Brad Hennessey

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Brad Hennessey

San Francisco Giants — No. 41
Relief pitcher
Born: February 7, 1980 (1980-02-07) (age 28)
Bats: Right Throws: Right 
Major League Baseball debut
August 72004 for the San Francisco Giants
Selected MLB statistics
(through May 6, 2008)
Win-Loss     17-22
Saves     20
Earned Run Average     4.71
Strikeouts     183
Teams

Brad Martin Hennessey (born on February 7, 1980 in Toledo, Ohio) is a relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He throws and bats right-handed. He attended Whitmer High School where he was coached by Gary O'Connor.

Contents

[edit] Professional career

Hennessey was drafted by the Giants in the first round (21st overall) of the 2001 MLB Draft out of Youngstown State University.

After posting a 2.38 ERA in nine Northwest League starts, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his back. He had it removed in February 2002, but it grew back later that season, putting him out for the rest of the season.

[edit] Major leagues

[edit] 2004

After battling inconsistency in 2003 while building up arm strength, Hennessey found himself in the Major Leagues in 2004, making his debut starting against Greg Maddux, who was looking for his 300th win. Although Hennessey lost the game and Maddux got his 300th win, the Giants were impressed with Hennessey's poise, and he made six more starts, finishing with a 2-2 record and 4.98 ERA.

[edit] 2005

He was called up again in May 2005, and ended up making 21 starts, tallying a 5-8 record and 4.64 ERA. Hennessey's 2005 campaign was marked with inconsistency, although it did include some rather promising outings. In one start against the Milwaukee Brewers, Hennessey pitched 7 innings of shutout baseball and won the game 3-0. The three runs came on a home run by Hennessey himself on a 2-0 count from Brewers pitcher Victor Santos. It was his first home run since playing shortstop in his sophomore year at Youngstown State.

[edit] 2006

In 2006, Hennessey competed for the team's fifth starting job with Kevin Correia and the newly acquired Jamey Wright, but struggled and began the season with the AAA Fresno Grizzlies. Hennessey was called up again in April due to an injury to Noah Lowry and bullpen ineffectiveness. Since Lowry's return to the starting rotation, Hennessey was a reliable reliever and has posted an ERA under 3.00.

[edit] 2007

He pitched in increasingly more important situations for bullpen during the 2007 season than he had in past seasons, reaching a zenith when he was named the closer by manager Bruce Bochy after Armando Benitez was traded to the Florida Marlins. He did well in that role for a long while, at one point getting saves 14 straight save opportunities, the most since Nen had a 28 straight streak in 2000, and 17 out of 19, before losing it and getting only 2 out of 5 before Brian Wilson took over the closer role. In 2007, he went 4-5 and had a 3.42 ERA and 19 saves (out of 24) plus 13 holds in 69 outings.

[edit] 2008

The Giants and Hennessey avoided arbitration and agreed to a $1.6 million, one year deal.[1] He got sent down for pitcher, Billy Sadler.

[edit] Statistics

2004 24 SF NL 2 2 7 7 0 0 0 0 34⅓ 42 24 19 2 15 25 0 1 163 0 4.98 1.660 .294
2005 25 SF NL 5 8 21 21 0 0 0 0 118⅓ 127 63 61 15 52 64 4 3 521 1 4.64 1.513 .276
2006 26 SF NL 5 6 34 12 0 0 9 1 99⅓ 92 53 47 12 42 42 10 3 428 0 4.26 1.349 .251
2007 27 SF NL 4 5 69 0 0 0 34 19 68⅓ 66 26 26 7 23 40 3 2 287 0 3.42 1.302 .257
Totals: 16 21 131 40 0 0 43 20 320⅓ 327 166 153 36 132 171 17 9 1,399 1 4.30 1.433 .265
Roll over stat abbreviations for definitions. Stats through 2007 season.[2][3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links