Dan Haren

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dan Haren
Los Angeles Dodgers – No. 14
Starting pitcher
Born: (1980-09-17) September 17, 1980
Monterey Park, California
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 30, 2003 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics
(through 2013 season)
Win–loss record 129–111
Earned run average 3.74
Strikeouts 1,736
Teams

Career highlights and awards

Daniel John Haren (born September 17, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is with the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Haren has also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Washington Nationals. He is a three-time MLB All-Star.

High-school and college career

Haren is of Irish and Mexican descent. He graduated from Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, California, in 1998. He attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, on a baseball scholarship and was selected as West Coast Conference (WCC) Freshman of the Year in 1999.[1] It was there that Haren teamed up with Noah Lowry, a left-handed pitcher just one month younger than Haren, to form the best starting pitching duo in the WCC . In the 2001 season, Haren posted a 2.22 earned run average (ERA) in 17 starts, and Lowry posted a 1.71 ERA in 18 starts. Haren was named WCC Player of the Year and Lowry was Pitcher of the Year. Haren also was a 2nd team College All-America.[2] The teammates (and roommates) skipped their senior seasons, and Lowry was taken in the 1st round (30th overall) by the San Francisco Giants and Haren was taken in the 2nd round (72nd overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft.[3]

Professional career

St. Louis Cardinals

Haren made his professional debut with the New Jersey Cardinals in 2001 and was 3-3 with a 3.10 ERA in 12 appearances, with 8 starts. He also struck out 57 while only walking 8. He then made 28 starts in A-ball in 2002 for the Peoria Chiefs and Potomac Cannons, finishing with a combined ERA of 2.74. He started 2003 in Double-A with the Tennessee Smokies, but was promoted after eight starts to the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds. He was a combined 8-1 with a 2.68 ERA in 16 starts in 2003, with 84 strikeouts and was selected as the Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year.

Haren made his major league debut at the age of 22, on June 30, 2003. He was the starting pitcher against the San Francisco Giants and allowed four runs (two earned) in six innings to pick up the loss. He recorded his first Major League win with a six inning start where he allowed only one run against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 19. After finishing 2003 with a 5.08 ERA for the Cardinals in 14 starts, he was sent back down to AAA Memphis for the 2004 season. He received a late-season call-up, and made five appearances in the post-season for the Cardinals, including two in the World Series. The Cardinals were swept by the Boston Red Sox, but Haren pitched well, tossing 4 scoreless innings.

Pitching in a game against the Seattle Mariners

Oakland Athletics

After the 2004 season, Haren was traded in a package that included right-handed reliever Kiko Calero and top hitting prospect Daric Barton to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder.[4] Haren went 14–12 with a 3.73 ERA in his first full season as a major leaguer.

In 2005, Haren finished in the top 10 in the American League in the following categories: innings (217, 9th place), strikeouts (163, 6th place), and complete games (3, 4th place).

Furthermore, in 2007, Haren had one of the best seasons among any pitcher in the majors. Haren finished in the top ten in the American League in wins, with 15, strikeouts, with 192, and finished in the top three in the AL in ERA with 3.07.[5]

In 2007, he was also selected to start the MLB All Star Game.[5]

On December 14, 2007, Haren was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks along with Connor Robertson for prospects including Carlos González, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Greg Smith, Dana Eveland, and Chris Carter.[5]

Arizona Diamondbacks

Haren pitching during the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis.

In his first season with the Arizona Diamondbacks he was selected to the 2008 All-Star game at Yankee Stadium along with his teammate, Brandon Webb. He finished 2008 with an impressive 3.33 ERA to go along with a 16–8 win–loss record, and a career-high 206 strikeouts.

On August 6, 2008, Haren agreed to a four-year, $44.75 million contract and a team option for the 2013.[6]

Haren was also selected a 2009 NL All-Star, representing the Diamondbacks along with Justin Upton. Haren had a great year, finishing with a record of 14–10, 3.14 ERA, and 223 strikeouts.

In 2009 he was named #33 on the Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball. A panel of 100 baseball people, many of them members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and winners of major baseball awards, was polled to arrive at the list.[7]

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

On July 25, 2010, Haren was traded to the Angels for starting pitcher Joe Saunders, and minor league pitchers Rafael Rodríguez, Patrick Corbin, and Tyler Skaggs.[8][9]

In 13 games with the Angels to close out the 2010 season, Haren went 5–4 with 75 strikeouts and a 2.87 ERA. Haren also had an impressive year at the plate, posting a .364 batting average and .902 OPS with one home run in 55 at-bats with the D-backs before he was traded.

On May 24, 2012, Haren threw a career high 14 strikeouts in a complete-game shutout against the Seattle Mariners in Seattle, allowing four hits in a 3–0 victory.

