Roy Halladay: One of the best pitchers around
33-year-old Roy Halladay is the star pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. He is considered the Babe Ruth of pitchers and is among the top ten in the game today. He has played for the Toronto Blue Jays since 1998 till 2009 when he was traded to the Phillies.
Roy was Number 7 in the greatest current baseball players.
Halladay’s passion for baseball was evident since an early age and his talent could be determined by the fact that by the age of 13 he had begun training under the legendary Colorado guru Bus Campbell, who had trained the likes of Goose Gossage and Brad
Lidge. After graduating from school he was cast by the Blue Jays in the amateur draft, but soon after in the September of 1988 he was promoted to the Major League club.
He had his moments like when he delivered the 3rd no-hitter in MLB history which was pitched on the last day of a regular season, against the Detroit Tigers. However, there were times when he failed to impress anyone, like during the 2000 season
he had a 10.64 ERA in 19 games which was one of the worst of any pitchers in history. As 2001 approached he was sent the Class A Dunedin Blue Jays so he could work on re-establishing his delivery.
Halladay had a lot to prove when he came back and he that is what he did in 2002, which was his break-out season. He managed to finish off with a 19-7 record, a 2.93 ERA and 168 strike-outs in 239.1 innings. Halladay was named in the American League All
Star team twice and won the American League Cy Young Award as well.
Due to aggressive work-outs he had a tired throwing arm and was on the disabled list twice in 2004. Still he walked 39 batters, and in just 133.0 innings he had a 4.20 ERA. This was more than what he had done in 2003 without his injury. Slowly but steadily
Halladay was proving himself to be more than just any another pitcher and in the very successful 2005 season he was among one of the best pitchers in the American League by going 12-4 with a 2.41 ERA in 19 starts.
He won his 2nd Cy Young Award in the passage of three years and was once again selected for his third All-Star team but couldn’t play because he broke his leg during a game. Next year, was Halladays fourth being selected for the All-Star game
and his statistics of innings pitched, complete games and ground-to-flyball ratio were among the other American League leaders.
Halladay was named the American League Pitcher of the month for April of 2007 and from then till the end of 2009 he established himself as a world class pitcher. He allowed no hits against the Chicago White Sox on May 31 and also sealed his 100th
career win. After that he only allowed three hits against the Seattle Mariners and was victorious when he pitched the complete game against the Texas Rangers.
Roy pitched the 10th shut-out of his career against the Mariners and complete game against the Yankees which the Blue Jays ended up winning. He suffered many injuries along the way like when he was struck in the temple by Nyjer Morgana and when
he strained his hip adductor muscle which resulted in him appearing on the disabled list quite a lot.
After joining the Phillies in 2010, he won many accolades. He once again won the Cy Young Award, was named the Starting Pitcher of the Year as well as the Pro Athlete of the Year. He was awarded the Steve Carlton Most Valuable Pitcher and Dallas Green Special
Achievement award.
His uniqueness lies in his ability to throw a two-seam ball ranging in the low 90s with pinpoint control. He has a knack of attacking hitters with brutal and clinical efficiency, having no room for the modern bull-pen strategy. Halladay’s pitching is almost
predator like with him going after the players as fast as he can. It’s an honour for him to have won the awards he has in such a short span of time and has been compared to Cliff Lee who is the best pitcher out there in baseball today. Let’s hope he can maintain
what has been achieved in recent years and avoid the mistakes he made early on in his career.
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