Pitcher Brian Fuentes calls time on Major League Career - MLB News
Left-handed pitcher Brian Fuentes on Wednesday announced that he will be calling time on his 12-year-long Major League career. Brian played for six different ball clubs during his career but his association with Colorado Rockies continued for seven years.
He also enjoyed a lot of success with the Colorado ballclub. He made three of his four All-Star appearances during his seven year stint with the team. His career ERA was 3.62 with a 26-43 win-loss record and 204 saves.
The pitcher from Merced, California was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the amateur draft's 25th round in 1995. He only had a chance to represent the Mariners for a single season in 2001 before he was traded to the Rockies in December of that
same year.
The 2009 season was probably the best year of Brian’s Major League career when he represented the American team in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. During the year, he also led the Majors with 48 saves.
Fuentes did not have the greatest 2012 season. He started the year with the Oakland Athletics and after being released, pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals for just six games and was absent for a significant period of time mainly due to family reasons. He
played in a total of 32 games for both the teams with a sky high 7.20 ERA.
The main reason behind the decision seems to be the negative effects his family was feeling in his absence while playing the game. The 37-year-old acknowledges that his playing schedule was taking toll on his family and it was about time to make amends.
"Ultimately, I was just having trouble with the time away from my family," Brian said in an interview. "I've been playing baseball for all of their lives, but I'd never been so far away as when I was in St. Louis."
Brian now wants to spend quality time with his family after his long baseball career and does not want to be away for months, something he was forced to do as a player. "I think at one point I went like two months without seeing them," he said.
The pitcher also expressed his gratitude to have the opportunity of playing the game for so long at the highest level. "I've had a great career," Fuentes said. "I never dreamed I'd have had the opportunities or some of the successes that I've had.”
Brian Fuentes is for now retired and it is to be seen whether he will hang his shoes all together or will continue to play the sport in the Minor Leagues. The pitcher will also have opportunities in coaching given his long experience of playing the in the
Major Leagues.
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