3, 1997, Borchard committed to Stanford over California; he had also considered UNLV, San Jose State, and Oregon State.10 The Baltimore Orioles took a flier on Borchard in the 20th round of the June 1997 amateur draft, presenting him with a dilemma – sign with the Orioles or accept the football scholarship at Stanford, where he would continue to play baseball, admittedly his favorite sport. However, he did have the option to change his scholarship to baseball if he decided to drop football.11 Ultimately, Borchard chose Stanford.

Borchard, a history major, was a legitimate two-sport star for the Cardinal, following in the footsteps of Stanford legend John Elway. In three seasons on the diamond, he hit .346/.446/.594 with 40 homers and 187 RBIs in 186 games. He was First-Team All-Pac 10 in 1999 (.372 BA, 11 HR, 56 RBIs) and 2000 (.333 BA, 19 HR, 76 RBIs).12

On the gridiron, he tossed 10 touchdowns vs. one interception in 16 games at Stanford. A redshirt as a freshman in 1997, he first saw game action in 1998 as backup to Todd Husak. On September 19, Borchard entered the game in the fourth quarter of a 34-34 game with 34 seconds left, after Husak was injured on a sack on the North Carolina 43-yard line. The Tar Heels had just turned the ball over and were looking to hold on and send the game to overtime, but Borchard had other ideas. On his first play of the game, Borchard scrambled for a 41-yard gain all the way to the two-yard line, which set up a game-winning field goal.13 On September 25, 1999, he came off the bench to throw for 324 yards and five touchdown passes in a 42-32 win over UCLA.

Borchard has the distinction of appearing in both the Rose Bowl (2000) and the College World Series (1999 and 2000). He juggled baseball and football – even occasionally on the same day. On April 29, 2000, he played a few series in a Stanford football spring scrimmage, then jumped on a golf cart and went over to the baseball field, where he rapped a few hits against Cal.14

Three football scouts contacted by White Sox GM Ron Schueler projected Borchard as a late first-round or a second-round NFL draft pick as a quarterback. White Sox scouting director Duane Shaffer said Borchard had “the best power from a college player since Mark McGwire.”15

In the 2000 draft, the White Sox took a gamble on Borchard with the 12th overall pick. There was uncertainty as to whether Borchard would play for the White Sox or be the starting quarterback for Stanford in his senior season. Otherwise, he would have gone even higher in the draft, as scouts from at least three teams reportedly ranked him the top player in the draft.16

Borchard finished his Stanford baseball career in the College World Series on June 17, 2000, failing to collect a hit in four at-bats in the 6-5 loss to LSU, though he was named an outfielder on the All-Tournament team. In total, he went 7-for-14 with a home run, four RBIs, and five runs scored in four tournament games.

Borchard signed with the White Sox on August 8 for a $5.3 million bonus, the largest ever given to a player acquired through the draft, at the time. The next largest bonus was given to the first overall pick, Adrián González ($3 million). Borchard’s record bonus stood until Justin Upton’s $6.1 million topped it in 2005.

According to Borchard’s agent, Jim McDowell (brother of former major-league pitcher Jack McDowell), “The White Sox asked what it would take, we gave them a range and they responded. There was NFL interest in Joe, the extent of which would have been clearer after the upcoming season. Joe loves football, but when you talk about this kind of money, it’s a business decision. All signs point to taking this and going to the diamond.”17

The White Sox bonus was contingent on Borchard’s commitment solely to baseball. His career as Stanford quarterback was over. According to McDowell, the record bonus would be paid over 2½ years, with payments ceasing if Borchard returned to football.18

Borchard’s professional baseball career started on August 9, 2000, in Tucson in the Arizona Rookie League. He hit .414 (12-for-29) in a brief seven-game showing. He was quickly promoted to the Advanced-A Winston-Salem Warthogs of the Carolina League. Starting at DH, he collected an RBI double batting fifth for manager Brian Dayett in his first game, on August 17, despite not getting to the ballpark until 4:30 P.M.19

Borchard’s first pro home run came on August 25, off right-hander Steve Bechler of the Frederick Keys, one of two homers he would get in 14 games at Winston-Salem.20 He hit .289 for the Warthogs before moving on yet again, this time to Double-A Birmingham, where he went 5-for-22 (.227) in six games, filling in because of injury.21

