Jeff Williams
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Baseball | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | Athens 2004 | Team Competition | |
Jeff Williams (born June 6, 1972 in Canberra) is an Australian-born, left-handed pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. He is a specialist closer and performs extremely well under pressure.
Williams pitched for the 1996 Australian Olympic team. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1996 amateur draft.
Williams began his Major League Baseball career in September 1999 with the LA Dodgers and pitched for the Dodgers until September 2002. While with the Dodgers in 2000 and 2001, the tandem of Williams and fellow Australian Luke Prokopec gained considerable popularity in the Los Angeles area. However, the attention was short lived, as both moved on to other franchises.
In 2003, he earned 25 saves as a closer (52 pitches), helping the Tigers win their Central League championship in 18 years.
In 2004, he was instrumental in taking the Australian Olympic baseball team to a Silver Medal in the baseball tournament at the Athens Olympics. However, he was hampered by injury during the Tigers season.
In 2005, he came back as set-up pitcher (75 pitches) and helped the Hanshin tigers to again win a championship ring.
[edit] References
- "Jeff William's Baseball Stats", Baseball Almanac.
- Baseball Reference
[edit] External links
- Hanshin Tigers website (in Japanese)
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Categories: 1972 births | Living people | Australian baseball players | Baseball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics | Baseball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics | Non-Japanese baseball players in Japan | Hanshin Tigers players | Los Angeles Dodgers players | Major league pitchers | Olympic competitors for Australia | Olympic silver medalists for Australia | Australian baseball stubs
