Edwin Jackson
From BR Bullpen
Edwin Jackson Jr.
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 3", Weight 190 lb.
- School Shaw High School (Columbus)
- Debut September 9, 2003
- Born September 9, 1983 in Neu-ulm, W.Germany
[edit] Biographical Information
Edwin Jackson was the youngest player in the National League in both 2003 and 2004. He emerged as a top starting pitcher with the pennant-winning Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.
Jackson was an Army brat, which explains his birth in West Germany, and his father Edwin Sr. was stationed at Fort Benning in Georgia. Junior played baseball and football for CYS&S at Fort Benning in the 1990s. The prep star played basketball, football and baseball until his sophomore year at Shaw High School, when he decided to put all his efforts into baseball. Jackson's big break came in 2001, his senior year.
"There were two other kids scouts were looking at and it just so happens at this particular game we were playing at Golden Park against Columbus High School," Edwin Sr. said. "Edwin was the center fielder and he threw one ball from center field all the way home and got the guy out. And from that point in time, the scout asked about him, but we had no intention of thinking he would be drafted because they never really came to look at him up until his senior year."
Jackson's high school coach Brian McCall remembers the throw by Jackson: "It was close to the wall - close to 400 feet," he said. "Edwin threw a dart to home plate. There was no bounce, no nothing. It was a straight line drive probably at 95 miles per hour. It was incredible." Shortly after the game, the Jacksons received a phone call from a major league scout saying they wanted to draft Jackson.
"It was an unexpected surprise to be drafted straight out of high school but playing in the major leagues was always a dream of mine," Jackson said.
Hen was drafted in the sixth round of the 2001 amateur draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an outfielder and later became a pitcher.
Jackson played with the Dodgers until 2005, never establishing himself as a regular until he was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. There, after a couple of difcicult years, including a 5-15, 5.76 season in 2007, he led the team with a team-record 14 victories in 2008. He was left off the club's American League Division Series roster, however, as manager Joe Maddon saw no need for a fifth starter in that series (the Rays' had an excellent starting rotation including Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and Andy Sonnanstine, making Jackson, whio was sporting a high 4.42 ERA, the odd man out in spite of his solid won/loss record).
"There wasn't much I could do about not being selected for the (ALDS) game, so I just went on with a positive attitude," Edwin said in an interview with an Army newspaper.
Edwin's positive attitude paid off as he was put on the American League Championship Series roster. He pitched two innings in relief and went on to pitch two innings in Game 4 of the 2008 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. With young Jeff Niemann and David Price ready to join the starting rotation, the Rays decided to cash in on Jackson's solid season in a trade with the Detroit Tigers, in return for outfield prospect Matthew Joyce.
Jackson quickly established himself as the Tigers' number two starter, behind Cy Young Award candidate Justin Verlander, and was selected for the 2009 All-Star Game, in which he pitched an inning. He finished the year with a record of 13-9 with an excellent 3.62 ERA, the 7th best in the American League. He topped 200 innings and 150 strikeouts for the first time. After the season, he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a three-team blockbuster deal that brought Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth and Austin Jackson to the Tigers, Curtis Granderson to the Yankees, and Jackson and Ian Kennedy to the D-Backs.
Jackson had a so-so start for the D-Backs in 2010, starting the season 5-5 with an ERA around 4.50. However, on June 25, he showed the form that made him an All-Star the previous year, as he pitched a no-hitter against the Tampa Bay Rays. He needed 149 pitches to complete the game, but manager A.J. Hinch let him do it, figuring that the last-place D-Backs needed the lift that Jackson's performance could provide, and that he could give him extra rest later on to compensate. The final score was 1-0, and Jackson struggled with his control early, walking 7 batters over the first 3 innings and 8 overall, before settling down. A month after that historic performance, on July 30, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in return for two young pitchers, Daniel Hudson and David Holmberg. At that point, his record stood at 6-10, 5.16. Hudson caught fire for the D-backs after his arrival in Phoenix, going 7-1, 1.69 over the season's last two months, but Jackson did not do badly himself. In 11 starts for the Pale Hose, he went 4-2, with a solid 3.24 ERA over 11 starts, striking out 77 in 75 innings against only 18 walks. Overall, he was 10-12, 4.47, striking out 181 in 209.1 innings. He contrinued to pitch fairly well for the White Sox over the first half of 2011, going 7-7 with a 3.94 ERA in 19 starts. On July 27th, he was traded twice in the span of one day, first going to the Toronto Blue Jays along with 3B Mark Teahen in return for Ps Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart, and then being flipped to the St. Louis Cardinals in an 8-player trade that saw OF Colby Rasmus go to Toronto. At that point, still only 27, Jackson had already belonged to seven different organizations.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- AL All-Star (2009)
- 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 2 (2009 & 2010)
- Won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011
[edit] Related Sites
- Edwin Jackson on mlb.com
- Interview with the Fort Benning newspaper public domain article, most text copied and used for this article
