Kevin Pillar

When he was promoted to the majors two years later, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said: "Clearly ... and I say that respectfully, we got him wrong. Just because, if he has a chance to get to the big leagues, you don't wait for the [32nd] round to select him."

Batting .379 for the season, he was also named a Rawlings/ABCA National Gold Glove Award winner, ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic 1st-team All-District, an Honorable Mention All-American by NCBWA, 1st-team Daktronics/NCAA, NCBWA and Rawlings/ABCA All-West Region, and 1st-team All-CCAA selection, giving him three All-CCAA honors in three years.

In his senior year, he batted .369 with a 1.000 fielding percentage.

Pillar finished his college career as the school's all-time batting leader, with a .367 average.

He was also 4th in the league in hits (82), and 6th in slugging percentage (.534).

He was named an Appalachian League All Star.

He holds the team's all-time records for batting average, on-base percentage (.377), and slugging percentage.

He was then called up to play for the Vancouver Canadians in its playoff run, and batted .391 to help the team win the Northwest League title.

Kevin Andrew Pillar (born January 4, 1989) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Chicago White Sox organization.

He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Atlanta Braves.

Pillar was an All-American center fielder in college.

As a freshman in 2008 he hit .379, the fifth-highest average in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (he was also third in the league with 20 doubles, and fifth in the league with 17 steals), and was named to the All-CCAA 2nd team.

As a sophomore in 2009 he batted .329 and was again named a 2nd-Team All-CCAA selection, while stealing 18 bases in 19 attempts.

He set the NCAA Division II record with a 54-game hitting streak in 2010, and established his school's all-time record with a career batting average of .367.

In 2010, as a junior he set an NCAA Division II record at the school, with a 54-game hitting streak, five games more than the prior record.

During Pillar's streak he came to the plate eight times needing a hit in his final at bat, and got one.

Pillar was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 32nd round (979th overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft.

In 2011, he batted .347, winning the Appalachian League batting title and leading the organization in batting average in his first minor league season, and was named an Appalachian League All-Star.

Pillar was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 32nd round (979th overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft.

His signing bonus of $1,000 was so little, after taxes, that he needed to ask his mom for some additional money so that he could have enough to buy an iPhone.

Pillar played for the Bluefield Blue Jays in 2011, and batted .347 over 60 games, winning the Appalachian League batting title and leading the organization in batting average.

In 2012 Pillar batted .323, while stealing 51 bases (second-most in the organization), and was named the Midwest League MVP, a mid-season and a post-season All-Star, the best hitting prospect in the league by Baseball America, and a Topps Class A All-Star and MiLB.com Organization All-Star.

Pillar began the 2012 minor league season with the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts of the Midwest League, where he recorded a .322 batting average (3rd in the league) with a .390 on base percentage (4th in the league), and stole 35 bases (5th in the league; while being caught 6 times) in 86 games.

In 2013, he led the organization in hits for the second consecutive year, and Baseball America designated him the "Best Hitter for Average" among the Blue Jays' prospects.

He made his major league debut for the Blue Jays in August 2013.

In 2014, he led the International League in doubles while batting .323, and was named an IL post-season All-Star.

In 2015, Pillar led all major league outfielders in putouts, and was named the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year for center field.

In his minor league career through 2016, he batted .324.

In 2016, he was awarded the Fielding Bible Award for the center field position.

In 2017, his .997 fielding percentage as a center fielder was the best in the American League.

Pillar was born in the Los Angeles district of West Hills, California, to Mike and Wendy Pillar.

He grew up a Los Angeles Dodgers fan.

Pillar is Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah; his mother is Jewish, whereas his father is Christian.

Through 2022, he was 5th in career steals on the all-time list of Jewish major leaguers (directly behind Brad Ausmus, and ahead of Gabe Kapler), 9th in career doubles (behind Sid Gordon), and 10th in career hits (behind Kevin Youkilis).

His nickname is K.P.

In high school at Chaminade College Prep, Pillar moved from the infield to the outfield in his junior year for the baseball team.

He batted just under .400 for his high school career, with a high of .463 in his senior year.

He also played on offense, defense, and special teams with the football team, as well as point guard on the basketball team, and earned first-team all-league honors in each sport.

Pillar attended California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California.

There, he majored and graduated with a degree in mathematics and business, and played center field for the Toros baseball team, for which he was an All-American.