Carlos Silva (born April 23, 1979), is a

Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

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 ...

, who played in

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) for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

(–),

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

(–),

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

(–), and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

().

Professional career

Philadelphia Phillies

Silva signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1996. He made his Major League debut in 2002, pitching the entire season out of the bullpen. Silva appeared in 68 games for the Phillies, going 5-0 with a 3.21 ERA and 41 strikeouts. In 2003, he went 3-1 despite an ERA of 4.43 in 62 games and 1 start.

Minnesota Twins

In December 2003, the Twins acquired Silva from Philadelphia along with

Nick Punto Nicholas Paul Punto (born November 8, 1977) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers ...

and Bobby Korecky in exchange for Eric Milton, who had been a staple of the Minnesota rotation since 1998. With the Twins, Silva made a successful conversion from

reliever 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 weather ...

to starter, in one of the biggest surprises in the 2004 season. He posted a 14–8 mark in 203

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

and finished second in the rotation behind

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered th ...

winner

Johan Santana Johan Alexander Santana Araque (; born March 13, 1979) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball starting pitcher. Santana pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins from 2000 to 2007 and for the New York Mets from 200 ...

. In 2005, he induced more

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

s (34) than any other pitcher in the majors. In 2005, he set the record for fewest walks allowed per 9 innings in the modern era with an average of .43 BB/9 innings. On May 20, 2005, Silva set a record since 1957 for the fewest pitches thrown (74) in a nine-inning complete game. In May 2006, Silva was demoted to the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

after struggling through the beginning of the season. In June, he re-entered the rotation when the struggling #5 starter, Scott Baker, was demoted to the Twins' Triple-A team in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

. He gave up a major-league-worst 1.90

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s per 9 innings, giving up 38—more than any other major league pitcher, and had a major-league-worst

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 ...

against of .326. In 2006, Silva gave up 38 home runs and allowed only 32 walks. In the previous season, he gave up 25 homers and just 9 walks. These two seasons make up only 15 full all-time seasons in which a pitcher qualifies for the ERA title while giving up more home runs than walks. Through 2006, Silva posted a 42–32 record with 306 strikeouts and a 4.35

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 ...

in 743 innings. In 2007, Silva started as the fifth starter behind Johan Santana,

Boof Bonser John Paul "Boof" Bonser (born October 14, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, and Oakland Athletics. High school career Bonser attended Gi ...

Ramón Ortiz Ramón Diógenes Ortiz (born May 23, 1973) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Anaheim Angels, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, Colorado Rockies, Los Angele ...

, and

Sidney Ponson Sidney Alton Ponson (; born November 2, 1976) is an Aruban former Major League Baseball pitcher. As a player, Ponson stood at tall and weighed . He threw right-handed with a fastball that clocked out at 95 mph. When he made his major league ...

. In his final season with the Twins, Silva finished 13-14 in 33 starts with a career high 89 strikeouts. Silva allowed Frank Thomas's 500th career home run on June 28, 2007 at the

Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League' ...

Seattle Mariners

On December 20, 2007, Silva signed a four-year contract with the

believed to be somewhere between $44 million and $48 million. In his first full season as a Mariner, Silva posted the worst ERA for a full-time starter in 2008 with a 6.46 ERA in 28 starts. He also spent time on the DL with a sore elbow. He finished 4-15 as he managed to win just one game after the month of April. Fresh off the WBC, Silva started the 2009 season slower than expected, with very little control over his pitches, and a high ERA. He sat out most of the season with a shoulder injury. Silva returned at near the end of the season for 2 appearances in relief, giving up one run in 0.2 innings to the Yankees on September 19 and one run on September 25 in Toronto in one inning.

Chicago Cubs

On December 18, 2009, Silva was traded along with $9 million to the

for outfielder

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

. Silva appeared to have turned his career around early in 2010, becoming the first Cubs starter since 1967 to begin a season with an 8–0 record. Despite fighting a stomach virus on June 7, he held the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

to one run over seven innings, picking up his eighth win of the year in a 6–1 triumph. It was the best start by any Cub pitcher since

Ken Holtzman Kenneth Dale Holtzman (born November 3, 1945) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from through , most notably as a member of the Chicago Cubs for whom he pitche ...

began the 1967 season with nine straight wins. However, his success was very limited for the remainder of the season, and he was cut from the Cubs towards the end of spring training in 2011.

New York Yankees

On April 9, 2011, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

signed Silva to a minor league deal. He was released on July 2.

Boston Red Sox

On January 3, 2012, Silva signed a minor league deal with the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. He was released on March 17.

Pitching style

Silva threw a low 90s sinking

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

, a

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

, a

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

, and a splitter. He was known for his relatively quick pace, taking very short breaks between pitches.

Personal life

Silva resides in

Medina, Minnesota Medina is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. An outer edge suburb of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, the city has a primarily rural character, with agricultural lands and natural preservation areas. Medina is home to the corporate hea ...

, with his wife Maria Hermann, son Justin, born June 12, 2007, and daughter Gabriella, born September 8, 2008. A Bowman rookie card of him from 2001 listed his weight at . His Topps card from 10 years later listed him at .2011 Topps Carlos Silva, #86

Notes

References

External links

Carlos Silva
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League) {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Carlos 1979 births Living people Batavia Muckdogs players Beloit Snappers players Chicago Cubs players Clearwater Phillies players Everett AquaSox players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela Martinsville Phillies players Minnesota Twins players People from Bolívar (state) Peoria Chiefs players Philadelphia Phillies players Piedmont Boll Weevils players Reading Phillies players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players Tampa Yankees players Trenton Thunder players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States World Baseball Classic players of Venezuela 2006 World Baseball Classic players 2009 World Baseball Classic players