Bio
27-year-old Jose Layer is the older brother of Abdiel Layer and shares a similar career path of his younger brother. Jose was drafted in the 13th round of the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft by the San Francisco Giants out of Colegio Angel Davis High School in Puerto Rico. The older Layer made his professional debut later that summer, playing in 15 games for the Giants rookie-level team in the Arizona League. He hit .283 with nine RBI in his first taste of pro ball. In 2017 he once again played in 15 games with the same Giants club in Arizona. He saw his batting clip rise to .375 with seven RBI.
In 2018 J. Layer played in 39 games with Salem-Keizer of the short-season A level in the Northwest League. He hit five home runs while slashing a line of .280/.354/.446 with four stolen bases for the season. Layer played a career high 92 games in 2019 with Augusta of the South Atlantic League, hitting four home runs and driving in 30 runs for Augusta. He earned a late season promotion to AA Richmond and played in two games, going 1-for-7.
Following the cancelled 2020 season, J. Layer would sign with Windy City of the Frontier League. He played 20 games in 2021, hitting .239 with four RBI and another nine games in 2022 with two RBI, hitting .191. J. Layer played the last two winters in his native Puerto Rico, joining his brother for six games this past winter with San Juan and another 15 games in the team’s previous name known as RA12. In 46 winter league games over parts of six seasons, J. Layer has hit .277 in Puerto Rico. For his career, J. Layer has played in 238 games and slashed a line of .244/.308/.340 with 11 home runs and 78 RBI.