Brad Radke

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Brad Radke
Starting pitcher
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 29, 1995 for the Minnesota Twins
Final game
October 6, 2006 for the Minnesota Twins
Career statistics
Wins     148
ERA     4.22
Strikeouts     1,467
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Brad Radke (born October 27, 1972), is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played his entire 12 season career with the Minnesota Twins. He officially announced his retirement from baseball on December 19th, 2006.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Radke was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and graduated from Jesuit High School of Tampa where he was known as a scholar-athlete.

Radke was not considered a top prospect before being drafted in the 8th round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Twins. Once he was in the majors though, he was valued highly and the Twins were offered a large amount of talent for him, but they never gave him up.

In his debut season (1995), he finished 11-14 with a 5.32 ERA. In 1997, he finished an excellent season with a 20-10 record (including a streak of 12 wins in 12 starts) and a 3.87 ERA. He finished the year with 239 innings pitched, 4th most in the league. For his career, he has posted a 148-139 record with an overall ERA of 4.22.

He is known for being one of the best control pitchers of the modern era, walking an average of only 41 batters a year, in an average of 34 games a year.

Radke had hinted that he might retire following the 2006 season, citing a torn labrum (through which he had been pitching the 2006 season). A stress fracture in his shoulder suffered in late August sidelined him as of September 2. On September 12, he threw catch from a distance of 110 feet (slightly less than twice the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate) without pain, an important step in the way to his return for the last week or two of the season and the Twins' playoff drive, and even more important with Francisco Liriano's season appearing to be over with the reappearance of pain in his left elbow on September 13. On September 28, Radke returned to action, pitching five innings and surrendering one unearned run, earning no decision in a 2-1 Twins victory over the Kansas City Royals. It was Radke's last regular season start. In his last major league appearance, he pitched in the third game of the division series against the Oakland Athletics, giving up four runs on two two-run home runs in four innings.

Radke announced his official retirement from baseball, Tuesday, December 19, 2006.

[edit] Career statistics

Season Team G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO W L ERA
1995 MIN 29 28 2 1 181.0 195 112 107 32 47 75 11 14 5.32
1996 MIN 35 35 3 0 232.0 231 125 115 40 57 148 11 16 4.46
1997 MIN 35 35 4 1 239.2 238 114 103 28 48 174 20 10 3.87
1998 MIN 32 32 5 1 213.2 238 109 102 23 43 146 12 14 4.30
1999 MIN 33 33 4 0 218.2 239 97 91 28 44 121 12 14 3.75
2000 MIN 34 34 4 1 226.2 261 119 112 27 51 141 12 16 4.45
2001 MIN 33 33 6 2 226.0 235 105 99 24 26 137 15 11 3.94
2002 MIN 21 21 2 1 118.1 124 64 62 12 20 62 9 5 4.72
2003 MIN 33 33 3 1 212.1 242 111 106 32 28 120 14 10 4.49
2004 MIN 34 34 1 1 219.2 229 92 85 23 26 143 11 8 3.48
2005 MIN 31 31 3 1 200.2 214 98 90 33 23 117 9 12 4.04
2006 MIN 28 28 0 0 162.1 197 87 78 24 32 83 12 9 4.32
Total 378 377 37 10 2451.0 2643 1233 1150 326 445 1467 148 139 4.22

[edit] Batting

Being in the AL, interleague play has only forced him to bat 29 times. He has 3 hits, a .130 batting average. He has 0 walks, but 2 sacrifice hits.

[edit] Postseason

Before the 2002 season, his Twins team was generally one of the lesser teams of the league. However, from 2002 to 2004, they made the playoffs each year. His postseason totals are very solid with an overall 3.19 ERA in 31 innings pitched.

His best postseason series was his first, against Oakland. He started 2 games out of the 5, winning both with a 1.54 ERA. Radke only gave up 1 run in the deciding game of the series before the 5-1 Twins lead was almost squandered in the 9th, when Eddie Guardado gave up 3 runs. But the Twins won 5-4 and advanced to the 2002 American League Championship Series. He would go on to lose the only game he pitched against the Angels, but shut them out for the first 6 innings of that game. In the end, the Twins bullpen and offense failed and they lost 7-1 and lost the series 4-1.

He is 2-2 overall in the postseason.

[edit] Highlights

[edit] External links

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