Denny Bautista
Pittsburgh Pirates — No. 54
Pitcher
Born: August 23, 1980 (1980-08-23) (age 29) Sánchez, Dominican Republic
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 25, 2004 for the Baltimore Orioles
Career statistics (through 2008 season)
Win–Loss	8–14
Earned run average	6.34
Strikeouts	121
Teams
Baltimore Orioles (2004) Kansas City Royals (2004–2006) Colorado Rockies (2006–2007) Detroit Tigers (2008) Pittsburgh Pirates (2008-2009)

Denny M. Bautista (born August 23, 1980 in Sánchez, Dominican Republic) is a Major League Baseball pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Florida Marlins 1.2 Baltimore Orioles 1.3 Kansas City Royals 1.4 Colorado Rockies 1.5 Detroit Tigers 1.6 Pittsburgh Pirates 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Florida Marlins

Bautista had an early connection to Major League Baseball: as a teenager he pitched in a park built by professional baseball players Pedro Martínez, Ramón Martínez and Juan Guzmán. Pedro, then one of baseball's outstanding starting pitchers, mentored Bautista and trained with him during the off-season. The relationship between the two has been reported, variously, as first cousin and second cousin, with Bautista at one point denying there was a connection at all. Bautista finally confirmed that he and Martínez are second cousins through Bautista's mother.^[1][2][3]

The Florida Marlins signed Bautista on June 21, 2000, and assigned him to the Gulf Coast Marlins, their rookie-level minor league affiliate. He started 11 games for the Marlins, posting a 6-2 record with an ERA of 2.43. He split 2001 between the Single-A Utica Blue Sox and the Single-A Kane County Cougars, going a combined 6-2 with an ERA of 3.23. 2002 found him with another Single-A team, the Jupiter Hammerheads, where he went 4-6 with an ERA of 5.01. He recovered in 2003, pitching for first the Hammerheads and then the Double-A Carolina Mudcats, going 12-9 on the year with an improved ERA of 3.42.^[4]

[edit] Baltimore Orioles

On August 31, 2003 the Marlins traded Bautista and fellow minor-leaguer Don Levinski to the Baltimore Orioles for veteran Jeff Conine. The Orioles assigned Bautista to the Double-A Bowie Baysox, where he went 3-5 with a 4.71 ERA during the 2004 season. It was during this year that Bautista made his major league debut: the Orioles called him up as part of a roster reshuffle, and he made his first appearance, in relief, on May 25, 2004 against the New York Yankees. He managed to retire the side in order the first inning he pitched, but later got into difficulties and surrendered four runs on three hits. After a second relief appearance amid a three-game sweep of the Orioles by the Yankees Bautista was sent back to Bowie. A month later the Orioles traded him to the Kansas City Royals for veteran relief pitcher Jason Grimsley.^[5][6][7]

[edit] Kansas City Royals

The Royals assigned Bautista to the Double-A Wichita Wranglers, where he went 4-3 with an ERA of 2.52. After a productive spring training in 2005 Bautista was named to the Royals' starting rotation; he started seven games, going 2-2 with an ERA of 5.80 before tendinitis in his shoulder put him on the disabled list for the remainder of the season. On April 8, 2005, Bautista won his first major-league game, holding the Los Angeles Angels to one run in eight innings pitched.^[8][9]

At the start of the 2006 season Bautista was again on the Royals' starting rotation, but after a poor start, going 0-2 with an ERA of 5.66, the Royals sent him to the Triple-A Omaha Royals. There he continued to struggle, and on August 1 the Royals traded him with Jeremy Affeldt to the Colorado Rockies for Ryan Shealy and Scott Dohmann.^[10]

[edit] Colorado Rockies

The Rockies assigned Bautista to the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox, where he started six games before being called up to the Rockies in September. He appeared in four games, three of them in relief. He began the 2007 season in the bullpen, but was optioned to the Sky Sox in May, and spent the remainder of the season there. On December 4 the Rockies traded Bautista to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher José Capellán.^[11]

[edit] Detroit Tigers

Bautista began the 2008 with the Tigers in a relief role, often pitching in the eighth-inning as the "setup man" for veteran closer Todd Jones.^[12] Due to the return of Joel Zumaya, Bautista was designated for assignment and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 25, 2008 for right-handed pitcher Kyle Pearson.^[13]

[edit] Pittsburgh Pirates

Bautista made thirty-five appearances for the Pirates in 2008, all in relief. After a strong start in late June and early July his numbers declined, and he finished the year with a 4-3 record and an ERA of 6.10. Bautista was eligible for arbitration but the Pirates declined to tender an offer, although general manager Neal Huntington stated "We'd like to get him back."^[14][15] On December 22, 2008, he re-signed with the Pirates.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube