Austin Jackson (baseball)

Austin Jarriel Jackson (born February 1, 1987) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. Prior to playing professionally, he attended Billy Ryan High School.

The New York Yankees selected Jackson in the 2005 MLB draft and traded him to the Tigers at the end of the 2009 season, where he made his MLB debut in 2010. The next two seasons, he made the postseason on both occasions with the Tigers. During those seasons, he led the American League in hitting triples, and won the Fielding Bible Award for center field in 2011.





== Early years ==

In 1999, Baseball America named Jackson the best 12-year-old baseball player in the nation, and the best 15-year-old baseball player three years later.

Jackson attended Billy Ryan High School in Denton, Texas.

In basketball, he was listed as the #10-ranked high school point guard in the country by Athlon Sports after he averaged 22.5 points, five rebounds and three assists per game his junior year in high school. In baseball, he hit .423 with five homers and 34 RBI for his class AAAA Texas State runner-up baseball team and was rated the No.