Aaron James Rakers (born January 22, 1977) is an American former professional baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He attended

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

and was drafted by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

in the 23rd round (697th overall) in 1999. Rakers made his

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) debut on September 8, , pitching in three MLB games that season. In , Rakers spent most of the year pitching for the Orioles Triple-A affiliate, the

Ottawa Lynx The Ottawa Lynx were a Minor League Baseball team that competed in the Triple-A International League (IL) from 1993 to 2007. The team's home field was Lynx Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario. Over 15 seasons, the team was an affiliate of the Montreal ...

, where he had 92

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and 21 walks in 77 innings with an ERA of 2.57. Rakers missed the entire season because of a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder and was non-tendered during the offseason. He was invited to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

by the San Diego Padres in February , but did not make the team and was optioned to the Padres Triple-A affiliate, the Portland Beavers. Rakers appeared in only one major league game and became a minor league free agent at the end of the season. Rakers signed with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

for the season, but was released shortly after and signed with the York Revolution of the Atlantic League for the 2008 season. In 2009, Rakers joined the

La New Bears LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

, one of the teams of Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. On March 31, Rakers won his first CPBL game, throwing 65 strikes and 36 balls over 6 innings. His career concluded in 2010 with the La New Bears.

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1977 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Baltimore Orioles players Bluefield Orioles players Bowie Baysox players Delmarva Shorebirds players Frederick Keys players La New Bears players Major League Baseball pitchers Mesa Solar Sox players Ottawa Lynx players People from Highland, Illinois Baseball players from Madison County, Illinois Portland Beavers players San Diego Padres players SIU Edwardsville Cougars baseball players York Revolution players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub