Meet Your City Employee: Jim Gutierrez
Meet Your City Employee
Jim Gutierrez
City of Sedro-Woolley
Public Works Park Maintenance
For the past 20 years I have worked for the city in the Parks Division and before that I worked for Skagit County Parks and Recreation. I grew up in Skagit County and graduated from Burlington-Edison High School in 1989. After high school, I was a professional baseball pitcher for 10 years. During this time, I traveled around the country every spring and summer, getting paid to throw a baseball and trying to achieve the ultimate dream of making it to the big leagues. Ever since I was a little kid, I excelled at sports, you name it I wanted to play it! But baseball was the one sport that stuck. I was blessed to be able to throw a baseball hard, and by the end of my freshman year people started to take notice. By my senior year, every time I took to the mound there were roughly 20 or so pro-scouts and college recruiters in the stands with radar guns clocking the speed of my pitches, which ranged between the high 80’s and low 90’s.
My senior year, right before graduation, I was drafted by the Seattle Mariners. Baseball really meant a lot to me, and I loved showing up at the ballpark every day, but it was also a job and I had to compete against guys like me from all over the country vying for a spot on the team. If you didn’t compete you would be released and sent home. Although I never made it to the big leagues, I was able to stick around for 10 years, getting paid to do something I love. During that time, I played for the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers, and Houston Astros, making it to the AAA with the Astros.
During my baseball career I was able to meet some great people making lots of friends along the way all while traveling to some to of the best parts of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It’s a lot easier for me to name the states that I didn’t visit versus the ones I did. I’d do it all over again if I could, I miss those times every year when spring comes around.
In my time away from work, I volunteer helping coach pitchers at B-EHS. I also enjoy golf, hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, and traveling, pretty much anything that gets me outdoors.
