Eddie Gaillard

Julian Edward Gaillard (born August 13, 1970, in Camden, New Jersey) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball.

Though relatively unknown in the major leagues, he was highly successful in the Japanese Central League, making a total of 120 saves during his five-season stay. He is noted as one of the premier closers of the Chunichi Dragons.

Biography

Gaillard was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1993 after graduating from Florida Southern College. He was promoted to the majors for the first time in 1997, and went to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1998, and the Cincinnati Reds in 2000.

Gaillard joined the Chunichi Dragons in the Japanese Central League at the beginning of 2000. He took over the closing job that Korean pitcher Sun Dong-Yeol had left open after retiring, and led the league with 35 saves, appearing in the All-Star Game. However, he allowed the game-tying grand slam and walk-off home run back-to-back to the Yomiuri Giants, a first place team that was one win away from winning the league. He led the league in saves again in 2002, posting a 1.52 ERA.

In April 2003, he recorded his 100th save in only his 148th appearance, the fastest in the history of Japanese baseball. However, the Dragons began to use Akinori Otsuka as their closer, and he was put on waivers after complaining to the team about his lack of appearances. He was picked up by the Yokohama BayStars, but was demoted to relief duty after Kazuhiro Sasaki returned as the team's closer in 2004. He also sustained an injury to his pitching arm, and returned to the U.S. in June, 2004 for surgery. He signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies in 2005, and with the Florida Marlins in 2006, but did not play in the majors.

His final stats in Japan were a 2.90 ERA and 120 saves.

Pitching style

Gaillard's main weapon was his fastball, which fell in the mid 90 mph range during his prime. He threw a slider, splitter, and changeup to compliment his fastball. He also had surprisingly good control, walking few batters in his appearances. He was one of the best closers in Japan in the early 2000s, ranking third among Chunichi Dragons players in saves, after Kaku Genji and Hitoki Iwase.

His name was originally written as ゲイラード, in Japan, but was changed to ギャラード, in order to match the English pronunciation.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube