Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
South Broward teammates battle in the big leagues
In 2010, Josh James and José Marmolejos shared the field at South Broward. Marmolejos was a power-hitting outfielder and James was a standout pitcher and infielder.
They met again on the diamond on Monday night, this time on opposite sides of a Major League Baseball field. James was the Houston Astros’ starting pitcher, while Marmolejos was the Seattle Mariners’ designated hitter.
“It’s exciting to see guys who were not drafted out of high school and not highly recruited out of high school make it to the big leagues,” former South Broward coach Joe Giummule said. “It’s really a dream come true and it’s a good story for all those other kids growing up in this country that have a dream of playing professional baseball and are told they’re too small or they don’t throw hard enough or they’re not a good enough hitter. These guys are true grinders.”
James faced his former teammate, who recorded his first Major League hit on Sunday, twice in his three innings of work. In the second inning, James struck out Marmolejos with a changeup down and away.
But Marmolejos got the better of James when they faced each other in the third inning, singling up the middle in James’ last inning of work.
“I’m rooting for Jose to get hits and for Josh to get the next batter to roll into a 6-4-3 double play or something like that,” said Giummule, who is now coaching at Taravella.
Marmolejos was a first-team All-County selection in 2010, hitting .408 with eight home runs and 32 RBI in his senior year. He signed with the Washington Nationals as an international free agent in 2011 and spent nine years in the Nationals’ minor league system before signing a minor-league contract with the Mariners before this season. He made his Major League debut on Friday.
“Jose was the best high school hitter I’ve ever coached and saw up until that time,” Giummule said. “He could just pure hit. I really believed in him and felt he should’ve been drafted. I thought he had a chance because he could really hit.”
After graduating from South Broward in 2011, James played for Barry University and Western Oklahoma State College. The Astros selected him in the 34th round of the 2014 MLB draft, and he made his Major League debut in 2018. James has pitched in 56 Major League games and has a 4.23 ERA.
“Josh was just this big, gangly kid that hadn’t figured it out yet,” Giummule said. “If you would’ve told me Josh was going to throw 93 miles per hour in a few years, I would say, ‘Yeah, I could believe it,’ because he was 6 foot 4, his arms hung down to his ankles. But never in my mind would I imagine he would make it to the big leagues or throw 103 miles per hour.”