William Henry Sadler IV (born September 21, 1981) is a former right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

. He is a 2000 graduate of Pensacola (Florida) Catholic High School and was named Florida Class 3A Player of the Year his senior year He attended

Pensacola Junior College Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal c ...

in 2001 and 2002 and transferred to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 2003. He led LSU with four saves, but took the

loss Loss may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Loss'' (Bass Communion album) (2006) * ''Loss'' (Mull Historical Society album) (2001) *"Loss", a song by God Is an Astronaut from their self-titled album (2008) * Losses "(Lil Tjay son ...

when the Tigers were eliminated from the 2003 College World Series by the University of South Carolina.

San Francisco Giants

Sadler was selected by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in the 37th round (1106th overall pick) of the amateur draft and in the 30th round (909th overall pick) of the draft, but opted not to sign with the Mariners. He signed with the Giants after they made him their sixth round selection (183rd overall pick) in the draft. In his first four seasons in the Giants minor league system, Sadler played for the

Hagerstown Suns The Hagerstown Suns were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland. They were a member of the South Atlantic League and, from 2007 through 2020, were the Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They played their home ga ...

of the Single-A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

(2003); the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants ga ...

of the advanced Single-A California League (); the

Norwich Navigators Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

(2004–) and the

Connecticut Defenders The Connecticut Defenders were a Minor League Baseball team based in Norwich, Connecticut. The team, which played in the Eastern League, was the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major-league club from 2003 until following the 2009 ...

() of the Double-A Eastern League; and the

Fresno Grizzlies The Fresno Grizzlies are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They are located in Fresno, California, and play their home games at Chukchansi Park, which was opened in 2002 in d ...

of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (2006). Pitching almost exclusively out of the bullpen, he compiled a 14-13 win–

record with 27 saves and a 3.06

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

through the end of the 2006 season. In 2006, he posted 20 saves as the Defenders' closer. Between Connecticut and Fresno, he

struck out 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 denote ...

78 batters in innings while holding opponents to a .148

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. Sadler's minor league success in 2006 earned him a spot on the Giants' September

expanded roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

when

Armando Benítez Armando Benítez (born November 3, 1972) is a Dominican former major league relief pitcher. Benítez debuted with the Baltimore Orioles in 1994 and within a few years became their closer. He was a reliever for several other organizations after Ba ...

was placed on the 60-day disabled list. He made his major league debut the following night against

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. After surrendering a

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Scott Spiezio Scott Edward Spiezio (; born September 21, 1972) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He is well-known for his time as a member of the Anaheim Angels, when he hit a three-run home run in Game Six of the 2002 World Series against ...

and a 3-run

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

Scott Rolen Scott Bruce Rolen (born April 4, 1975) is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds. He was an eight-t ...

, he settled down to retire the next four consecutive hitters, including his first big-league strike out. Sadler was with the Giants in spring training in , but struggled with his control and was

optioned In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...

to Fresno March 18. He was called up to the majors in to replace struggling pitcher

Brad Hennessey Brad Martin Hennessey (born February 7, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants. He stands tall and weighs . He played for the Giants from 2004–08 and ...

. On August 10, 2009 Sadler was released by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

Houston Astros

On August 18, 2009, Sadler signed a minor league contract with the Houston Astros.

References

External links

MLB.com Player FileThe Baseball Cube player page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadler, Billy 1981 births American baseball players of Japanese descent Baseball players from Florida Connecticut Defenders players Fresno Grizzlies players Gulf Coast Astros players Hagerstown Suns players Houston Astros players Living people LSU Tigers baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Norwich Navigators players Pensacola State Pirates baseball players Round Rock Express players San Francisco Giants players San Jose Giants players Sportspeople from Pensacola, Florida