House Still Looking For a Home
Baseball and Football Star a True Journeyman
By James Santelli

What a long, strange trip it's been for Astros catcher J.R. House. In the last decade, the West Virginia native has been called everything from a top prospect to "disappointing," to a "class individual" in his jaunts from football to baseball, organization to organization. House is anything but your typical minor league prospect.

In high school, J.R. spent fall semesters setting passing records at Nitro High School in West Virginia, and playing baseball at Seabreeze High School in Florida during the springtime, excelling at both sports. In the 1998 West Virginia Class AA State Championship, House lit up Morgantown High School for 594 yards and 10 touchdowns (yes, ten) to lead Nitro to a 69-52 victory.

J.R. threw for more yards in that '98 season than any high school quarterback in history, but decided to forgo a football scholarship at WVU play pro baseball after being drafted by the Pirates in the 5th round of the 1999 draft.

"Baseball is his true love," said Anthony Campanella, House's baseball coach at Seabreeze. "J.R. is a student of the game and will do what it takes to get an edge on the competition."

After hitting .335 with 29 home runs in his first two seasons in the minors, Baseball America named House the top prospect in the Pirates organization in 2001 and 2002.

Power and passion only got J.R. so far, though. In 2001, sore ribs lowered House's production, hitting only .258 with the Altoona Curve. He considered leaving to play football at WVU, but ultimately decided against it following a meeting with Pirates management.

A hernia and abdominal muscle pull ended his 2002 campaign after only 35 games. Reconstructive right elbow surgery kept J.R. off the field August of 2003. But he ended that year with sip of coffee on the big club, a pinch-hit single in his first major league at-bat on September 27th at Wrigley Field.

Despite a left knee sprain in 2004, he managed a .288 average in 92 games with the AAA Nashville Sounds, and went 1-for-9 in nine games with the Bucs.

However, the injuries only continued for House, when an MRI revealed severe right rotator cuff damage, forcing him to his fourth surgery in four years. Out of minor league options, the Pirates released J.R. on March 8, 2005.

"[The Pirates] made a decision that I probably wouldn't come back from an injury," said House in an interview. "That's just the way it goes."

Out of baseball, J.R. turned to the other game he loved, and enrolled at West Virginia University to play quarterback, a 25-year-old freshman. Despite the setbacks, House returned from his shoulder injury ready to compete.

However, J.R. faced another obstacle in his quest for playing time: competition, namely, another freshman QB by the name of Pat White, who passed for 828 yards and rushing for 952 in the '05 season.

House only played in two games and threw for 32 yards. But his coaches are quick to tell you that his impact was much deeper than a stat sheet will say.

"He was a great mentor for the kids we had," mentions Calvin McGee, West Virginia's offensive coordinator at the time. "His leadership and some of the words of wisdom that he had were great…not just for the quarterbacks, but all the young guys."

With his shoulder injury fully healed, and his footprint made in Morgantown, J.R. decided to return to baseball, signing a minor league deal with the Houston Astros on Jan. 25, 2006.

Although he hadn't played in a professional game in two years, House opened the 2006 season anything but rusty, with an 18-game hitting streak with Houston's Double-A affiliate, the Corpus Christi Hooks.

J.R. earned another chance in the bigs, playing 9 games with the Astros in 2006. He signed with the Baltimore Orioles in 2007, and hit his first major league home run on August 18 in Toronto off Jesse Litsch of the Blue Jays.

Now J.R. is back with the Astros organization once again, catching for the AAA Round Rock Express. Now 28 years old, he's 180 miles from Minute Maid Park, but closer than ever to a full-time job there.

But even if he doesn't achieve his major league goal, he has made quite a few good impressions along his broken road.

"He is such a fine and humbled young man," remarked Anthony Campanella, "(We) always find time to call each other. The coaches follow every step he takes."

WVU Head Coach Bill Stewart was quarterbacks coach during House's stint in Morgantown. "(The return from injury) couldn't have happened to a better guy.

"I don't know if it was divine intervention, but his shoulder improved and he's throwing the baseball."

The big guy upstairs wouldn't have it any other way.