Julian Edward Gaillard (born August 13, 1970) is a former

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 ...

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), ...

, playing for the Detroit Tigers and

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

between 1997 and 1999. He also played in the Japanese

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

, posting a total of 120 saves during his five-season stay. He is noted as one of the premier closers of the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

Biography

Gaillard attended

Forest Hill Community High School Forest Hill Community High School (FHCHS) also known as Forest Hill or ''The Hill'', is a coeducational public high school in West Palm Beach, Florida with an enrollment of 2,457 students. The school is a part of the School District of Palm Beach ...

and

Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

. In 1991, he played collegiate summer baseball with the

Bourne Braves The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the ca ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Gaillard was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 13th round of the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. He was promoted to the majors for the first time in , and went to the

in , and the Cincinnati Reds in . Gaillard joined the Chunichi Dragons in the Japanese Central League at the beginning of 2000. He took over the closing job that Korean pitcher Sun Dong-Yeol had left open after retiring, and led the league with 35 saves, appearing in the All-Star Game. However, he allowed the game-tying

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

and

walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning of the game and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will no ...

back-to-back to the

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 ...

, a first place team that was one win away from winning the league. He led the league in saves again in , posting a 1.52

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 April , he recorded his 100th save in only his 148th appearance, the fastest in the history of Japanese baseball. However, the Dragons began to use

Akinori Otsuka (born January 13, 1972) is a retired Japanese baseball pitcher who coaches for the Chunichi Dragons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He was formerly the set-up man for the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers. He was also the closer for Jap ...

as their closer, and he was put on waivers after complaining to the team about his lack of appearances. He was picked up by the

Yokohama BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its curren ...

, but was demoted to relief duty after

Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro "Daimajin" Sasaki (佐々木主浩 ''Sasaki Kazuhiro'', born February 22, 1968) is a former Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He played his entire NPB career with the Yokohama Taiyo W ...

returned as the team's closer in . He also sustained an injury to his pitching arm, and returned to the U.S. in June, 2004 for surgery. He signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies in , and with the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

in , but did not play in the majors. His final stats in Japan were a 2.90 ERA and 120 saves.

Pitching style

Gaillard's main weapon was his

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 thr ...

, which fell in the mid 90 mph range during his prime. He threw 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 * ...

, splitter, and

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 ...

to complement his fastball. He also had surprisingly good control,

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

few batters in his appearances. He was one of the best closers in Japan in the early 2000s, ranking third among Chunichi Dragons players in saves, after Kaku Genji and

Hitoki Iwase Hitoki Iwase (岩瀬仁紀, born November 10, 1974) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player from Nishio, Aichi, Japan. He holds the NPB record for career saves and mound appearances. In 2005, he marked 46 saves with a 1.88 ERA, ...

. His name was originally written as ゲイラード, in Japan, but was changed to ギャラード, in order to match the English pronunciation.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaillard, Eddie 1970 births Living people Baseball players from Camden, New Jersey Detroit Tigers players Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Chunichi Dragons players Yokohama BayStars players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Major League Baseball pitchers Lakeland Tigers players Jacksonville Suns players Toledo Mud Hens players Durham Bulls players Albuquerque Isotopes players Florida Southern Moccasins baseball players Forest Hill Community High School alumni Bourne Braves players Fayetteville Generals players Gulf Coast Devil Rays players Niagara Falls Rapids players St. Petersburg Devil Rays players