Brad Ziegler gave up the go-ahead run in the 9th inning versus Tampa Bay yesterday and received a standing ovation from the Oakland Athletics crowd.

In case you haven’t noticed, the fans cheered Ziegler’s failure because it was the first time so far in his Major League career that he’s given up an earned run.  He ran his Major League-record streak to 39 1/3 innings pitched before finally allowing an earned run.

Ziegler’s ERA has now skyrocketed to 0.23 in 40 career MLB innings.  He’s only given up 23 hits and allowed 18 walks as well.

Ziegler’s run has been impressive, but his success is also a tribute to the Oakland Athletics scouting and development team.  Ziegler was a 20th round draft choice by the Philadelphia Phillies out of Southwest Missouri State University.  He was released and signed by Oakland in June 2004, going 29-17 in three seasons as a starting pitcher.  Then in 2007, Oakland made him a reliever.  He went 12-3 and posted a 2.41 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP in 78.3 IP between Double-A and Triple-A.

The sidearm right-hander’s specialty is getting ground balls.  His ground out/air out rate is a whopping 3.13 in 2008.  That tendency leads to another impressive number, especially considering the pressure situations late-inning relievers pitch in:  Ziegler has induced 13 double-play groundouts in his 40 MLB innings.

Brad Ziegler has notched his name into Major League Baseball’s vast history and Billy Beane and his Oakland A’s have found another solid player at a discount price.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 2:27 pm and is filed under 2008 Regular Season, AL West, Oakland Athletics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.