Esteban Loaiza

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**Esteban Loaiza**

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
Teams
Pittsburgh Pirates (1995-1998) Texas Rangers (1998-2000) Toronto Blue Jays (2000-2002) Chicago White Sox (2003-2004) New York Yankees (2004) Washington Nationals (2005) Oakland Athletics (2006-present)

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.

[edit] DUI arrest

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 scheduled to appear in court July 14, 2006.^[4]