Jason Heyward

Early life

His father, from Beaufort, South Carolina, played basketball and majored in engineering; his mother, from New York City, studied French. Eugene's uncle, Kenny Washington, played on two John Wooden-led NCAA championship UCLA teams in 1964 and 1965. Jason has a younger brother, Jacob, born in 1995, who attended the University of Miami and played baseball for the Hurricanes before being drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2016. The family moved to the Atlanta metropolitan area soon after Jason's birth.

He showed marked baseball ability from an early age, playing for a national championship before turning 10. His father drove Jason and Jacob to tournaments in the family Chevrolet Suburban, which accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles. Eugene emphasized hard work and discipline but stressed that baseball should be fun. Heyward attended Henry County High School in McDonough, Georgia, where his batting practice reportedly killed an oak tree in deep center field.

Professional career

The Atlanta Braves selected Heyward 14th overall in the 2007 MLB draft. He signed for $1.7 million, bypassing a National Letter of Intent with UCLA. At age 17, he began his minor league career with the Gulf Coast League Braves and Danville Braves, homering in his first professional game. In 2007, Baseball America named him the Braves' top prospect and best power hitter.

He split 2008 between Single-A Rome and High-A Myrtle Beach, recording 42 multi-hit games at Rome. After the season, Baseball America named him the South Atlantic League's Most Outstanding Prospect, Top Batting Prospect, and Most Exciting Player. MLB.com ranked him the third-best overall minor league prospect. Heyward debuted in MLB as Atlanta's starting right fielder on Opening Day 2010, made the NL All-Star team, and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting.

He hit 27 home runs with 82 RBIs, 93 runs, and 21 stolen bases in 2012. Traded to the St. Louis Cardinals after 2014, he signed with the Chicago Cubs as a free agent in December 2015 and won the World Series with them in 2016. The Cubs released him in November 2022; he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023 and 2024.

Personal life

In September 2012, Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia, selected Heyward for its Real Men Wear Pink campaign against breast cancer; he cited his grandmother's battle with the disease as inspiration. His brother Jacob is a coach in the San Francisco Giants organization. Heyward is married to Vedrana; their son was born in March 2022. The couple owns a $5.9 million mansion in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.