Fausto Carmona

Fausto Carmona
Cleveland Indians – No. 55
Pitcher
Born: December 7, 1983 (1983-12-07) Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 15, 2006 for the Cleveland Indians
Career statistics (through 2011 season)
Win-Loss	53–66
Earned run average	4.59
Strikeouts	565
Teams
Cleveland Indians (2006–present)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (2010)

Fausto C. Carmona (born Roberto Hernandez Heredia) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. Carmona made his major league debut with the Indians on April 15, 2006. He was initially used as a starting pitcher, but later in the season was turned into a reliever, and now is a starting pitcher again.

He is known for his hard sinker and exhibiting good control of his pitches. He did not throw exceptionally hard when he first debuted in the minor leagues at age 18 (actually 21), but has since developed a fastball that can reach 97 mph. He also throws a slider and a changeup, but relies mostly on his hard sinker to get many ground ball outs.

On April 10, 2008, the Cleveland Indians signed Carmona to a four-year $15 million contract extension through 2011 with three individual club options through 2014. If the deal maxes out, Carmona will make $43 million, with the potential to make another $5 million in escalators.

On April 1, 2011, Fausto Carmona made his first opening day start for the Cleveland Indians. In that game, Carmona became the first starting pitcher to allow 10 runs in a team's first game in over 60 years.

Personal

Carmona was arrested in the Dominican Republic on January 19, 2012, and charged with falsifying identification. Dominican police reported that his real name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia and he is three years older than previously thought.

Baseball career

Minor leagues

He was named the Indians' 2003 Minor League Player of the Year (receiving the "Lou Boudreau Award").

Carmona was the first non-rehab start player and full-time roster member of the Lake County Captains to play a game in the big leagues.

2006 season

On April 15, 2006, Carmona made his debut when he started the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. He pitched 6 innings giving up one earned run and striking out four. He earned the win, which was his only win of the season.

On July 20, 2006, the Indians traded closer Bob Wickman to the Atlanta Braves, and the Indians chose Carmona to fill the role. In the span of seven days (from July 30 through August 5), Carmona recorded four losses and three blown saves for the Indians, including walk-off home runs surrendered to Boston's David Ortiz and Detroit's Iván Rodríguez. Carmona lost the closer's role to Tom Mastny soon thereafter.

After the closer experiment, Carmona was demoted to the Buffalo Bisons, the Indians' Class Triple-A affiliate, where he was placed back in a starter's role. He was promoted to Cleveland again in September, and finished the season as a starter. Carmona ended the 2006 season with a record of 1–10 and a 5.42 ERA.

2007 season

Carmona pitching in his MLB debut

In 2007, Carmona was originally slated to be the Indians' spot starter and to start the season at the team's minor league affiliate, Triple-A Buffalo. However, after Cliff Lee went down with an abdominal strain in spring training that would force him to miss at least the first three weeks of the season, the Indians gave Carmona the opportunity to start in Lee's place. In his first start of the season on April 13, the Chicago White Sox battered him for six earned runs in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Carmona quickly rebounded, holding the New York Yankees' potent offense to just 2 ER in 6 IP in his next start. He received a no decision, however, when Joe Borowski allowed six runs in the ninth inning to give the Yankees the win. Carmona settled into a groove and won his next five starts, allowing just 5 ER over 39 IP. In the streak, Carmona beat two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins twice and in one of his starts against the Twins, center fielder Torii Hunter was quoted saying, "I can't wait until we face normal pitchers. This guy's sinker is practically unhittable." The first victory came on April 24 in Minnesota, when Carmona allowed just 2 ER over 7 ²⁄₃ IP. The second start came at home on May 17, when Carmona tossed his first career complete game shutout, scattering just four hits along the way.

On July 25, Carmona tossed eight shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox in a 1–0 Indians win. The victory capped a 5–0 July for Carmona. Carmona went on to go 19–8 with a 3.06 ERA and 215 innings pitched for the 2007.

Carmona received serious consideration for the AL Cy Young award, along with teammate CC Sabathia, Boston's Josh Beckett and the Angels' John Lackey. True to his dominant 2007 regular season form, Carmona, in his 1st career postseason game in Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS against the Yankees and Andy Pettitte, allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits over 9 innings in an extra-inning win for Cleveland. He finished fourth in the 2007 Cy Young vote.

On October 20, Carmona was battered by the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 2007 ALCS, surrendering seven runs in two plus innings. He was knocked out of the game in the third inning of the Indians' 12–2 loss to the Sox at Fenway Park.

2008 season

Carmona started the 2008 season off strong before going down on May 24 with a left hip strain after running to cover first base. He stayed on the disabled list for 2 months before making his return to the starting rotation on July 26.

On September 19 against Detroit, Carmona hit Gary Sheffield with a pitch. The two exchanged words as Sheffield walked to first base with his bat tucked under this arm. Before the next pitch, Carmona made a pick-off throw to first base. Sheffield again started exchanging words with Carmona, and this time charged the mound inducing a bench-clearing brawl. Carmona was seen landing several punches to Sheffield's head, which left him bloodied. Carmona and Sheffield were both ejected, along with Indians catcher Víctor Martínez and Tigers second baseman Plácido Polanco.

2009 season

Carmona had a subpar season, starting 24 games for Cleveland, going 5–12 with 6.32 ERA. He struck out 79 batters in 125.1 innings. The Indians finished the year 4th in the AL Central with 65–97 record.

2010 season

Carmona improved dramatically from 2009 and was honored with his 1st All Star selection. As of August 3, he had an 11–8 record with a 3.78 ERA, while striking out 77 batters in 138 innings. He has been the lone bright spot in the Cleveland starting rotation.

2011 season

On February 28, 2011, Indians Manager Manny Acta announced that Carmona had been selected as his starter for Cleveland's season opener against the Chicago White Sox. The April 1st start would be his first on opening day.

In front of a sellout crowd of 41,721 fans at Cleveland's ballpark Progressive Field, Carmona started the 2011 season for the Indians. Carmona would be dueling Chicago's Ace, Mark Buehrle, who made his ninth consecutive opening day start. Fausto posted the worst opening day start in Major League history, as he became the first starting pitcher to allow 10 runs in a team's first game. Carmona was the losing pitcher as he threw 88 pitches over 3.0 innings, allowed 11 hits, surrendered 2 home runs, walked 1, had 10 earned runs and left the game with an earned run average of 30.00. When pulled from the game, he was greeted with boos by fans who are unsure what to expect in 2011 from a team that lost 93 games last season. The last pitcher to allow 10-plus runs in an opener was Early Wynn of the Washington Senators who accomplished the feat on April 19, 1948. In that game Wynn surrendered 12 runs but managed to pitch 8 ¹⁄₃ innings.

On June 10, 2011, Carmona hit New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira after giving up a solo home run to Curtis Granderson. Benches emptied, but no punches were thrown.

Name controversy

In January 2012, Dominican police arrested Carmona after he left the U.S. Consulate, accusing him of using a false identity to obtain a visa. Police reported his real name as Roberto Hernandez Heredia, and that he is three years older than he reported. The Indians placed Carmona on the restricted list.

Notes

^a His reported birth date is currently in question due to suspicions of identity falsification.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Andy Pettitte	American League Pitcher of the month September 2007	Succeeded by Cliff Lee