Tommy Milone

Tomaso Anthony "Tommy" Milone (born February 16, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has also played in MLB for the Washington Nationals and the Oakland Athletics.

Amateur career

Born and raised in Saugus, California, Milone attended Saugus High School, where he was a standout as a pitcher and hitter. Milone won All-State honors twice, and was the Foothill Player of the Year his senior season, in which he hit .474 and threw a perfect game, finishing the year with a 9-2 record and a 1.04 ERA. Milone then attended the University of Southern California, playing for the USC Trojans baseball team. As a freshman, Milone was named the number two starter in the rotation and went 7-4 with a 4.94 ERA in 16 starts. In his sophomore season, Milone struggled, going 3-7 with a 6.17 ERA. His junior season would prove to be his best, Milone went 6-6 with a 3.51 ERA and was the number one starter in the rotation. In the summer, Milone competed for the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Chatham A's, and won the B.F.C. Whitehouse Award, given to the best pitcher in the league. Milone finished the summer 6-1 with a 2.92 ERA.^[1]

Professional career

Milone pitching for the Washington Nationals in 2011

Washington Nationals

Milone was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 10th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

Milone made his major league debut on September 3, 2011, against the New York Mets.^[2] Milone struck out Angel Pagan of the New York Mets for his first career strikeout, and later hit a three-run home run on the first pitch of his first Major League at bat, becoming the 27th player in major league history to do so. He left the game after pitching four and one-third innings.

Oakland Athletics

Milone warming up for the Oakland Athletics in 2012

On December 23, 2011, Milone was traded with A. J. Cole, Derek Norris and Brad Peacock to the Oakland Athletics for Gio Gonzalez and Robert Gilliam.^[3]

Milone started the regular season in the #3 starting rotation spot behind Brandon McCarthy and Bartolo Colon. Milone was the only starting pitcher in the A's rotation to last all season without getting injured and had started the most games for the A's during the 2012 season. He pitched his first complete game of his career on June 20 defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers. Milone had started game 2 of the ALDS, but the A's had lost to a no decision in the bottom of the 9th inning. Milone finished the season with a 13–10 record and with 137 strikeouts and an era of 3.74

Milone was optioned to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats on August 3, 2013.^[4] Milone finished the season with 12 wins in 28 games, 26 of them starts.

Milone started the 2014 season in the A's rotation as the fifth starter. Despite owning a record of 6-3 and a 3.55 ERA in 16 starts, Milone was sent down to AAA. After his demotion he demanded a trade.^[5]

Minnesota Twins

On July 31, 2014, the Athletics traded Milone to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for outfielder Sam Fuld.^[6] Milone started in five games for the Twins before being shut down with a neck injury.^[7] Milone had a bounce back season in 2015 going 9-5 with a 3.92 ERA in 128.2 innings.

Pitching style

Milone's four-seam fastball ranges from 87–89 mph, and he complements it with a cutter (84–86), curveball (75–79), and changeup (79–82), as well as a rare two-seam fastball. Milone's repertoire against left-handed hitters tends to be fastball-cutter-curveball, while against right-handers it is fastball-changeup-cutter. He uses his changeup heavily in 2-strike counts against righties. His curve is his best swing-and-miss pitch with a whiff rate of about 33%.^[8] Milone has shown good control early in his career, with a walk rate under 2 per 9 innings.^[9]

See also

• List of players with a home run in first major league at-bat

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tommy Milone.

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• USC Trojans bio
• Tommy Milone on Twitter