On November 2, 2012, after an attempt to trade him to the Chicago Cubs for Carlos Mármol fell through, the Angels declined Haren's $15.5 million option, instead buying it out for $3.5 million, and he became a free agent.[10]

Washington Nationals

Haren signed a one-year, $13 million contract with the Washington Nationals on December 7, 2012.[11] After his June 22, 2013 start against the Colorado Rockies, Haren owned a Major League worst 6.15 ERA amongst qualified starters.[12] Additionally, during that game he gave up a league leading number of home runs; with 19 home runs surrendered through 15 starts.[13] Haren was placed on the 15-day disabled list on June 25 with right shoulder inflammation.[14] On August 17, 2013, Haren recorded his first career save. Haren finished the 2013 season 10-14 with a 4.67 ERA and 1 save in 31 games (30 starts).

Los Angeles Dodgers

On November 24, 2013, Haren reportedly agreed to a 1 year, $10 million deal. The deal included a vesting option for 2015, which becomes a player option if he pitches 180 innings in 2014. The deal became official on November 25 when he passed his physical.[15][16]

Pitching style

Haren throws an 89–92 mph fastball, an 89–92 mph two-seam fastball, a sharp split-finger fastball (84–86), and a spike curve (76–79).[17] Haren has also added and relied heavily upon an 85–87 mph cutter, which he added in 2008 and has credited with rejuvenating his career.[18] The cutter makes up more than half of his pitch selection to right-handed hitters, with his fastballs and occasional splitter filling up most of the rest. Against lefties, Haren mixes all of his pitches but uses his two-seamer the most. His curveball is a change-of-pace pitch, and not a main weapon; he does not throw it much to right-handers or in 2-strike counts. By contrast, he throws about half of his splitters with two strikes.[17]

Haren is also known for exceptional control. His career strikeout-to-walk ratio is above 4 for his career. As of May 2012, he is the active leader in that category.[19]

Haren usually has a slow pitching delivery, highlighted by a slight pause in the middle of his windup, that he speeds up with runners on base. His pitching style is often dubbed a "chess match" by reporters and announcers (particularly Daron Sutton and Mark Grace of the Diamondbacks announce team) due to his ability to change speeds and throw almost any pitch in any count (and often throws pitches in succession, i.e., four straight breaking balls), often going against scouting reports, making it particularly hard to hit him.[18]

References

  1. "Dan Haren Baseball Statistics". The Baseball Cube. Retrieved November 25, 2013. 
  2. "Pepperdine's Haren, Lowry Earn WCC Honors". LA Times. May 22, 2001. Retrieved November 25, 2013. 
  3. Pindelski, Mike (January 29, 2007). "A Look Back at the 2001 MLB Draft". SB Nation. Retrieved November 25, 2013. 
  4. "A's trade Mulder to Cardinals for Haren, Calero". Sports Illustrated. December 18, 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2008. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Dan Haren statistics and history". Baseball Reference.com. 
  6. "D-backs sign All-Star hurler Haren to four-year, $44.75M deal". ESPN.com. August 6, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2008. 
  7. Dodd, Mike (July 25, 2010). "Angels acquire Dan Haren for Joe Saunders, 3 others". USA Today. 
  8. "The Fabulous Forum". Los Angeles Times. 
  9. DiGiovanna, Mike (November 2, 2012). "Angels decline Dan Haren's option; pitcher now a free agent". Los Angeles Times. 
  10. Snyder, Matt (December 4, 2012). "Nationals finalizing deal with Dan Haren for one year, $13M". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 4, 2012. 
  11. Adam Kilgore (February 25, 2011). "Nationals vs. Rockies: Dan Haren has worst ERA among MLB starting pitchers after big loss". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 25, 2013. 
  12. "Dan Haren turns in another terrible start for the Nationals | HardballTalk". Hardballtalk.nbcsports.com. Retrieved November 25, 2013. 
  13. Kilgore, Adam (June 25, 2013). "Nationals recall Tyler Moore, officially place Dan Haren on disabled list". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 26, 2013. 
  14. "Dan Haren agrees with Dodgers". ESPN.com. November 25, 2013. 
  15. Stephen, Eric (November 25, 2013). "Dodgers finalize Dan Haren contract". truebluela.com. Retrieved November 25, 2013. 
  16. 17.0 17.1 "Brooks Baseball · Home of the PitchFX Tool - Player Card: Dan Haren". Brooks Baseball. Retrieved May 30, 2012. 
  17. 18.0 18.1 "Haren credits cut fastball for success". 
  18. "Active Leaders & Records for Strikeouts / Base On Balls - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 30, 2012. 

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Kenny Rogers
American League All-Star Game Starting Pitcher
2007
Succeeded by
Cliff Lee
Preceded by
Roy Halladay
American League Pitcher of the month
May 2007
Succeeded by
J. J. Putz
Preceded by
Todd Wellemeyer
National League Pitcher of the month
June 2008
Succeeded by
CC Sabathia
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.