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About

As long as I can remember I've loved sports, and when professional baseball player didn't quite pan out as a career path (though I'm still holding out hope for a Jim Morris-type comeback), sports writing became the next best thing to being on the field.

I worked as a stringer at the Elgin Courier News of Sun-Times News Group from 2006-12, covering anything that falls under the scope of "high school sports". That meant everything from your standard basketball and football game to cross-country meets and volleyball matches, and everything in between.

While the local sports scene was fun, there is no question my dream job is covering Major League Baseball, and Bleacher Report has afforded me that opportunity.

I began writing for B/R not seeking employment of any sort, but simply looking for an outlet where I could hone my writing skills and get some feedback from the sports fan community.

In any event, I published my first article on April 29, 2009 back when the site was still finding its footing and I was thrilled to see my article be read by literally hundreds of people over the course of a few weeks.

In my five-plus years writing for the site, I've managed to work my way up from contributor, to Cubs Featured Columnist, to National MLB Featured Columnist, and now I'm in a position where I've turned writing for B/R from a hobby into a career.

I'm thankful for everything I've gotten so far out of my time here at B/R, and I look forward to watching the site continue to grow.

Now to brag about myself with a series of numbers and dates:

Surpassed 1 million reads on August 4th, 2011.
Surpassed 2 million reads on February 6th, 2012.
Surpassed 5 million reads on July 13th, 2012
Surpassed 10 million reads on March 17th, 2013
Surpassed 15 million reads on September 19, 2013
Surpassed 20 million reads on February 13, 2014 (42nd writer to reach that mark)
Surpassed 25 million reads on May 25, 2014 (37th writer to reach that mark)
Surpassed 30 million reads on August 26, 2014 (37th writer to reach that mark)
Surpassed 35 million reads on January 7, 2015 (40th writer to reach that mark)

7/12: First 1 million read month by an MLB writer
3/13: 1 million read month
7/13: 1 million read month
12/13: 1 million read month
1/14: 1 million read month
2/14: 1 million read month
3/14: 1 million read month
4/14: 1 million read month
5/14: 1 million read month
6/14: 1 million read month
7/14: 2 million read month
8/14: 1 million read month
12/14: 1 million read month
1/15: 1 million read month
2/15: 1 million read month
4/13: Featured Columnist of the Month

For all things baseball, follow me on Twitter.

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  • Matt Hill posted 31 days ago

    Matt Hill

    See Your Team's Starting Line Up

    Whenever you make these type of listings why not create a thumbnail gallery so we don't have to click through every team just to get to our team. Whenever I see these I just move along even though I would like to have a look at my team's information... San Francisco Giants, just 24 clicks away...

  • Matt Hill posted 31 days ago

    Matt Hill

    See Your Team's Starting Line Up

    Whenever you make these type of listings why not create a thumbnail gallery so we don't have to click through every team just to get to our team. Whenever I see these I just move along even though I would like to have a look at my team's information... San Francisco Giants, multiple, multiple clicks away...

  • Matt Hill posted 31 days ago

    Matt Hill

    See You Team's Starting Line Up

    Whenever you make these type of listings why not create a thumbnail gallery so we don't have to click through every team just to get to our team. Whenever I see these I just move along even though I would like to have a look at my teams information...

  • Hunter Davis posted 31 days ago

    Hunter Davis

    You probably will not see this. You probably will not take heed of this. You probably will not care. But. You sir do not do any research into your postings. The errors in many of your postings are inexcusable just if you followed MLB Trade Rumors... FYI. Chris Davis is consider a far superior defensive 1B over Steve Pearce who is considered for more a DH/RF role depending on the situation. Delmon Young is more of a backup OFer and more of against LH pitchers DH option. Also, Astros don't consider Gattis a proven OFer and are going to give him more reps at 1B and DH while backing up Castro and Conger at the dish. And who in their right mind would start Anthony Gose in the 2 slot in ANY lineup. You;d put more establish hitters like Castenellos or JD Martinez in a position like that. Didi you forget about David De Jesus? You've lost me. I know I'm just ONE guy. I just wanted you to know that based on the info coming out from market and team sources, many of your articles come across as uninformed and idiotic. Good luck, hopefully journalism isn't your profession. That requires doing RESEARCH.

  • Jack Ryan posted 99 days ago

    Jack Ryan

    nice joel!

  • John Ricketts posted 154 days ago

    John Ricketts

    You are a scrub

  • LeeAnn Lassiter posted 176 days ago

    LeeAnn Lassiter

    Hey, Joel. Thanks for the clarification! I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I see it again.

  • kings fan posted 194 days ago

    kings fan

    i agree with your prediction for the a's winning their race with the angels by 4 games, but i think you shouldve also added that the a's were down a game at this exact same time last year to texas and went on to win the division by 5 games, that wouldve probably really silenced a lot of the critics. overall good article though

  • Doug Channell posted 202 days ago

    Doug Channell

    I’ve written a book for sports fans of all ages, entitled GeorgeAnn Baseball, that I'd like you to read!

    http://www.amazon.com/GeorgeAnn-Baseball-Douglas-Channell-ebook/dp/B00LKSIXA0

    Thanks!

  • Mendoland posted 208 days ago

    Mendoland

    Hi Joel- I don't always agree with you but read your Power Rankings religiously every Monday morning. As a Giants fan, part of their struggles have had to do with injuries and players on the DL. But then again....just about every team is impacted by this. Have you ever done a "what if" power ranking of where the teams might be if no one was out on DL?

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