Borchard struggled in the spring of 2001, and ended up spending the entire season with Birmingham, where the 6-foot-4 center fielder started on his road to the majors. At the Southern League all-star game on June 20 in Kodak, Tennessee, Borchard won a pregame home-run derby (his pitcher was none other than Tommy John, then a radio analyst for the Charlotte Knights, who often tossed batting practice),defeating Corky Miller in the finals. Then in the actual game, Borchard hit a two-run walk-off homer in the 10th inning of a 4-3 win West Division victory, garnering game MVP honors.22

On July 8 Borchard went 1-for-2 with a single for Team U.S. in the MLB Futures Game at Safeco Field in Seattle. For the season he had a slash line of .295/.384/.509 with 27 homers (second in the league) and 98 RBIs (leading the league) in 133 games. A high number of strikeouts (158) and errors (12) may have prevented a late-season call-up, but the highly touted prospect was on his way.

After the season, Borchard participated in the 2001 Baseball World Cup, playing for Team USA. He hit a two-run homer in a 4-1 semifinal win against Chinese Taipei, though Cuba won it all with a 5-3 win over the US team.

Entering 2002, Borchard was 12th overall on the Baseball America top 100 prospect list – in between Austin Kearns and Nick Johnson. (Josh Beckett topped the list.) He made a strong bid to make the White Sox roster out of spring training, hitting .375, but a hairline fracture suffered when he fouled a pitch off his foot sealed his fate.23 Borchard played in the 2002 MLB All-Star Futures Game in Milwaukee on July 7, going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Through August, in 117 games with Charlotte, he hit .272/.349/.498, with 20 home runs (fifth in the International League), though he still had a high strikeout total (139).

On September 1 Borchard was pulled in the fourth inning of Charlotte’s game against Durham. The White Sox were bringing him up to the majors.

“It was a huge surprise,” Borchard said. “The way things have gone this year, it just seemed like it wasn’t going to be the right time.”24

Borchard hit sixth in the White Sox lineup the next day, starting in right field for manager Jerry Manuel. He fouled out against the Blue Jays’ Corey Thurman in the second inning. Then he followed a Carlos Lee double with a home run in the fourth inning. He became only the fourth player in White Sox history (after Russ Morman, Craig Wilson, and Lee) to hit a home run in his major-league debut. Miguel Olivo would join that list less than two weeks later. Matt Skole has the only such White Sox debut home run since (May 28, 2018). Career base hit number two – and career homer number two came a week later in Kansas City, of the inside-the-park variety off Paul Byrd. It was the first White Sox inside-the-parker since Chris Singleton on September 29, 2000.

After that, Borchard had six starts and seven games where he came in off the bench, finishing his 16-game introduction to the majors with a .222/.243/.389 slash line, 2 homers, and 5 RBIs. He got a few reps after the season, appearing with Mayaguez in the Puerto Rican Winter League.25

Borchard started the 2003 season at Triple-A Charlotte. He earned another 16-game taste of “The Show” following a May 23 promotion, but took a step back, hitting .184/.246/.265 with one home run and 18 strikeouts in 57 plate appearances. (The homer was off the pitcher who went on to win the Cy Young Award, Roy Halladay.) In early June, Borchard was sent back to Charlotte, where he finished his Triple-A season with a .253/.307/.398 slash line, 13 homers, and 53 RBIs in 114 games.

Borchard began the 2004 season at Charlotte, where he regained some of his power stroke, batting .266/.333/.495 with 16 home runs in 82 games. On May 17 he homered from both sides of the plate, including a grand slam in 13-5 rout of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.

On July 9, the White Sox placed Frank Thomas on the disabled list with an ankle injury; he was done for the year. Magglio Ordoñez returned after missing 37 games with a knee injury. Borchard was called up, but not for long. Nine days later, the White Sox made a deadline deal with the Rangers for Carl Everett, and Borchard was the odd man out. He headed back to Charlotte after going 3-for-19 (.158).

However, Ordoñez’s knee still wasn’t quite right, and after just 10 games back, he was done for the season (As it turned out, his White Sox career was over; he left for Detroit for 2005.) Borchard ended up with his first long look in the majors, taking over as the primary right fielder for the remainder of 2004.

Big-league pitching baffled Borchard; he posted a meager .174/.249/.338 line with nine home runs and 57 strikeouts in 222 plate appearances (25.7 percent strikeout rate; well above the major-league average of 16.9 percent) in 63 games for the South Siders. However, he did finish the season on a bit of a power surge, homering four times in his final eight games.

