Jonathan Lucroy: The greatest catcher in Ragin’ Cajuns’ history 

The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns have a long history of baseball, and a deep love for it. There have been many greats and fan favorites to don the vermilion and white on the diamond. One of the best players to do so, and the best catcher in school history, was Jonathan Lucroy.

Lucroy is different from the other fan favorites that have played ball in Lafayette, mainly because he had a 12-year career in the majors. 

His contributions were recognized when he was inducted into the MLB Hall of Pretty Good on Sept. 11, 2025. The Hall of Pretty Good is a page on Instagram and X that is meant to give a spotlight to solid career players like Lucroy. It is a place to honor players that had good careers, and even amazing seasons, but were not good enough to get into the Hall of Fame.

Lucroy was voted in with 83% of the 29,500 votes recorded by the page. He acknowledged this on X saying, “Thank you all who have elected me to this prestigious institution. I’m humbled and honored to join such a quality group of mediocre players.”

Lucroy was born on June 13, 1986, in Eustis, Florida, and was the oldest of three brothers. He attended Umatilla High School, where he was an absolute beast in the batters box. He batted .500 as a junior and .450 as a senior, and finished his career with a school record of 22 home runs. He also racked up a number of All-State and All-Region honors in his time.

During his senior year he announced that he would play for Tony Robichaux and the Ragin’ Cajuns. He would instantly prove his worth as a freshman.

Lucroy was the youngest of the three catchers on roster in 2005, so he would not see much time behind the plate. But during his short time in Lafayette, he proved that he was too good at the plate to not play, so he was named the designated hitter. 

As a freshman he batted .379 with five home runs and 48 RBIs, helping the Cajuns to a 48–19 record, which earned them the title of regular season champs for the Sun Belt. This incredible performance earned him honors, being named to the All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team and the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team.

As a sophomore he was named the starting catcher for the Cajuns. This new responsibility would contribute to a dip in his batting at the start of the year, though he would turn it around at the start of April.

He would finish his sophomore year with a .333 average, 12 home runs and 58 RBIs, leading the team in the latter two stats. He would end the year with an incredible showing in the Sun Belt Tournament, notching 11 hits in 17 at-bats, with seven of those being extra base hits. This would not be enough to see the Cajuns overcome the Troy Trojans in the final though.

Lucroy’s junior season would be both his best and last season at Louisiana. The All-Sun Belt catcher would lead the Cajuns to another regular season title while leading the team in batting (.373), hits (87), doubles (19), RBI (59) and total bases (155). Those 155 total bases would set a school record for total bases in a season. 

During the NCAA D-1 tournament against Texas A&M, Lucroy hit his 182nd collegiate RBI, breaking Louisiana’s all-time record held by Damian Grossie. The Cajuns would not be able to get out of the regionals after losing to Texas A&M 5–2 in the elimination game.

Lucroy would forgo his senior season to enter the 2007 MLB Draft. He would finish his college career with a batting average of .356, slugging percentage of .612, 54 doubles, 35 home runs, 184 RBI and 414 total bases. 

Jonathan Lucroy was drafted in the third round, 101st overall, by the Milwaukee Brewers. He would sign with the team just two days later, officially starting his professional baseball career. 

Lucroy would make his MLB debut three years later on May 22, 2010 after Brewers starting catcher Gregg Zaun was put on the 15-day disabled list. He would hit a single in the eight during the Brewers 15–3 loss against the Minnesota Twins. 

He would spend six seasons playing for the Brewers, becoming a fan favorite. He was named to two All-Star teams in 2014 and 2016.

2016 would be his last season in Milwaukee as he was traded to the Texas Rangers. Lucroy would spend two seasons on the Rangers before he spent his last five years in the league bouncing from team to team as a journeyman.

He would officially retire in 2022 after his last season was spent with his childhood team, the Atlanta Braves in 2021 during their World Series season.  

He would finish his career with a batting average of .274, an OBP of .335 and .416 slugging. He notched 1,134 hits, 108 of which would go for home runs. His fielding was equally good as he finished with a fielding percentage of .993, making only 67 errors in over 1,100 games. This helped contribute to his 17.5 career WAR.

Lucroy’s 12-year career in the MLB was very respectable. While he will never be remembered as the greatest catcher in his generation, he was nonetheless good at what he did.