John Grabow

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**John Grabow**
Major League Baseball debut
Pittsburgh Pirates — No. 39
Relief Pitcher
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
September 14, 2003 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Record	8-10
ERA	4.64
Strikeouts	181
Saves	1
Former teams
Pittsburgh Pirates (2003-present)

John William Grabow is a left-handed relief pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was born on November 4, 1978, in Arcadia, California.

Through 2006, he has held opposing batters to a .229 batting average and a .289 slugging percentage when there were runners in scoring position.[1]

1 Early life
2 Baseball career
3 External links

[edit] Early life

Grabow graduated from San Gabriel High School in California in 1997, where he was a 3-year letterman in baseball and named all-CIF (California Interscholastic Federation), as well as the league's MVP as a senior. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 3rd round of the 1997 amateur draft.

[edit] Baseball career

[edit] Minor league career

After spending several seasons in the lower levels of the minor leagues, Grabow steadily moved up through the organization's ranks and was ranked the Pirates' 9th-best prospect by Baseball America in 2001. Through 2003, he averaged 7.6 strikeouts per 9 innings in the minor leagues, striking out 9.5 batters per 9 innings at the AAA level.

[edit] Major league career

Toward the end of the 2003 season, Grabow was called up by the Pirates after 6 years in the minors.

As a rookie reliever for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2004, Grabow appeared in 68 games. He established a Pittsburgh rookie record for appearances by a lefthander.

He was a workhorse in the Pittsburgh bullpen in 2005, appearing in 63 games in his second full major league season. He held opposing batters to a .186 batting average and a .186 slugging percentage when there were runners in scoring position. [2] He stranded a major-league best 89.7% of his inherited runners, allowing just 4 of 39 inherited runners to score.

In 2006, he appeared in 72 games. He held opposing batters to a .217 batting average when there were runners in scoring position. Grabow stranded an NL-best 82.5% of the runners he inherited.[3]

There was discussion in December 2006 about the Philadelphia Phillies or Atlanta Braves possibly trading for Grabow.[4][5]

In February 2007 Grabow and the Pirates avoided arbitration and agreed to a 1-year contract for $832,500. Grabow can make $70,000 in bonuses based on games finished (with $10,000 for 20 games finished, $15,000 for 25 games finished, $20,000 for 30 games finished, and $25,000 for 35 games finished; in 2006 he finished 17 games). Grabow can make an additional $45,000 based on appearances (with $10,000 for 75 games, $15,000 for 80 games, and $20,000 for 85 games; in 2006 he pitched in 72 games). He had filed for $925,000, while the Pirates had offered $765,000.[6]

[edit] Pitching

He has a fastball in the low 90s that runs inside on left-handed hitters, a sharp, hard, late-breaking slider, a good above-average changeup, and is equally adept at getting both right and left-handed batters out.

Grabow holds runners well and has a good pickoff move. He also fields his position soundly, and is quick off the mound.