Rich Harden
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| Oakland Athletics — No. 40 | |
| Starting Pitcher | |
| Bats: Left | Throws: Right |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
|---|---|
| July 21, 2003 for the Oakland Athletics | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2006) |
|
| Record | 30-16 |
| ERA | 3.67 |
| Strikeouts | 404 |
James Richard ("Rich") Harden (born November 30, 1981) is a Canadian pitcher for the Oakland Athletics.
Contents |
[edit] Pre-MLB
Harden was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He graduated from Claremont Secondary School (Victoria, BC) in 1999, and was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 38th Round of the June 1999 MLB Draft. He did not sign with the Mariners, but instead attended Central Arizona Junior College, where he graduated from in 2001. Harden was drafted by the Athletics in the 17th round of the 2000 MLB Draft, and signed by the team on May 28, 2001, shortly after graduating.
He led all Division I Junior College pitchers with 127 strikeouts in 2001, and his ERA of 2.14 was the 5th lowest in the nation. In his first professional season as a 19 year old with the Vancouver Canadians in A Ball, Harden had a 2-4 record in 18 games (14 starts), a 3.39 ERA, allowed only 47 hits and struck out 100 batters in 74 innings.
In 2002, Harden began the year with the Visalia Oaks of the California League (A Ball) and was very impressive in 12 starts, as he had a 4-3 record with an ERA of 2.91, and struck out 85 batters in 68 innings. Halfway through the 2002 season, Harden was promoted to the Midland RockHounds of the Texas League (AA), where he continued his impressive season, earning a record of 8-3, with an ERA of 2.95 in 16 starts. He also struck out 102 batters in 85 innings. His combined 2002 stats were 12-6, 2.93 ERA, 187 strikeouts and 75 walks in 153 innings.
Harden began the 2003 season with Midland, and in 2 games, he had a 2-0 record and pitched 13 perfect innings, striking out 17 along the way. He was then promoted to the Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League (AAA), where he pitched very well. In 16 games, 14 of which he started, Harden went 9-4 with an ERA of 3.15. Overall, Harden finished with a combined 11-4 record, 2.74 ERA, 107 strikeouts and 35 walks in 102 innings in the Minor leagues during the 2003 season. He was then promoted to the Oakland Athletics in July of 2003.
[edit] In the Majors
Harden's most effective pitches are his fastball and his splitter. Harden's fastball typically reaches speeds of 95-98 mph, and on occasion has broken 100 mph. His splitter features an unusual break in mid-flight, similar in unpredictability to a knuckleball. It has been referred to as the "ghost pitch", while Oakland Athletics catcher Adam Melhuse coined the term "spluckle", (a combination of splitter and knuckleball.) He also uses a slider and a changeup.
Harden made his major league debut on July 21, 2003 when he started against the Kansas City Royals. His debut was a success, as he held the Royals to only one run on four hits in seven innings, earning a no decision. Harden had great success early on, and through his first five starts, the rookie was 3-1 with an ERA of 1.69. However, his next 2 starts were disastrous, allowing six runs in four innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on August 21, then on August 26, the Boston Red Sox crushed Harden with eight runs in 2.2 innings. He continued to struggle for the rest of the season, and ended up with a 5-4 record with an ERA of 4.46. Harden pitched in two games in relief with the Athletics in their Division Series matchup with the Red Sox. In his playoff debut on October 1, Harden earned the win, pitching a scoreless inning. However in his second appearance, he pitched only one-third of an inning, and allowed two runs and was tagged with the loss.
Harden began the 2004 season with the Sacramento River Cats, coming out of Spring Training as the A's 5th starter. But the Athletics had two off days in the first eight days of the season, and they optioned him down to get a start in the minor league. He pitched in one game, losing 5-3 to the Edmonton Trappers. The Athletics called him up on April 10th, and he put together a very solid season with an 11-7 record and an ERA of 3.99. He was among the best pitchers in baseball after the all-star break with an 8-2 record and an ERA of 3.49. He ranked 8th in the AL with 167 strikeouts, and was tied for 7th with 81 walks. Harden allowed just 16 HRs in 189.2 innings, an average of 0.76 per nine innings, which was tied for 4th lowest in the American League.
In 2005, Harden began the season with the Athletics, but was sidelined with an oblique injury and missed more than a month (May 14-June 21) due to it. Harden came back and pitched very solidly, including a very impressive 2 hit complete game shutout against the Texas Rangers on July 14th, in which he was perfect for 7+ innings, as the A's won 6-0. Exactly one month later on August 14, Harden allowed only 1 hit, however he got a no decision, and the A's ended up losing to the Minnesota Twins 2-1. On August 19, Harden had a 10-5 record with an ERA of 2.63 ERA, and things were looking great for the young star until he injured his right shoulder, sidelining him until September 25, by which time the Athletics were already out of the playoff hunt. Harden appeared in three games late in the season, pitching 5 innings of shutout ball, striking out seven and walking one. He finished the year with a 10-5 win-loss record, an ERA of 2.57 and 121 strike outs in 128 innings. He allowed only seven HR's all season long, and despite the injuries, he emerged as the ace of the Oakland Athletics pitching staff.
In 2006, Harden has had two lengthy stints on the DL, spending most of the season there. He came back from the DL on September 21, 2006 for a short but outstanding start, going 3 innings allowing 1 run and recording 7 strikeouts. The Athletics will use Rich Harden for the rest of 2006 as a starter, and should be 100% for the playoffs.
[edit] Trivia
- Harden once strained his shoulder while attempting to turn off an alarm clock.
Bill Simmons, writer for ESPN.com, once joked that Rich should go by the name Dick.
[edit] External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
- Rich Harden at ESPN.com