It might be considered that Borchard’s signature major-league moment came on August 30, 2004, as he etched his name in the White Sox record book. He launched a Brett Myers offering 504 feet to the right-field concourse. It surpassed the previous ballpark record of 495 feet by Frank Thomas in 2002. When told of his record-setting achievement, his reaction was “complete shock.”26 As of 2004, it remained the longest home run in what since 2016 has been called Guaranteed Rate Field.

After the 2004 season wrapped up, Borchard played for Mazatlán in the Mexican Winter League, but struggled mightily in 14 games, hitting .140 (7-for-50).

While the White Sox went wire-to-wire in 2005, Borchard hit .265/.338/.484 with 29 home runs … in Charlotte. Despite hitting .261 with five home runs in spring training, there wasn’t a spot on the roster for him, with Scott Podsednik, Aaron Rowand, and Jermaine Dye holding down the three starting outfield spots. Timo Pérez was the backup outfielder, with Ross Gload and Willie Harris as additional bench depth.

Borchard was a September call-up, going 5-for-12 in what proved to be his last action with the White Sox. He made one start – on September 30, the day after the White Sox clinched the AL Central Division championship – and went 1-for-6 with a double and four strikeouts in a 13-inning 3-2 win over Cleveland. It was his last regular-season hit in a White Sox uniform.

Borchard was dealt to the Mariners in exchange for lefty reliever Matt Thornton on March 20, 2006. He was barely given a chance in Seattle, logging only six games and nine plate appearances (he went 2-for-9) before being designated for assignment on April 23. The Marlins claimed him off waivers on May 3. The White Sox did well in the trade with Seattle; Thornton through 2024 is the White Sox franchise leader in relief appearances, with 512.

Borchard finished 2006 with 114 games (108 with Florida) and hit .230/.319/.393 with 10 home runs. It was the only time he played in as many as 100 major-league games in a season. He was used 51 times as a pinch-hitter; 49 times with the Marlins for 2006 NL Manager of the Year Joe Girardi. He hit a respectable .250 (11-for-44) with a solid .353 on-base percentage in pinch-hit plate appearances in 2006.

A fun piece of trivia: Borchard is the last player to homer off Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz in the same season, although only Smoltz was still pitching for the Braves at the time. Glavine was now with the Mets and Maddux had returned to the Cubs. On September 6, 2006, Borchard hit a solo homer to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. It would be all they needed, as Anibal Sánchez completed a no-hit, 2-0 win against the Diamondbacks that day.

In 2007 Borchard was the Marlins’ Opening Day starting right fielder – the only time he made an Opening Day starting lineup. He went 0-for-3 with a pair of walks, one with the bases loaded. He appeared in 85 games (41 as a pinch-hitter), putting together a .196/.287/.313 slash line. The strikeouts remained a problem, with 60 in 202 plate appearances; he was designated for assignment on August 8. His most recent hit had been a single on July 25 off reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb. It wound up being his final major-league hit.

Borchard finished the 2007 season with Triple-A Albuquerque, where he hit a torrid .355/.452/.711 with 8 home runs and 28 RBIs in 22 games, collecting Pacific Coast League Player of the Week honors August 20-26, when he hit .520 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.

Borchard signed with the Braves for 2008 and ended up starting the season at Triple-A Richmond, where he hit .274/346/.453 in 33 games before undergoing Tommy John surgery in May. Borchard had struggled with elbow pain since the spring of 2006, but as he battled for roster spots, he kept quiet on his injury and fought through it.27 Hoping for a pain-free fresh start, Borchard began 2009 playing for the Braves Triple-A affiliate Gwinnett. He was released in May, though he quickly signed with the Giants, where he reported to Triple-A Fresno.

On May 3, 2010, in Colorado Springs, Borchard became the second player in Fresno Grizzlies history to hit for the cycle (after Nate Schierholtz in 2008). He played in 125 games for Fresno in 2010, hitting .263/.340/.469 with 17 home runs.

In 2011 Borchard signed with the Bridgeport (Connecticut) Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League. He played in 24 games for manager Willie Upshaw, hitting .229 before announcing his retirement in June.

