Scott Kazmir

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**Scott Kazmir**

Tampa Bay Devil Rays — No. 19
Starting Pitcher
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
August 23, 2004 for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
Record	22-20
ERA	3.73
Strikeout	378

Scott Edward Kazmir (born January 24, 1984 in Houston, Texas) is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Kazmir was drafted in 2002 by the New York Mets. While playing for the double-A Binghamton Mets, he was infamously traded to the Devil Rays on July 30, 2004 for Victor Zambrano and Bartolomé Fortunato. He made his major-league debut on August 23, 2004, pitching five shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners. Scott's nickname is "Kid K".

As was the case two years before with Jeremy Bonderman of the Detroit Tigers, Kazmir was traded to a losing team with a need to quickly develop young pitching. He started 2004 with the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, and after his trade to the Devil Rays, he received only a few starts at Double-A Montgomery. However, he was essentially expected to anchor a young Devil Rays pitching staff from the time he arrived in Tampa Bay. He had a 2-3 record and an ERA of 5.67 in 8 appearances (7 starts) in 2004, but he was clearly making strides in his development; he struck out 11.07 batters per nine innings. In 2004, he was the top pitching prospect for the New York Mets, but was traded for the Devil Rays' top veteran Victor Zambrano. This trade was, and still is, widely lampooned by the New York media and fan base given Kazmir's enormous potential.

1 Scouting
2 2006 Season
3 Awards and accomplishments
4 External links

[edit] Scouting

Kazmir has four pitches in his arsenal. Arguably his best pitch is a mid 90's fastball that he throws with relative ease. Kazmir also throws a hard breaking 10-4 slider that comes in the low 80s that works well as a major league pitch as well. His third pitch is a changeup which according to a scouting report published by Baseball America, appears to be a major-league quality pitch as well at times. Kazmir struggles with his changeup at times however, sometimes not being able to make the bottom of the pitch fall out like it is supposed to. His final pitch is an 11-5 curveball that while having good movement, often comes in too fast to be an effective pitch, usually clocking in the high 70s to low 80s and looking too much like his slider. Another one of Kazmir's strengths is that while he is a strikeout pitcher, he tends not to give up a lot of home runs. In 32 games in 2005, he led all rookies with 174 strikeouts while only giving up 12 home runs over 186 innings (or 1HR every 15.5 innings).perants are mexican

Kazmir has a couple other weaknesses other than the aforementioned issues with his changeup and curveball pitches. Kazmir at times has shown a lack of aggressiveness with his pitching, which has resulted in a high number of walks. Often Kazmir will get ahead of a hitter in the pitch count, only to attempt to finish the strikeout by 'painting the corners' with his fastball and slider, and throwing the pitches off the plate instead. He led all of the American League last year with 100 walks. Kazmir also has been criticized for struggling to hold runners on bases, but showed improvement last year, allowing only 7 stolen bases in 2005 while he was on the mound. Kazmir did not have a very good pickoff move to first, which was especially unusual for a left-hander. However, in 2006, his pickoff move had improved greatly and he was among the leaders in the category of baserunners picked off.

[edit] 2006 Season

Kazmir started the season opener April 3 at Baltimore. At 22 years, 2 months and 10 days Kazmir was the youngest opening day starter since Dwight Gooden with the Mets in 1986. He lost the decision after 6 ER in 4 IP, but has been extremely impressive since with an overall 10-8 record with 163 strikeouts and a 3.24 ERA in 144.2 innings pitched. Kazmir has won decisions against Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, two-time 20 game winner Jamie Moyer, two-time All Star and 20 game winner Dontrelle Willis, 2001 World Series MVP and 3-time 20 game winner Curt Schilling, 2003 World Series MVP Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield, who is 14-2 lifetime against the D-Rays. He currently ranks in the Top 5 in the AL statistically in wins and strikeouts.

On June 22, 2006 Scott Kazmir passed Sandy Koufax and put himself in the 22nd spot in MLB history for most strikeouts by a left handed pitcher before his 23rd birthday. He also picked up his team leading ninth victory in the process. On July 3 Kazmir threw his first career complete game shutout against the Boston Red Sox while striking out ten and giving up only two hits.

On July 2, 2006, Kazmir was elected by the players to appear in the 2006 MLB All-Star Game, his first all-star appearance. According to reports, he was flown to Pittsburgh for the game by fellow All-Star Alex Rodriguez, whose New York Yankees played at Tampa Bay in the series right before the game, in A-Rod's private jet. In the All-Star Game, Kazmir threw a perfect sixth innning, retiring Freddy Sanchez, Carlos Beltran, and Albert Pujols.[1]

On August 22, 2006, Kazmir struck out eight Texas Rangers, becoming the all-time Devil Rays strikeout leader.

[edit] Awards and accomplishments

Major League Baseball All-Star (2006)
First Career Complete Game on July 3, 2006
First Career Shutout on July 3, 2006
Baseball America High School Player of the Year, 2002
Set a single-season record for strikeouts by high school pitchers in Texas with 175 for Cypress Falls High School (breaking the previous record of 172, set by Josh Beckett)
Member of the United States Junior Olympic baseball team in 2001; they won the silver medal
On May 21, 2006, he struck out 11 batters in a 3-0 win over the Florida Marlins
Named American League Player of the Week on May 22, 2006, after posting a 2-0 record and an 0.60 ERA for the week
In High School, he had four consecutive no-hitters. While going for his fifth consecutive no-hitter he gave up a hit with two out in the seventh inning. After this, he finished the game, and subsequently pitched two more consecutive no-hitters.