Wayne Lundgren

Wayne Lundgren (born 21 April 1982 in Sydney) is an Australian minor league baseball player. He is currently a pitcher with the Brockton Rox in the Can-Am League.

Professional career

Lundgren was signed by Jon Deeble and debuted as a professional in 2000 with GCL Red Sox, recording 2–2 with a save and a 3.41 ERA. He then pitched in the International Baseball League of Australia for the off-season in 2000–2001, going 2–3 with a 4.50 ERA. In 2001, he had a 4–2, 2 Sv record for the GCL Red Sox. Wayne did not pitch in 2002 due to injury, then split 2003 between the Lowell Spinners and Augusta GreenJackets before being released from the Red Sox organisation.

In 2004, he was then picked up as a free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals and pitched that year for the Peoria Chiefs (2–2, 3.94) and Palm Beach Cardinals (0–1, 4.26). He was promoted and spent 2005 with the Swing of the Quad Cities (1–0, 8.76) and Palm Beach (3–3, 4.15).

Lundgren debuted and pitched for the Australia national baseball team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. In the 5th against the Dominican Republic national baseball team, he replaced Paul Mildren with a 5–1 deficit. He retired Ronnie Belliard, Wily Mo Pena and Alberto Castillo in order. After Australia made it 5–2, Lundgren opened the bottom of the 6th by hitting Willy Taveras. Taveras stole second and moved to third on a ground out by Alfonso Soriano. Wayne retired Albert Pujols and continued his fine run against the MLB stars by retiring Miguel Tejada on a fly to right. Matty Gahan relieved him in the 7th.

In 2006, Wayne moved to the Cincinnati Reds chain and pitched for the Sarasota Reds (0–2, 7.62) and Dayton Dragons (2–1, Sv, 2.60). After one year in Japan, he went 11–3 with a 3.28 for the Brockton Rox of the Can-Am League, finishing 6th in the league for ERA.[1][2]

Lundgren's fine pitching in the 2009 Claxton Shield earned him a spot on Australia's provisional roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic though he did not make the final cut. He is with the Rox for 2009 and as of 10 August, he is 6–5 with a 2.39 ERA.[3]

The 2010 Claxton Shield proved to be even more successful for Lundgren as he won the tournament MVP, known as the prestigious Helms Award, becoming first pitcher to do so since 1986. With 8 starts for the NSW Patriots, he finished the year with a 3–1 record to and tidy 3.02 ERA. This included six quality starts, in which he conceded just 3 runs over 33.1 innings while striking out 28 and walking just 3 batters.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Wayne Lundgren on the Baseball Cube
  2. ↑ Profile on Brockton Rox website
  3. ↑ 2009 Stats Rox
  4. ↑ "Wayne Lundgren named 2010 Helms Award winner". Australian Baseball Federation. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 11 March 2010.

External links