Ben Sheets

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**Ben Sheets**
Major League Baseball debut
Milwaukee Brewers — No. 15
Starting Pitcher
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
April 5, 2001 for the Milwaukee Brewers
Selected MLB statistics (through April 2, 2007)
Record	62-69
ERA	3.81
Strikeouts	945

Ben M. Sheets (born July 18, 1978 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Major League Baseball pitcher who currently plays for the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. He throws a four-seam fastball clocked between 94-98 MPH, a big, sharp breaking curveball in the 80-83 MPH range, and a changeup. He also has great command of his three pitches, as evidenced by the outstanding strikeout-walk ratios he has posted over recent seasons.

1 Prep and college
2 Minor leagues
3 Olympics
4 Majors
5 Trivia
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Prep and college

Sheets graduated from St. Amant High School and went to college at Northeast Louisiana University on a baseball scholarship. He once struck out 20 batters in a game against Louisiana Tech.

[edit] Minor leagues

Drafted by the Brewers in the first round (10th overall) of the 1999 draft, he made his professional debut with the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League. On August 2 against the Idaho Falls Chukars, Sheets struck out eight batters while allowing just one hit through five innings. He didn't stay very long in Rookie ball, being promoted to Class A Stockton of the California League on August 9. In his seven pro starts that year, Sheets averaged a strikeout ratio of 10.09 batters per nine innings.

[edit] Olympics

In 2000, Sheets was on the United States national team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He pitched 22 innings, struck out 11 batters, walked one, and gave up 11 hits during the tournament, and face off against Cuban ace Pedro Luis Lazo in the Gold Medal Game, giving up three hits—all singles—with two by Omar Linares, advancing just one runner to second base for the entire game. Sheets gave up no walks, struck out five, and 16 of 27 outs were ground ball outs, in a 4-0 complete game win.

[edit] Majors

By 2001, Sheets had been promoted to the Brewers' starting rotation and went 11-10 that season with a 4.76 ERA. By 2004, Sheets began establishing himself as a strikeout threat, throwing 264 to finish third in the category in the majors behind Randy Johnson and Johan Santana. After posting an ERA above 4.00 in his previous three seasons, Sheets compiled a dominant 2.70 ERA and 0.98 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched), which ranked him fourth and third, respectively, among all starting pitchers in the Major Leagues. Most impressively Sheets amassed only 32 walks, giving him a strikeout-to-walk ratio of over 8:1, far and away the best in the Major Leagues. A mediocre 12-14 won-lost record during this outstanding season was primarily the result of poor run support.

During 2004, his fastball was being clocked regularly at 96 to 98 miles per hour, primarily a result of improved health. In 2003, Sheets had been troubled by bulging discs in his lower back, but these problems subsided in 2004. That season he also struck out 18 batters in a May 16, 2004 game against the Atlanta Braves. On June 13, 2004, Sheets struck out three batters on nine pitches in the third inning of a 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros. Sheets became the 26th National League pitcher and the 35th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish the nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning.

Sheets has since struggled with health issues. A series of inner ear infections caused dizziness and a loss of balance that forced Sheets onto the disabled list (DL) for a period of time in the beginning of the 2005 season. Sheets started the 2006 season on the DL but quickly came off it only to pitch 3 starts before going on the DL again with shoulder tendonitis. Sheets returned to the starting rotation 2 weeks after the All Star Break. Sheets pitched a 7 inning shutout to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In his 2nd game from the DL he would pitch nearly a complete game shutout but in the 9th, Sheets gave up a 2 run homer to Ken Griffey Jr of the Reds.

On April 2nd, 2007, Sheets started both his and the Brewers season on a high note by throwing an opening day complete game, two-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers.[1]

[edit] Trivia

He is the cousin of former major-leaguer Andy Sheets

Sheets has also expressed interest in fantasy baseball. Sheets commented during the early part of the 2005 season, "Next year in the fantasy drafts, I'm going to go in the last round...Fantasy owners frickin' hate me right now. That's all I hear about. 'You're on my Fantasy team, you're killing me!'"¹