John Norman Foster (born May 17, 1978) 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 ...

and currently pitching coach for the Chinatrust Brothers of the

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

(CPBL).

Career

Foster was drafted by the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...

in the 25th round of the 1999 Major League Baseball draft. Foster began his big league career with the Braves in , after being called up from the Triple-A Richmond Braves. In his rookie season, he went 1-0 with a 10.80

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

and 6 strikeouts. On December 16, 2002, Foster was traded, along with

Wes Helms Wesley Ray Helms (born May 12, 1976) is an American former professional baseball player. During his 13-year playing career, Helms played for the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Florida Marlins, and Philadelphia Phillies. He played primarily ...

, to the Milwaukee Brewers for Ray King. With Milwaukee, he went 2-0, with a 4.71 ERA and 16 strikeouts. In 2005, after being picked by the Chicago Cubs in the Rule 5 draft in and undergoing surgery on a torn labrum, Foster returned to the Braves when his contract was purchased from Triple-A Richmond. Foster was signed by the

during the season to provide the Braves with a left-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 ...

, after the Braves had trouble with their Opening Day left-hander, Tom Martin. During the 2005 season, Foster posted a career low 4.15

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 ...

while working 34.2 innings in 62 games (both career highs). He also had career highs in walks (19) and strikeouts (32), as well as recording a career high 1 save. On October 11, 2006, Foster was released by the Atlanta Braves. On October 30, , Foster signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals. In late March 2009 at the end of spring training, Foster retired from professional baseball. On June 1, 2009, it was announced that Foster would be the new pitching coach for the

Newport Gulls The Newport Gulls are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Newport, Rhode Island. The Newport Gulls Baseball Club is a member of both the New England Collegiate Baseball League and the NECBL's Coastal Division. Since 2001, the Gu ...

baseball team of the

New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...

(NECBL). He coached

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

Lehman College during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Foster compiled an overall record of 14–43.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, John 1978 births Living people American expatriate baseball people in Taiwan Arizona League Royals players Atlanta Braves players Azucareros del Este players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from Stockton, California Danville Braves players Delta College Mustangs baseball players Greenville Braves players Idaho Falls Chukars players Indianapolis Indians players Lehman Lightning baseball coaches Lewis–Clark State Warriors baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players New England Collegiate Baseball League Omaha Royals players Richmond Braves players Wichita Wranglers players