James Bourque (baseball)


James Buchanan Bourque is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball.

Career

Bourque attended Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan and played college baseball at the University of Michigan. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 14th round of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He spent his first professional season with the Gulf Coast Nationals and Auburn Doubledays.
Bourque missed the 2015 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Prior to the 2018 season, the Nationals converted him from a starter into a relief pitcher. Bourque turned in a 1.70 ERA between the Class-A Advanced Potomac Nationals and Class-AA Harrisburg Senators, working exclusively in relief, and rocketed up the prospect charts to be ranked as the Nationals' 17th-best prospect by MLB.com midway through the 2018 season. The Nationals added him to their 40-man roster after the 2018 season.
After Bourque pitched to a 1.33 ERA through 14 games with Class-AA Harrisburg, the Nationals called him up on May 25, 2019, to replace Joe Ross in the bullpen. He made his major league debut the following game, pitching in the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins.
On May 29, 2019, Bourque was optioned to the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies and spent the rest of the season there, going 4–1 with a 5.56 ERA over 43.2 innings.