Former Pitt Baseball Player, MLB Veteran Dies

PITTSBURGH — A former Pitt Panthers star on the baseball team during the 1990s died recently.

Jason Conti, who played three seasons for Pitt from 1994-96, died on May 17 at 50 years old after suffering a traumatic brain injury, according to an Instagram post from his former Pitt teammate, Kevin Kramer.

Conti was a star in multiple sports for nearby Seneca Valley High School in Harmony, Pa., about 30 miles north of the city of Pittsburgh.

He was the starting quarterback for his junior and senior seasons in 1992 and 1993, but baseball was his best sport, batting .477 as a senior in 1994.

The San Diego Padres selected Conti in the 74th round of the 1993 MLB Draft, but chose to honor his commitment with Pitt.

Conti had great speed with the Panthers, setting the freshman record with 25 stolen bases in 1994, which rank 10th most in a season in program history. He also stole 33 bases in 1995 and 31 bases in 1996, which rank third and fifth most in a season in program history, respectively, while his 89 stolen bases are the most in a Pitt career.

He also ranks 20th in runs scored, with 120 in his Pitt career, and is one of seven players in the 25 stolen base club.

Conti excelled for the Panthers, leading the team with 68 hits in 1995, earning Second Team All-Big East honors, and then both with 42 hits and 21 RBIs in 1996.

He also played on some great Pitt teams, winning the Big East Regular Season Title in 1994 with a 31-16-1 record, and then winning the Big East Tournament in 1995 with a 39-16 record and making the program's last NCAA Tournament.

The Arizona Diamondbacks took him in the 32nd round of the 1996 MLB Draft. He would spend four seasons in the minor leagues before finally making it to the MLB In 2000.

Conti had trouble finding playing time on the 2001 Diamondbacks, who went on to win their first and only World Series in franchise history.

Arizona would trade Conti to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on July 25, 2001 and he had his best season of his MLB career in 2002, where he slashed .257/.315/.383 for an OPS of .698 in a career-high 78 games.

Conti went to the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade before the 2003 season and he signed with the Texas Rangers for the 2004 season.

He spent the 2006 season in the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals minor league systems and 28 games Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League. He capped off his professional career in 2007, after playing for Bologna in the summer in Italy.

Conti finished his MLB career with 182 games, slashing .238/.296/.362 for an OPS of .658, 100 hits, 24 doubles, five triples, six home runs, 47 RBIs and 33 walks to 124 strikeouts.

He took cooking classes Arizona State after his playing career and embarked on his dream of becoming a chef, working at various restaurants.

This includes working both a line cook and later a chef at Alo Cafe in Scottsdale, chef/kitchen manager at Americana Tempe and as a chef at The Craftsman Cocktails & Kitchen in Tempe the past decade.