Dennis Sean "D. J." Houlton Jr. (born August 12, 1979) is a 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 ...

. He 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), ...

for the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

and in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

for the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

and

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

and in the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

for the

Kia Tigers Kia Tigers ( ko, KIA 타이거즈) are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982 and based in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Until 2001, they were known as the Haitai Tigers. The Tigers are a members of the KBO League and are ...

Career

Amateur

Houlton attended

Servite High School Servite High School is a private, Catholic, all-male college preparatory high school operated by the Order of Friar Servants of Mary on a campus in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area in Anaheim, California, US. It was founded by the Servites in ...

and the University of the Pacific. On May 11, 2001, while at Pacific, Houlton pitched a complete game no hitter with an 8–0 victory over

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

Houston Astros

In the

2001 MLB draft The 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 5 and 6. First round selections Supplemental First Round Selections Compensation Picks Background On June 1, 2001, Rolando Viera, a Cuban ba ...

, 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 ...

drafted Houlton in the 11th round. He signed on June 9, 2001. In 2001–2002, he pitched for the

Michigan Battle Cats The Michigan Battle Cats were a Minor League Baseball team which began playing in the Midwest League in 1995 and called C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, Michigan, home. The franchise had previously been located in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1994 ...

, the Astros Single-A team, going 14–5 with a 3.15

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 35 games (16 starts). In 2003 and 2004, he pitched primarily for the then Double-A

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home games at the Dell Diamond. The team is named ...

in the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, where he went 12–5 with a 2.94 ERA in 28 starts with 3 complete games.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On December 13, 2004, the

acquired Houlton from the Astros in the Rule 5 draft. Houlton spent the entire 2005 season in the Major Leagues, going 6–9 with a 5.16 ERA in 35 appearances (19 starts).Gurnick, Ken
"Notes: Saturday starter still uncertain, Houlton could be called up from Triple-A Las Vegas."
''MLB.com'', 30 May 2007. Accessed July 19, 2007. As one of the players brought to the team by General Manager

Paul DePodesta Paul DePodesta (born December 16, 1972) is an American football executive and former baseball executive who is the chief strategy officer of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as a front-office assista ...

and then Manager Jim Tracy, Houlton's fortunes faded when a new management team took over the Dodgers prior to the 2006 season. He failed to make the major league team out of

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 ...

and spent the year with the Las Vegas 51s in

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Airports * Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA) * Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA) Arts, entertainment, and me ...

. In 2006, Houlton struggled in the minor leagues, going 9–11 with a 5.60 ERA at Las Vegas and did not get called up. In 2007, going 5–4 with a 3.90 ERA over the first half of the season, Houlton was called up to the Dodgers on July 1, 2007. Houlton ended up at 0–2 with a 4.18 ERA in twenty-eight innings with the Dodgers. In January 2008, the Dodgers sold Houlton's contract to the

of the Japanese

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

Nippon Professional Baseball

Houlton did not have a set role in his first season with the Hawks, as he started the season in the bullpen as the team's set-up man. Assigned the number #00, Houlton eventually became the team's closer in the absence of the team's ace closer Takahiro Mahara. Until the end of May, Houlton was regularly able to close games, many times getting six-out saves. However, after blowing three straight saves at the end of May and beginning of June (all in Interleague play), Houlton was demoted to ''ni-gun''. He was recalled in July as a starter, and stayed in that role the rest of the season. He recorded six quality starts, while going seven or more innings four times. In the 2008 season, Houlton went 4–7 with 6 saves and a 4.27 ERA in 28 games (11 starts). Reassigned with the number #54 in 2009 and being pegged a starter from the outset as Mahara was finally healthy, Houlton was able to settle into a role early on, a luxury he did not have the previous season. He responded immediately, giving the Hawks quality starts in each of his first eleven starts and posting a 5–3 record with a 2.13 ERA in that span. Houlton was able to maintain this torrid pace, as he went less than five innings only once during the season. He finished with a solid 11–8 record and a 2.89 ERA with 138 strikeouts in 171 innings. On December 16, 2011, the

announced that they had signed Houlton and gave him the number 54.Yomiuri Giants sign D.J. Houlton
/ref>

References

External links

Statistics at ''thebaseballcube.com''Pitcher Goes Big League in JapanCareer statistics and player information
from

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ko, 한국야구위원회) is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League ( ko, KBO 리그) and KBO ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houlton, D. J. 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Fullerton, California Baseball players from California Major League Baseball pitchers Los Angeles Dodgers players Michigan Battle Cats players Martinsville Astros players New Orleans Zephyrs players Round Rock Express players Las Vegas 51s players Pacific Tigers baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Japan KBO League pitchers American expatriate baseball players in South Korea Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players Yomiuri Giants players Kia Tigers players Servite High School alumni