Chad Gaudin

Chad Gaudin
San Diego Padres – No. 49
Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
August 1, 2003, for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Win-Loss	30-31
Earned run average	4.62
Strikeouts	380
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2003–2004) Toronto Blue Jays (2005) Oakland Athletics (2006–2008) Chicago Cubs (2008) San Diego Padres (2009-present)

Gaudin with the Athletics in 2006.

Chad Edward Gaudin (Template:PronEng) (born March 24, 1983 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a right-handed pitcher for the San Diego Padres.

High School

Gaudin attended Crescent City High School in Metairie, Louisiana. He earned All-State and district MVP in his junior and senior years.

Minor league career

Gaudin was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays right out of high school in the 34th round (1009th overall pick) of the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft. He signed on August 23, 2001, and did not play professionally until 2002. He played in Single-A in 2002 and recorded a 2.26 ERA which ranked him 10th in all of minor league baseball.

On July 15, 2003, in his first start after getting called up from the Single-A California League, Gaudin took the mound in the first game of a doubleheader for the Double-A Orlando Rays on the road against the Jacksonville Suns and threw a 7-inning perfect game, retiring all 21 batters he faced. (Two 7-inning games is the standard for a doubleheader in most minor leagues; Major League Baseball would later amend a rule recognizing only efforts of at least nine innings as official perfect games.) Gaudin made only two more starts and posted an 0.47 ERA for Orlando before Devil Rays' Manager Lou Piniella summoned him to the big league club.

Major league career

When Gaudin made his major league debut, he became the youngest Devil Ray in club history at 20 years and 4 months and was the 4th youngest player in the majors. After posting a very respectable 2-0 record and 3.60 ERA in 15 appearances (including 3 starts) in 2003 for the Devil Rays, he went 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA in 26 appearances (4 starts) in 2004 while splitting time with Triple-A Durham.

On December 12, 2004, Gaudin was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for backup catcher Kevin Cash. Although he pitched well as a starter at Triple-A Syracuse, he was just 1-3 with a 13.15 ERA in 5 appearances (3 starts) with the Blue Jays. Opponents had batted .470 against him in just 13 innings (31 hits). On December 5, 2005, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics for a player to be named later, who later turned out to be outfielder Dustin Majewski.

Gaudin began the 2006 season for the Sacramento River Cats, the Athletics Triple-A team. He was recalled by the Athletics after posting an 0.37 ERA in 4 starts for the River Cats and pitched in relief for the rest of the season for the big league club. In his first season as an Athletic, he posted various career highs and his ERA (3.09) and opponents batting average were the lowest of his career. His inherited runners to score was 20 percent which ranked fourth lowest in the American League.

In 2007, Gaudin was converted into a starter again when veteran Esteban Loaiza was on the disabled list to begin the season. His excellent performance as a starter in the 2007 season made him part of the new 'Big Three' that included Dan Haren and Joe Blanton.

In December 2007, Gaudin successfully had his sesamoid bone removed from the base of his big toe in a procedure called a sesamoidectomy. He was back on the mound pitching again within 3 months.

On May 7, 2008, Gaudin was moved back into the bullpen.

On July 8, 2008, Gaudin was dealt along with Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, and minor league catcher Josh Donaldson.

Gaudin was released by the Cubs on April 5, 2009. The San Diego Padres signed him to a minor league contract on April 12, 2009 and assigned him to their Triple-A team, the Portland Beavers on April 14 He made his first start for the Padres against the Colorado Rockies on April 28. He gave up zero runs on 3 hits and received a no decision in a 4-3 Padres win.

Scouting

Listed at 5'10", Gaudin is smaller than the prototypical starting pitcher. However, he compensates with excellent "stuff." Gaudin's arsenal consists of a low-90's 4-seam fastball and a heavy-sinking 2-seam fastball that sits in the high-80s-to-low-90s. He complements these pitches with a hard-breaking slider and a changeup. Gaudin struggles with his control at times, but has shown that he can be a reliable middle-of-the-rotation pitcher or an excellent option coming out of the bullpen.

External links

• Career statistics from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs

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