Roy Oswalt
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Roy Edward Oswalt [OWES-walt] (born August 29, 1977 in Weir, Mississippi) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who plays for the Houston Astros (since 2001). He bats and throws right handed. Oswalt is known as one of the faster workers in baseball in terms of time between pitches.
Despite his 6 ft 0 in 185-pound frame, he is one of baseball's hardest hurlers, and frequently appears among the league leaders in Innings Pitched.
Pitching
Oswalt throws four primary pitches. His fastball sits between 94 and 98 miles per hour. He throws two overhand curveballs: a hard snapping curve in the low 80's that is gripped with two forefingers over the seams and a looping slow curve of about 70 mph that is thrown with three fingers over the seams. Oswalt also throws a straight changeup in the low 80's. On occasion, Oswalt will mix a cut fastball or a two-seam fastball. Roy's pitching style emphasizes changes of speed and elevation.
Career
Roy Oswalt is currently considered to be among the elite pitchers in the National League. In a five-year career, Oswalt has compiled an 82-39 record with a 3.05 ERA and a 3.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio (844-to-225) in 974.2 innings pitched. He posted a 20-12 win in 2005 with a 2.94 ERA. His downfall was the 12 losses, which put him low in Cy Young voting. He is also a two-time All-Star.Highlights
- All-Star (2005, 2006)
- Led National League in wins (20, 2004)
- Led NL in games started (35, 2004)
- 4-time Top 10 in voting for the Cy Young Award (5th, 2001; 4th, 2002; 3rd, 2004; 4th, 2005)
- TSN Rookie of the Year (2001)
- Olympic gold medalist (2000)
- National League Championship Series MVP (2005)
- Back to Back 20 win seasons (2004-05)
- 2005 NLCS Most Valuable Player.
- Part of 2003 six man no-hitter against the New York Yankees.
- Has most wins of any pitcher for the past 5 years.
Trivia
- On June 11, 2003, Houston set a major league record for combined pitchers in a no-hitter with six, against the Yankees. The pitchers were Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner. Oswalt left the game due to injury.
- Upon first seeing Oswalt in 2001, former Los Angeles Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda remarked, "This guy is the next Orel Hershiser."
- Pitched seven innings against the Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS to send the Astros to their first World Series appearance in franchise history.
- His entrance song is Godsmack's "I Stand Alone."
- He won 15 games against the Cincinnati Reds without a loss before finally losing to them on April 28, 2006.
- He is nicknamed the Wizard of O's (Oz).
- He enjoys hunting in the offseason. He owns a large portion of land near his hometown of Weir where he frequents most of his hunting trips.
- He owns a bulldog named Dixie and another dog named Buttermilk.
- In 1999, when Oswalt was at the Class A level in the Midwestern League, he suffered an apparently serious shoulder injury. After a month of pain in his upper shoulder, Oswalt was convinced that his shoulder was torn. Shortly thereafter, he was checking the sparkplug wires on his truck. He touched one of the sparkplug wires, causing the truck's engine to start. The truck's electric current flowed through Oswalt's body, and consequently the muscles in his hand tightened on the sparkplug wire. Unable to let go of it, Oswalt grapsed the wire for almost one minute. Oswalt then claimed his foot slipped off the truck's bumper and he was finally "thrown off." After the electric shock, Oswalt told his wife that his shoulder's condition improved and that he no longer felt any pain. Oswalt claims he has not felt any pain in his shoulder since the incident.
External links
- [ESPN] - profile and daily updates
- [Baseball Reference] - career statistics and analysis
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