Ryan Vogelsong
| Ryan Vogelsong | |
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| San Francisco Giants — No. 32 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Born: July 22, 1977 Charlotte, North Carolina |
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| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Professional debut | |
| MLB: September 7, 2000 for the San Francisco Giants | |
| NPB: 2007 for the Hanshin Tigers | |
| MLB statistics (through September 28, 2011) |
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| Win–loss record | 23-29 |
| Strikeouts | 355 |
| Earned run average | 4.71 |
| NPB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 11–14 |
| Earned run average | 4.22 |
| Strikeouts | 197 |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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MLB
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Ryan Andrew Vogelsong (born July 22, 1977 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. In addition to an earlier stint with the Giants (2000–2001), he has played for the Pittsburgh Pirates (2001–2006), and for Nippon Professional Baseball's Hanshin Tigers (2007–2008) and Orix Buffaloes (2009).
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[edit] Amateur career
In 1995, he graduated from Octorara Area High school in Atglen, Pennsylvania, where he played baseball, basketball and soccer. He played Legion baseball in Oxford PA. He played his little league baseball in the Southern Chester County Midget League for Highland. He also played for Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania during the 1996-1998 seasons.
[edit] Professional career
[edit] Major League Baseball (1998-2006)
Vogelsong was drafted by the Giants in the 5th round of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his major league debut with the Giants on September 2, 2000.
Vogelsong was acquired by the Pirates on July 30, 2001, along with outfielder Armando Ríos, for pitcher Jason Schmidt and outfielder John Vander Wal. He appeared in two games for the Pirates before he required Tommy John surgery that kept him out of the majors until the end of the 2003 season.
2004 marked Vogelsong's first full season in the major leagues. He spent most of the season as a starting pitcher and struggled in that role, ending the season with a 6-13 record and 6.50 ERA. He rebounded in 2005 after being moved to the bullpen, posting a 4.43 ERA and 2-2 record while primarily being used as a middle reliever. At the end of the 2006 season, Vogelsong had a career 10-22 record and 5.86 ERA in 120 games and 315 innings over parts of 6 seasons.
[edit] Nippon Professional Baseball (2007-2009)
Vogelsong was acquired by the Hanshin Tigers of Japan[1] in 2007 and made his Nippon Professional Baseball debut as their starting pitcher on April 5, 2007, facing another former Major League Baseball pitcher, Kazuhisa Ishii. He won in his debut at the home stadium, Koshien Stadium, on April 12, 2007, hitting a home run in the bottom of the second inning.[2]
[edit] Return to Major League Baseball (2010-present)
During the 2009-2010 offseason, Vogelsong signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies. He was released on July 15, 2010. Vogelsong signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on July 28, 2010.
In 2011, he signed a minor league contract to return to the San Francisco Giants with an invite to spring training. On April 17, 2011, Vogelsong had his contract purchased by the Giants to replace the injured Barry Zito.[3] On April 28, after two appearances in relief, Vogelsong got his first start since the 2004 season against his former club, the Pirates. He held the host Bucs to two earned runs on four hits and struck out eight en route to a 5-2 Giants victory and his first MLB win since September 2005.[4][5]
Vogelsong continued to excel in his replacement role, posting a record of 6-1 with a 2.17 ERA in the first half, which secured him a spot in San Francisco's vaunted starting rotation.[5][6] Giants and 2011 National League All-Star manager Bruce Bochy named Vogelsong to the 2011 NL All-Star Team on July 3, 2011.[7] He didn't see any action in the NL 5-1 win over the AL.[8] His first start after the All-Star break on July 18, 2011, a 5-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, gave him enough innings pitched to qualify for the National League leader in ERA with 2.02.[9]
On his final start of the season Vogelsong pitched 7 shutout innings against The Rockies, giving up just 4 hits and walking no batters along the way. The 33 year old right-hander finished his first MLB season as a starting pitcher since 2005 with a 13-7 record and a 2.71 ERA, the lowest among a San Francisco starting rotation that boasted Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner. 5 of Vogelsong's 7 losses occurred in a row, during a stretch where Vogelsong received 3 total runs of support, with no more than one run scored each game by a struggling San Francisco offense.
During the month of August 2011, Vogelsong openly admitted that playing winter ball in Venezuela in 2010 with Tiburones de La Guaira was the turning point to recover his career. [10]. Prior to his experience in Venezuela, Vogelsong had a 10 wins, 22 losses and 5.86 ERA in his MLB career.
He throws a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, cut fastball, circle changeup, and curveball.
[edit] Awards
- He was awarded the 2011 Willie Mac Award, given annually to the Giant who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership consistently shown by Willie McCovey throughout his long career.[11]
- He was named Giants Breakout Player of the Year by MLB.com for the 2011 season.[12]
[edit] References
- ^ "Ryan Vogelsong to Pitch for Hanshin Tigers". bucsdugout.com. November 15, 2006.
- ^ "Japanese Baseball Box Score". japanesebaseball.com.
- ^ "Giants' Zito placed on DL, Vogelsong called up". csnbayarea.com. April 17, 2011.
- ^ "Ryan Vogelsong Pitches Giants Past Pirates". espn.com/mlb. April 28, 2011.
- ^ a b Yahoo.com Stats
- ^ http://blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs/2011/06/05/bruce-bochy-ryan-vogelsong-isnt-going-anywhere-whenever-zito-comes-back/
- ^ "Vogelsong superb as Giants top Twins". mlb.com. June 23, 2011.
- ^ [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2011_07_12_aasmlb_nasmlb_1 MLB.com Box Score</a>
- ^ http://twitter.com/#!/SFGiants/status/93178472544997376
- ^ http://deportes.aollatino.com/2011/08/08/la-pelota-venezolana-salvo-la-carrera-de-ryan-vogelsong
- ^ http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110909&content_id=24468042&vkey=news_sf&c_id=sf
- ^ [1] 7 November 2011. 8 November 2011.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ryan Vogelsong |
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- 1977 births
- Living people
- Baseball players from North Carolina
- Major League Baseball pitchers
- Pittsburgh Pirates players
- San Francisco Giants players
- Minor league baseball players
- Altoona Curve players
- Fresno Grizzlies players
- Indianapolis Indians players
- Lehigh Valley IronPigs players
- Lynchburg Hillcats players
- Nashville Sounds players
- Salem-Keizer Volcanoes players
- Salt Lake Bees players
- San Jose Giants players
- Shreveport Captains players
- American expatriate baseball players in Japan
- Hanshin Tigers players
- Orix Buffaloes players
- Kutztown University of Pennsylvania alumni
