Jeff Duncan

Jeffrey Matthew Duncan (born December 9, 1978) is an American baseball coach and former Major League Baseball outfielder for the New York Mets. He is the head baseball coach at Kent State University. Duncan played college baseball at Iowa State University in 1998 before transferring to Arizona State University from 1999 to 2000 to play for coach Pat Murphy. After a standout college career, he would be drafted in the 7th round in 2000 by the New York Mets. He then played in the Major Leagues for the New York Mets in and . Duncan also played in the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Toronto Blue-Jays organizations. He hit and threw left-handed. Amateur career Duncan graduated from Lemont High School where he played baseball. He was chosen by the Chicago Cubs in the 41st round of the Major League Baseball Draft, but chose to attend Iowa State University instead. A year later, he transferred to Arizona State University. In 1999, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, and was named a league all-star. Professional career He was drafted by the Mets in the 7th round of the draft, and agreed to a contract. His professional career started slowly with a batting average of .242 for the short-season A-level Pittsfield Mets in 2000 and only .217 with the A-level Capital City Bombers in . He had few RBI in the two seasons, but registered 61 stolen bases. Duncan's hitting broke through in with an average close to .400 for two A-level teams leading all Mets Minor Leaguers. In 2003, Duncan hit well at Double-A Binghamton. Duncan was called up to the majors and made his debut on May 20, 2003. After three games and one start, Duncan was back in Binghamton until mid-July. When he returned to the majors, he collected 12 hits in 11 games and his average stood at .400. This turned out to be the lone good hitting streak of his career. In August 2003, he hit .106 with no RBI and spent a short time with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. His .200 average in September was punctuated by the only three-hit game of his career.