“You do this for 12 years and really see every end of the spectrum, it seems like,” Borchard said. “I really gave it every chance possible. At the end of the day, you really have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s just things go a certain way and that’s it and it’s time to move on and get into whatever’s next.”28

In 301 major-league games over six seasons, Borchard batted.205 with 26 home runs and 77 RBIs. He never attained All-Star status, but his career had some memorable moments. College World Series and Rose Bowl in the same season. Record-setting bonus. Th longest home run hit at a major-league ballpark. Not too many players can boast a 500-foot home run AND an inside-the-park home run on their résumé.

After his playing career Borchard worked as a financial representative for Northwestern Mutual in Charlotte and for several years served as the director of sales at Ventura Coastal LLC, which sells citrus juices, pulps, oils, purees, and more.29

Borchard was inducted into the Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2019 he was inducted into the Charlotte Knights Round Table of Honor. As of 2024 he was the Knights’ career leader with 78 home runs and 227 RBIs. The Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame came calling next, in 2023 – for both baseball and football.

Last revised: March 1, 2025

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Baseball Prospectus 2001 Edition (Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2001), 314.

2 Steve Henson, “Borchard: Despite a Relatively Low Passing Percentage, He Shows He’s No Average Joe,” Los Angeles Times, December 13, 1996: C9.

3 Jose Cepeda, “ChiSox Draft Borchard, Chamorro Taken With 12th Pick Overall in First Round,” Pacific Daily News (Agana Heights, Guam) June 7, 2000: 56.

4 Earl Gault, “Not Your Ordinary Joe: Son of Farmer Hasn’t Forgotten Working-Class Roots,” Rock Hill (South Carolina) Herald, May 30, 2002: 4C.

5 David Lassen, “They’re First Class All the Way,” Ventura County Star (Camarillo, California), January 19, 1997: 19.

6 Jim Parker, “Borchard Ponders the Question,” Thousand Oaks (California) Star, July 12, 1997: B5.

7 George Castle, “Borchard Happy With Switch to Baseball,” Hammond (Indiana) Times, March 16, 2001: 123.

8 Jim Parker, “Borchard to Stanford, Nielsen Chooses USC,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1997: C11.

9 Parker, “Borchard Ponders the Question.”

10 Parker, “Borchard to Stanford, Nielsen Chooses USC.”

11 Parker, “Borchard Ponders the Question.”

12 https://gostanford.com/news/2013/04/17/player-bio-joe-borchard-3.

13 Steve Elling, “Triangle’s Three-Sided Fall; Heels Let Another One Slip Away,” Raleigh News and Observer, September 20, 1998: C1.

14 Dave Newhouse, “No Ordinary Joe: Stanford’s Borchard a Two-Sport Success,” Oakland Tribune, April 30, 2000: 14.

15 Phil Rogers, “No. 1 Pick Borchard Gets Big Bonus,” Chicago Tribune, July 29, 2000: 51.

16 Jack Magruder, “Borchard’s Big Bonus,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), August 6, 2000: 38.

17 “Borchard Signs for Record Bonus,” Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2000: 121.

18 “Borchard Signs for Record Bonus.”

19 “Borchard Gets Hit in Debut,” Ventura County Star, August 19, 2000: C7.

20 “Warthogs’ Homers Too Much for Keys,” Winston-Salem Journal, August 26, 2000: 33.

21 Paul Sullivan, “Sox’s Pitching Staff Turns Things Around,” Chicago Tribune, August 31, 2000: 51.

22 Nick Gates, “West Is Best In 10: Borchard Has Final Swing in Home Run Duel,” Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 21, 2001: 39, 43.

23 Bob Buttitta, “Minor Delay,” Ventura County Star, March 19, 2002: 27.

24 Associated Press, “Borchard’s No Ordinary Joe: Rookie’s HR Powers Sox,” Hammond Times, September 3, 2002: 37.

25 https://www.mlb.com/player/joe-borchard-400021.

26 Associated Press, “Sox Ride Borchard’s Blast,” Chicago Tribune, August 31, 2004: 33, 19.

27 Bob Buttitta, “Borchard Hopes to Make Pain-Free Bid for the Bigs,” Ventura County Star, January 24, 2009: 29

28 Rich Elliott, “Bluefish’s Borchard, Missing His Family, Retires From Baseball,” Connecticut Post (Bridgeport), June 2, 2011. https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/bluefish-s-borchard-missing-his-family-retires-1407525.php.

29 Scott Merkin, “Where Are They Now? Get to Know Joe Borchard,” MLB.com, May 19, 2020. https://www.mlb.com/news/where-are-they-now-white-sox-joe-borchard.