The Future Hall Of Fame Pitcher Who Threw With The Wrong Arm

The Future Hall Of Fame Pitcher Who Threw With The Wrong Arm

Billy Wagner finished his career as one of the most dominant closers of all time a lefty who topped out at over 100 mph and he wasn’t even using his natural throwing arm so let’s look at the life and career of Billy Wagner and look at his strong Hall of Fame case totally ask

Hey J if there’s one common theme throughout all of Billy Wagner’s life it’s overcoming adversity Wagner was born in Virginia to 16 and 18-year-old parents his father William was an all County pitcher who married yvon hall right out of high school and when Billy was just 5 years old the two got

Divorced as a result him and his sister spent the next 10 years living with different parents stepparents and grandparents often relying on food stamps as Wagner said himself breakfast included a few crackers and a glass of water and in this time Wagner suffered an injury that would change his life at

Age s while playing football one of Wagner’s friends would fall on his right arm AKA his throwing arm and broke it and just 6 weeks later after the cast was removed he broke his right arm again while climbing monkey bars unfortunately for him he didn’t suddenly have a mjor

Le arm when they took off the cast like Henry roow and Gardner so Wagner had to learn to throw with his left arm he would turn his right-handed glove inside out and to take out his anger he would chuck footballs rocks and of course baseballs at the side of his

Grandfather’s house discovering that he threw harder with his left arm and eventually reaching the point where aluminum sidings fell off the house as a result of how hard he was throwing and 7 years after after suffering the injury that would force him to change arms he

Moved in with his aunt uncle and cousins 25 miles away from where he spent his entire life in Maran as a result of the constant shifting between relatives throughout his childhood Billy fell a year behind in school he was supposed to enter the eighth grade in 1986 but after

Coaches and administrators at Tas wall High School an hour away from his new home saw him play they saw K through so hard that he could hurt other middle schoolers Billy would then be socially promoted to his freshman year in 1986 Billy would play football in the fall

And baseball in the spring where he played center field and dominated on the mound even striking out 19 of 21 batters he faced in one game in his senior year he hit 451 with 29 RB and on the mount he struck out 116 in 46 Innings with a

1.52 erra his coach wrote to many division one schools to drop interest in Billy who was throwing in the mid 80s at the time but tasell high school was very out of the way and by his senior year Billy was just 5 at five and weighed 135

Lb and with his known control problems the visual and Scouts were not going out of their way to look at him Wagner then decided to follow in his cousin Jeff’s footsteps and go to division 3 faram college to play football and baseball but the football coach told him to focus

On baseball he listened and in the end it was a great move during the 1992 season Wagner had an NCA record by striking out 19.1 per nine innings he also set a record for the fewest hits per nine at 1.88 unlike his high school days Major League Scouts were showing up as his

Fast ball was reaching the mid90s agents were taking Billy out for dinner though it was against the NCA rules but it didn’t matter because Wagner was obviously not going back for his senior year and that was made official when he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the

First round to start his professional career Wagner was a starting pitcher and like he had done at all levels he dominated in the minor leagues he led all minor league pitchers across every level in strikeouts in 1994 at 204 breaking out 12 per n for the Quad

City’s River Bandits the only thing that plagued him like a had throughout his entire career to that point was command issues in the 153 Innings he pitched in 1994 he walked 91 batters hit eight batters and threw 12 wild pitches resulting in 5.4 walks per nine and had

An RA of 3.29 not terrible but probably his lower with better command the following year Wagner bounced around double and AA a and put up numbers similar to the previous year at 46.1 innings he had an ER of 2.89 while striking out 157 giving him a k per9 of

9.7 and more important lowered his walks per nine to 4.2 which went a long way in his lower ra pitching in hitter friendly parks at a higher level and as a result Wagner was added to the ashro 40-man roster in May meaning he had a chance to

Get called up later in the season right after getting news that he was being added to the 40-man roster he received terrible news one his father-in-law who became a father figure in his life and his step mother were murdered the man responsible would be sentenced to life

In prison putting a damper on things as Wagner would get called up for his debut 4 months after the tragic events he made his debut on September 13th against one of his future teams the New York Mets and was heading close to 100 Wagner induced a Fly ball and that was it for

His debut as future Mets manager Terry Collins would make a call to the bullpen a huge moment in his career that was unfortunately overshadowed by tragic off field events the following year Wagner would make 12 starts in Triple A striking out 86 batters in 74 Innings with a

3.28 and in June of that year Wagner would get called up and join the Astros Bullpen Wagner becoming a reliever was a great thing for him he said dating all the way back to high school he would get so nervous before it starts that he would often vomit now as a reliever

