Joe Urbon

Joseph Curtis Urbon (born March 6, 1968) is a sports agent and former professional baseball player. He is a Co-Head of Baseball at CAA Sports.[1] CAA Sports is a division of Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports agency, and represents more than 650 of the world's best athletes in baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf, in addition to icons in individual sports, Olympians, coaches, broadcasters, and other sports personalities.[2]

Background

Urbon is a native of Seattle, Washington, and played baseball at Kentridge High School and Washington State University,[3] where he was a pitcher and played the outfield from 1987-1989. He was drafted in 1989 by the Philadelphia Phillies,[4] as an outfielder. While pursuing a career as a professional baseball player, Urbon completed his education, graduating cum laude from WSU in 1990 with a B.A. in English.

Urbon played minor league baseball for the Batavia Clippers (1987), Spartanburg Phillies (1988), Clearwater Phillies (1988–1989) and Reno Silver Sox (1989).[5] Urbon tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while playing for the Silver Sox, which prematurely ended his playing career.[3]

Sports agent

Urbon is a Co-Head of CAA Sports’ Baseball division, along with Nez Balelo, Jeff Berry, Greg Landry, and Brodie Van Wagenen.

CAA Baseball clients have combined for 101 All-Star selections and won 17 Silver Slugger Awards, 14 Gold Glove Trophies, eight Rookie of the Year Awards, three Cy Young Awards and five Most Valuable Player awards. CAA Sports has advised 57 First-Round draft selections since 2005 and has negotiated more $180 million in amateur draft signing bonuses.[6]

Since Opening Day 2010, CAA has negotiated more than $2.1 billion in contracts, more than any other agency. That includes 15 deals of $50 million or more (Buster Posey, Ryan Braun, Matt Cain, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Jones, Andre Ethier, Rusney Castillo, John Danks, Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Ryan Howard, Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes, Jason Bay and Matt Garza.) It also includes six contracts worth $100 million or more (Howard, Cano, Posey, Braun, Cain and Zimmerman).

In 1992, Urbon joined sports and entertainment agency Octagon (then Advantage International) rising through the ranks before being named Managing Director of Octagon Baseball in 1998. In addition to clients that included First Round Draft picks, Rookie of the Year, All-Stars and future Hall of Famers, Urbon led Octagon’s push into international markets, particularly Japan, where he signed such notable stars as Kazuhisa Ishii[7] (Los Angeles Dodgers), Kosuke Fukudome[8] (Chicago Cubs) and Hiroki Kuroda[9] (Los Angeles Dodgers).

Urbon joined CAA Sports in 2008,[10] bringing with him his stable of clients including All-Stars Grady Sizemore and Bay and rising young star Denard Span (Washington Nationals), among many others.

The many Major League contracts Urbon has negotiated include Bay’s four-year, $66 million deal with the Mets in 2009,[11] Sizemore’s six-year, $23.45 million deal with the Indians[12] (setting a record for a player with less than two years in the majors) and Span’s five-year, $16.5 million contract with the Twins.[13]

In the draft, Urbon has negotiated signing bonuses for San Diego Padres 2012 first-round pick Max Fried ($3 million);[14] St. Louis Cardinals 2012 second-round pick Carson Kelly ($1.6 million, more than $1 million above the assigned value of $574,300 for the No. 86 pick);[15] and Boston Red Sox 2011 second-round pick Henry Owens ($1.55 million, more than $600,00 above the slot recommendation of $889,200).[16]

Personal

Urbon resides with his wife, Katherine, and three young children in Manhattan Beach, CA.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/02/Feb-23/Labor-and-Agents/Close.aspx, Sports Business Daily
  2. ↑ http://www.sports.caa.com/, CAA Sports official web site
  3. 1 2 http://www.seattlebusinessmag.com/article/pitching, Seattle Business, Ballplayer turned sports agent Joe Urbon covers all the bases for his talented clients
  4. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?query_type=name&name=urbon&
  5. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=urbon-001jos, Joe Urbon page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ http://www.sports.caa.com/baseball.aspx, CAA Sports web site
  7. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jan/30/sports/sp-dodgers30, LA Times
  8. ↑ http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2007/12/hendry-fukudome.html, Chicago Tribune
  9. ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-11-21-275671140_x.htm, USA Today
  10. ↑ http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2008/04/20080421/Labor-Agents/Coming-Draft-Brings-Ex-Bulls-Star-Armstrong-Into-Spotlight-For-WMG.aspx, Sports Business Journal
  11. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4779416
  12. ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2388456
  13. ↑ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100313&content_id=8778192&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
  14. ↑ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/varsitytimesinsider/2012/06/baseball-max-fried-leaves-for-his-dream-job-on-friday.html
  15. ↑ http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2012/06/oregon_ducks_recruit_carson_ke_2.html
  16. ↑ http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2011/08/16/red-sox-sign-left-hander-henry-owens/

External links

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