Jacob Edward Peavy ( ) (born
May 31, 1981 in Mobile
, Alabama
) is a
Cy Young Award-winning starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who plays for
the Chicago White Sox. He
bats and throws
right-handed. Peavy
stands 6'1" tall (1.85 m) and weighs 182 pounds
(83 kg).
Career in baseball
Minor leagues
Peavy was
drafted by the San Diego Padres in
the 15th round (472nd overall) of the 1999 Major League Baseball
Draft out of high school (St. Paul's
Episcopal School
). He was named the high school player of the
year in the state of Alabama.
Peavy declined an offer to pitch for Auburn
University
in order to
accept the Padres' contract offer.
Peavy pitched for the
Arizona
League Padres and the
Idaho Falls
Braves in and the
Fort Wayne
Wizards in . In , Peavy played with the
Lake Elsinore Storm and the
Mobile BayBears. He spent all of playing for
the BayBears.
Major leagues
2004
During his third year of major league experience in , Peavy emerged
as the Padres' ace starting pitcher and one of the best pitchers in
baseball. He compiled a 15-6 record,
struck
out 173 in 166
innings and led the
Major Leagues with a 2.27
ERA. He became the youngest pitcher to
win an ERA title since
Dwight Gooden
in 1985.
2005
On March 5, 2005 he signed a four-year 14.5 million contract and
held a club option for 2009 extension with the Padres.
During the
2005
season, Peavy was selected for the
National League
All-Star team and ended the regular season leading the National
League in strikeouts with 216 (in 203 innings). He was second in
the majors to Minnesota's
Johan
Santana who had 238 strikeouts. In addition he finished the
season with a 13–7 record, 2.88 ERA, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of
over 4:1 and
WHIP of 1.044.
After the
Padres won
the
National League West in
2005, Peavy was widely considered the key to upsetting the
St. Louis Cardinals, whom
they faced in the
National League Division
Series. However, Peavy gave up eight runs in the first game,
and afterwards it was announced that he would miss the rest of the
season with a broken rib, which he apparently suffered while
celebrating the Padres clinching the NL West Championship .
Peavy was the captain of
Team USA in
the
World Baseball
Classic. He started the opening game for the U.S., a 2–0 win
over
Mexico, giving up
just one hit and no runs over three innings. He did not factor in
the decision in the second round game against Japan, as he gave up
three runs in five innings in a game that the U.S. won, 4–3.
2006
In
2006, Peavy got
off to a rocky start, in part due to mechanical adjustments brought
on by various off-season injuries. Although Peavy would go only
11–14 with a 4.09 ERA, he still managed to finish second in the
National League in strikeouts with 215, one shy of both his 2005
league-leading total and of the 2006 NL strikeout leader,
Aaron Harang who logged 32 more innings than
Peavy. In the playoffs, the
Padres again faced the
St. Louis Cardinals in the
first round. As the game one starter, Peavy had a much stronger
outing than his 2005 playoff game, but the Padres again lost to the
Cardinals.
2007
On July 1, 2007, for the second time in his career, Peavy was named
to the
2007 NL
All-Star Team. On July 9, he was named as the starting pitcher
for the NL.
On August 2, 2007 Peavy struck out
Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Jeff
DaVanon, for his 1000th career strikeout.
Peavy won the pitching
Triple
Crown in 2007, leading the National League with 19 wins, 240
strikeouts, and a 2.54 ERA. Since the divisional play era started
in 1969, Peavy is only the eighth player to accomplish this feat .
On
October 23, Peavy won the
Players Choice Award for Outstanding NL
Pitcher. He added the NL Cy Young—as a unanimous choice—on
November 15, becoming just the 10th
National League player in history to win the Cy Young Award in a
unanimous vote (
Sandy Koufax was
unanimously selected three times).
The completion of the 2007 campaign represented Peavy's sixth year
in the league. Over that six-year period Peavy collected two
strikeout champion awards, two major league ERA titles, and a
unanimous, triple-crown Cy Young Award.
On December 12, 2007, he signed a 4 year extension, worth
$52 million with the Padres. At the time the contract was the
largest in Padres history. The contract includes a $22 million
option for 2013.
2008
On April 5, 2008, Peavy pitched a two-hit complete game over the
Los Angeles Dodgers.
The following day, still-images from FOX sports video feed from the
game showed a dirty, brown substance on the index and middle
fingers, along with his thumb. Manager
Bud
Black defended Peavy saying that "it was a mixture of dirt and
rosin". In the two games immediately following
the report, Peavy posted a 1–0 record with a 1.92
ERA. In May he went on the DL with a sore
throwing elbow. He returned on June 12 and pitched six shutout
innings with four strikeouts. He ended 2008 with only a 10–11
record, but had one of the lowest run support per start of any
pitcher in the league, and finished the season with a 2.85
ERA.