There isn’t much time to overthink things removing the huge anticipation and vomit stains Wagner took over the closer roll after Todd Jones was injured and converted N9 out of 13 save opportunities finishing with a 2.44 ER and 11.7 strikeouts per nine all the while allowing 5.2 walks per nine the

Astros will collapse at the end of the year keeping them from the playoffs but the following year both Wagner and the Astros would start their peak in his first full Major League season he converted 23 out of 29 saves and in 66.1 Innings he stroke on 106 batters an

Astros franchise record for leaf pitchers he he also set a Major League record with 14.4 strikeouts per nine the most for any pitcher with at least 50 Innings pitched and the following year he would start the year converting 19 straight saves until July 11th Just 4 days later Wagner sustained his first

Serious injury in the majors after being hit by a ball on the left side of his head he had to be carded off the field and suffered from a concussion that put him on the DL for nearly a month he would pitch the rest of the season when

He returned pitching just six less Innings than last year with a higher K per nine and and lower ra that went a long way in helping the Astros set a franchise record in wins at 102 but unfortunately they would lose in the nlds and while his first two full

Seasons were incredible 1999 may have been his career year he would make the All-Star team for the first time and by the end of the season he had pitched 74.2 Innings giving up just 35 hits while striking out 124 to once again break the K per9 record with 14.9 and

Lowering his walks per9 to 2.8 while also lowering his his ra to 1.57 and nearly having a better War than his last three seasons combined all this was enough for him to receive the Royal A’s relief Man of the Year award he also finished fourth in sa young voting and

Even finished 16th in MVP voting behind his two future Hall of Fame teammates and Craig bigio and Jeff Bagwell but while 1999 was arguably his best year in the first year of the 21st century he arguably had his worst Wagner sorted off good recording his first three saves but

In miday he blew saves and back-to-back games and Str L immensely afterwards the speed of his slider dropped and his ra Rose all the way to 6.18 in mid June while his K per9 was nearly 6 point slower than the previous year and his walks per nine more than doubled and mid

June he was put on the disabled list with a torn flexor tendon that caused him to miss the final 3 months of the season but like he had throughout his life he responded to the adversity and came back the following year converting 39 of 41 saves with a 2.73 erra in 62.2

Innings with 79 strikeouts enough to make another All-Star appearance and win the NL comeback Player of the Year and after a solid 2002 2003 would be his final year with the Astros where he had a year that is right there with 1999 as being his best year the Year of 2003

Gave him a career high in saves Innings pitched and appearances while having an RA below two and a k per nine of 11 he also led the league in games finished and by Far and Away led the league in pitches 100 plus mph at 159 and second

Was the legend B clone at 12 these numbers earned him his third All-Star appearance and helped him finish in the top 25 of MVP voting and the reason this was his last season in Houston was because after the World Series that year Wagner criticized the Astros front office for not building a championship

Caliber team in response the Astros traded Wagner to the Phillies for Brandon Duckworth and two minor Leaguers Wagner would say I’m excited about coming to Philadelphia because they obviously have made a commitment to winning a championship and well the year of 2004 did not go to play

As the Phillies would not make the playoffs and Wagner’s season was shortened after he strained his right hand in the following year he once again showcased his adversity when he would once again lead the league in games finished and had a career best ra with 1.51 in 77.2 Innings as he made the

All-Star team for a fourth time but like his time in Houston his time in Philadelphia ended with criticism after teammates confronted him after he said the Phillies had no chance to make the playoffs in September he did end up being right about that as his former team made the World Series series but

Either way in free agency he moved to a new team in the New York Mets he would pick up 40 saves in 2006 including the 300th of his career as he helped the Mets win their first division title in 18 years and finished sixth in sa young

Voting but in the playoffs he wasn’t great finishing with an erra of 9.53 and earning the loss in game two of the NLCS that the Mets would lose in seven 2007 would bring Wagner’s fifth allar appearance and that’s mainly because of his Stellar first half where he saved 17

Out of 18 games had an RA of 1.94 and even finished July with an RA of zero but in August he had an RA of 6.23 and ended the month blowing a crucial game against the Phillies that ended up being the difference in September a month

Where he dealt with backs spasms as a sign of things to come on May 5th 2008 Wagner would once again call out his teammates after a one0 loss against the Nationals this one in particular was addressed to teammates who weren’t showing up to press conferences regardless this didn’t stop him from

Earning the six All-Star appearance where it would actually blow a save in the longest All-Star game ever but the major development that came from 2008 came in September when it was announced that he tore his UCL and just like every picture now he needed Tommy John surgery this would result in Wagner being

