Longtime shortstop Jay Pecci will become the first RailCats player to spend six seasons in a ‘Cats uniform when he returns in 2010.

Pecci, 33, has been the RailCats shortstop throughout Manager Greg Tagert’s tenure and is the franchise’s all-time leader in hits (486) and at bats (1,700).  A veteran of over 1,000 minor league games, Pecci has been arguably the best shortstop in the Northern League during the last five years, batting at least .266 each season and consistently improving his defensive numbers.  A Novato, California native, Pecci ranks in the top five in league history in nearly every offensive category in team history and is the only RailCats player to be selected to four different Mid-Season Northern League All-Star Games (2006-09).

Last season, Pecci overcame a slow start offensively (going 6-for-50 in May) to post his second-best batting average as a RailCat (.292).  Pecci hit better than .350 in both June and July, and posted the best on-base percentage (.372) of his RailCats career by drawing 35 walks in 82 games.  Primarily the team’s number three hitter, Pecci was one of five different ‘Cats with at least 46 RBI (48) in 2009 and scored an even 50 runs.

Originally selected by the Oakland Athletics in the 11th round of the 1998 Major League Entry Draft out of Stanford, Pecci played four seasons in the A’s system, topping out at Double-A Midland in 2001.  Following that season, Pecci was claimed by the Seattle Mariners in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft and advanced to Triple-A Tacoma before the end of the 2003 season.  Pecci finished 2003 as a San Francisco Giants farmhand and spent the entire 2004 season with the Norwich Navigators (AA) in the Eastern League.