Peavy had been the subject of numerous trade rumors during the 2008
offseason, amidst reports that the Padres were looking to reduce
salaries and build on young players for the future. In November
2008, Peavy added the New York Yankees to the list of teams he
would accept a trade to. The list included several teams from the
NL including the
Atlanta Braves,
St. Louis Cardinals, the
Chicago Cubs, the
Los Angeles Dodgers, and the
Houston Astros. Peavy preferred to be in the
NL, so the Yankees would not be involved. The Astros and Cardinals
decided they wouldn't pursue Peavy after talking with GM
Kevin Towers on what they would have to give
up. However, there were in fact two teams who were in deep talks of
acquiring Peavy: the Cubs and the Braves.
In November 2008, the Padres were working with the Braves on a
Peavy trade, in which Peavy would be traded to Atlanta for SS
Yunel Escobar, OF
Gorkys Hernandez, P
Blaine Boyer and one of P
Charlie Morton or P
Jo-Jo Reyes. The Padres also wanted the two top
prospects in the organization as well: P
Tommy Hanson and OF
Jordan Schafer, but after a few weeks, the
Braves decided to move on to bring in a few free agents.
2009
Peavy was almost perfect in
spring
training, pitching 14 total innings with no runs allowed, 10
strikeouts and no walks. Jake Peavy
rejected a trade to the Chicago White Sox, which included
Aaron Poreda and
Clayton Richard, saying that remaining in
San Diego was best for him and his family. On May 22, Peavy hurt
his ankle rounding third base against the
Chicago Cubs in a start where he earned the win
with 6 scoreless innings and 10 strikeouts a day after rejecting a
trade to Chicago's AL team (White Sox). On June 12, Peavy learned
he had a strained tendon in the back of his ankle, suffered in the
May 22nd start. He was placed on the DL the same day. At the time
of his injury, Peavy was 6-6 with 3.96 ERA and 92 strikeouts.
On July 31, Peavy agreed to a trade to the Chicago White Sox in a
last minute trade deadline day deal for
Clayton Richard,
Aaron Poreda,
Adam
Russell and Dexter Carter.
In his first start for the White Sox, Peavy pitched 5 innings,
giving up 3 runs (all earned), and striking out 5, getting the win
against the
Kansas City
Royals.
Scouting report
Peavy pitching on May 28, 2006
Peavy's repertoire includes the command of a
cut fastball (94-97
mph)
two-seam
fastballs (88-90
mph) and a four-seam
fastball
(93-97
mph), a hard
slider
(83-88 mph), a
changeup
(80-84 mph), and sports an occasional
curveball (74-76 mph).
In his most successful games, Peavy most comfortably uses his
two-seam fastballs, throwing an occasional slider. With the idea of
the two-seam fastball, Peavy can control and run his
fastball to both sides of the plate, cut it in and
away from hitters, and make the
fastball
sink or fade, all in the high 80s-low 90s and can keep the hitters
honest by spotting a four-seam
fastball at
95
mph.
Since 2004 Peavy has posted the lowest WHIP of any major leaguer .
Peavy's two-seam fastball acts primarily as a sinker and induces
many ground balls . This can allow Peavy to induce many double
plays when runners are on base. Peavy likes to run his fastballs in
on lefties and make the pitch break back into the zone, similar to
a power version of
Greg Maddux's
technique.
The natural movement of Peavy's pitches creates a heavier ball
which helps to limit the number of
home
runs Peavy gives up, having allowed only 13 in over 220 innings
in 2007 .
Personal
Peavy and his wife Katie have three children. Jacob Edward II, born
on
June 20,
2001 Wyatt,
born on
May 24,
2004 and
Judson born in 2009. He is good friends with San Diego Chargers
Quarterback Philip Rivers, and Houston Astros starting pitcher Roy
Oswalt. Jake Peavy is legally blind. With the help of strong
contact lenses, Jake is able to see.
See also
References
- [1]
- Peavy Ends Spring Training with 0.00 ERA Yahoo
Sports, April 2, 2009
- The Chicago White Sox acquire Jake Peavy in a 4-for-1
deal, ESPN, 31 July
2009
- MLB Player Pitching Stats: 2005, ESPN
- Krasovic, Tom. Peavy, 'pen stifle Cards for Padres' 16th
shutout, The San Diego
Union-Tribune. Published August 8, 2007.
- MLB Player Pitching Stats: 2007, ESPN.
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