Sidelined for almost a year he remain on the Met 40 man roster and wouldn’t appear until August 20th he would make another appearance on the 24th but the day after he would be traded to the Boston Red Sox where he would appear in 15 games with an erra of 1.98 prior to

His injury he had said that he didn’t plan on pitching after 2009 but after such a stellar career he didn’t want it to end like that he signed a one-year deal with another NL steam in the Atlanta Braves where he announced that this would be his final year and in his

Final year he had one of his best he would record his 400 save on June 25th and would make the allstar team for the seventh and final time he finished 2010 with his best err at 1.43 in 69.1 Innings and for the first time since 2003 he struck out over a 100 batters

And had his highest K per nine since 1999 at 13.5 the Braves would make the playoffs and his final career appearance came in game two of the nlds where he was taken out after two batters after injuring his left oblique Wagner could not recover before the series was over

Where the Braves lose with the numbers in his final year many wondered if he would still continue given that he clearly could but Wagner remained stagnant and wanted to spend more time with his family and ended his career after 2010 as he he stated before he

Ended his 16-year career with a 2.31 RA in 93 Innings pitched had a whip of 998 a war of 27.8 and struck out 1196 batters giving him a k per9 of 11.9 incredible stats for a relief pitcher but as we asked earlier is this enough for the Hall of Fame to this point

According to Hall of Fame voters it’s a no he received either 10 or 11% in the first 3 years but these ballots were crowded and after that he kept climbing each year to 17 to 32 to 45 to 51 and most recently 68% putting him on the

Cusp and with this being his ninth year on the ballot he only has two more chances to reach 75% well I think he has a very good chance especially in a year like this when there’s one no doubt Hall of Famer in Adrien bele and many including Wagner that are debatable the

Reason Wagner is tricky is because he is a closer and unlike other Hall of Fame relievers he was mainly a one in inning pitcher and that’s the main criticism in his Hall of Fame case if he were to make the Hall of Fame his 93 Innings would be

The least in the entire Hall of Fame by over a 100 as Bruce hoter pitched 1,42 innings in just 12 years and you can argue that he did not have an effect on the game in the way a reliever like Dennis eesley did and didn’t have the

Same clutch ability as the two best closers in his era and Marian Rivera and Trevor Hoffman and that’s further backed up with his postseason ra totaling over 10 in his 14 appearances the while he may not have been as groundbreaking as an eers Ley or a postseason Legend like

Rivera what separates Wagner from others is the fact that he was simply dominant and not necessarily in the way that the game felt absolutely over when Maran Rivera came in but in the sense that hitters could not touch him of the pitchers who have pitched at least 900

Innings Billy Wagner has the highest K percentage at 33.2 over Jacob deg Grom Chris S and other modern pitchers in the era of strikeouts amongst these pitchers he also has the highest K per n at 11.9 92 and he also leads in lowest opponent batting average Whip and hits per nine

And when we look at just the 123 relievers who pitched 900 Innings or more Wagner’s ra ranks second behind Marian Rivera he also finishes behind him in ra plus and of these 123 pitchers Wagner has the fourth least amount of innings but has the six most strikeouts

So in a sense you could argue that Wagner was the most dominant reliever of all time from a pure power sense in a time where offense was high and perhaps Wagner was ahead of his time considering the amount of power pitches we have now that puts his record setting 14.9 Cas

Per9 in 1999 now it’s 7th and that alone makes me believe he should be in the Hall of Fame he doesn’t have the longevity of literally any Hall of Fame pitcher by Innings pitched but in the Innings he did Pitch he dominated like few pitchers ever have I really believe

He will get in one of these next two years but if he doesn’t then the today’s game era committee will certainly let them in if they let someone like Harold Baines in and one of those they let in was Lee Smith primarily a relief pitcher

Who pitched in the 80s and 90s and had the saves record until it was broken by Trevor Hoffman but while me and many others think Wagner should be in the Hall of Fame it’s ultimately in the hands of the Hall of Fame voters who cannot always be trusted I don’t trust

Like that but ultimately it’s hard not to root for a guy like Billy Wagner who battled immense adversity throughout his entire life for personal reasons and with the injuries that force them to switch throwing arms at a point where many kids would quit if they had to do

So Wagner is a great story of overcoming adversity and I think and hope he will join the likes of Dennis Eckersley Trevor Hoffman Maran Rivera and in the future Albert PS as the great relief pitchers to make it to the hall of Fame

Billy Wagner was one of the best closers in MLB history with a fastball that topped out at over 100 MPH. Despite this, he actually wasn’t throwing with his natural arm. He broke his right arm twice when he was seven and had to switch to being a lefty. So let’s look at the life and career of Billy Wagner featuring his time with the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox, and Braves.

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