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Esteban Loaiza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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|
|---|---|
| Oakland Athletics — No. 25 | |
| Starting Pitcher | |
| Bats: Right | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| April 29, 1995 for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through August 31, 2006) |
|
| Record | 120-106 |
| ERA | 4.61 |
| Strikeouts | 1326 |
| Former teams | |
Esteban Antonio Loaiza Veyna [lo-EYE-sa] (born December 31, 1971 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher who plays for the Oakland Athletics. Previously, Loaiza played with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1995-98), Texas Rangers (1998-2000), Toronto Blue Jays (2000-02), Chicago White Sox (2003-04), New York Yankees (2004), and Washington Nationals (2005). He bats and throws right-handed.
Loaiza enjoyed a career-season in 2003, leading the American League pitchers in strikeouts (207), and was second in wins (21) and strikeouts per nine innings (8.23); third in ERA (2.90), and sixth in innings pitched (226.3). Considered for the Cy Young Award, Loaiza finished second behind Roy Halladay, and over Pedro Martinez and Tim Hudson. He was an All-Star selection both in 2003 and 2004. Loaiza's 21 wins in 2003 are the most ever in a season for a Mexican pitcher.
Prior to the 2006 season, Loaiza signed a three-year, $21.4 million dollar contract with the Athletics.[1] He had a disastrous start to his Oakland career, which led many fans to question his acquisition. Loaiza went 0-3 in April with an 8.35 ERA and opponents batted a robust .385 against him. His early season troubles reached a nadir on April 29 when he gave up 10 runs in 2 innings to the Kansas City Royals, who had the worst record in baseball at the time; the game was not official since it was later rained out, or his statistics would have been even worse. Loaiza's poor performance was at least partly due to injury, as he seemed to have very little velocity on his fastball early in the season (throwing it at as little as 82-83 mph)[2] and was placed on the disabled list with back and shoulder problems on May 2. Since returning on June 8, he has been inconsistent but appears to be much healthier, throwing a much harder 95-mph fastball in a mid-August game.[3]
On June 25, 2006, Loaiza pitched his first complete game in over 2 years in a 10-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Since August 2, 2006, he has won 7 games and lost just 1 in 10 starts, earning 21 runs in 70 innings.
On June 14, 2006 Loaiza was arrested after being pulled over by police who clocked his Ferrari doing 120 MPH on a California freeway near San Lorenzo. He subsequently failed a sobriety test. He is appeared in court on July 14, 2006.[4]
- ^ "Loaiza joins Zito, Harden, Haren and Blanton in rotation", Associated Press, November 29, 2005
- ^ "Twin killing: A's lose, Loaiza hurt", Tony Kuttner, MLB.com, April 23, 2006
- ^ "Sizzling A's finish sweep of Rays", Associated Press, August 14, 2006
- ^ "Loaiza faces drunken driving, speeding charges", Associated Press, June 15, 2006
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- ESPN profile and daily update
- Esteban Loaiza's Major and Minor League Statistics: The Baseball Cube
| Preceded by UNKNOWN |
American League Pitcher of the Month April 2003 |
Succeeded by Roy Halladay |
Categories: American League All-Stars | Chicago White Sox players | New York Yankees players | Pittsburgh Pirates players | Texas Rangers players | Toronto Blue Jays players | Washington Nationals players | Oakland Athletics players | Major league pitchers | Mexican baseball players | 1971 births | People from Tijuana | Living people