Josh Towers
Towers as a non-roster invitee of the Washington Nationals in 2009 spring training
Free Agent — No. --
Pitcher
Born: February 26, 1977 (1977-02-26) (age 32) Port Hueneme, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
May 2, 2001 for the Baltimore Orioles
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Win–Loss	45–55
Earned run average	4095
Strikeouts	389
Teams
Baltimore Orioles (2001–2002) Toronto Blue Jays (2003–2007) New York Yankees (2009)

Towers with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2007

Joshua Eric Towers (born February 26, 1977 in Port Hueneme, California) is a right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. Towers stands at 6 ft 1 in tall, and weighs 188 lb.

Towers, who wore uniform #7 with Toronto, is one of rare Major League pitchers to have worn a single-digit number.

Towers is a control pitcher with good command of the strike zone, with a fastball that tops out at 90 mph.^{[citation needed]} While he has no overpowering pitches or deceptive late movement to his pitches, his consistent ability to locate any pitch to any part of the plate means that he rarely walks batters. Towers' approach means opposing hitters often put the ball in play, and so he relies heavily on his defense.

[edit] Professional career

Towers was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 15th round of the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft. In 2001, Towers made his major league debut, compiling eight wins and ten losses while posting an ERA of 4.49 in 140.1 innings. Towers started 2002 with three straight losses along with two no-decisions in his first five games, giving up eleven home runs during that span. He would finish the year in the Orioles minor-league system.

Towers signed with the Blue Jays as a minor league free agent for the 2003 season. Joining the team midway through the season, he would go on to have a very successful run, appearing in 14 games (eight starts). He would finish the year 8–1 with a 4.48 ERA. In 2004, Towers became the Blue Jays' fifth starter, going a mediocre 9–9 with a 5.11 ERA in 21 games started.

In 2005, after ace Roy Halladay's leg was broken by a line drive, Towers was arguably Toronto's most dependable pitcher. Stepping up when the Blue Jays starting rotation seemed impossibly thin, he would finish the season with 13 wins, tied for the club lead (along with rookie Gustavo Chacín), Towers set career bests with a 3.71 ERA, 33 games started, and 208.2 innings pitched.

Having been signed to a two-year, $5.2 million contract during the off-season as a reward for his impressive 2005 year, Towers started the new season in horrifying fashion, going 0–7, with an ERA of 10.09 in his first seven starts.^[1]

On May 14, Towers pitched a good game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, throwing eight innings and allowing just two earned runs, leading the Jays to an 8–3 victory. It was his first victory of 2006, but it would not translate into renewed confidence. Towers would go on to lose his eighth game of the season against the Colorado Rockies. The next game was another one against the Devil Rays, but he would leave the game after just 1+²⁄₃ innings completed, giving up four earned runs. On May 24, the Blue Jays demoted Towers to the Syracuse Chiefs.^[2]

Towers would be recalled from Triple-A on June 20, but his struggles continued, and he was once again demoted to Syracuse on June 27.^[3]

Following his poor 2006 season, Towers decided to train with teammate and fellow Las Vegas off-season resident Reed Johnson. Towers, along with John Thomson, Tomo Ohka, and Víctor Zambrano was one of the leading contenders to land one of two open spots in the Blue Jays rotation.

During spring training, Towers was dominant, with only one bad outing during the spring. On March 31, it was announced that Towers had won the final spot in the Blue Jays' 2007 rotation to begin the season, although Blue Jays General Manager J. P. Ricciardi admitted that Towers would be "on a short leash".^[4]

On April 28, after his third loss of the season, to the Texas Rangers, where he surrendered 5 runs in 1 inning, he was demoted to the bullpen. Victor Zambrano was promoted in his place.^[5]

On July 8, Josh Towers pitched eight shutout innings, including 5+²⁄₃ innings of perfect ball and then watched the Blue Jays head into the all-star break on a high note with a 1–0 walkoff victory over the Cleveland Indians. Towers pitched no walks, three hits for the Jays.^[6]

During a game against the New York Yankees on August 7, 2007, Towers intentionally hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch. Rodriguez approached the mound and the benches cleared. After Rodriguez took first, Towers heard Yankees first base coach Tony Pena "chirping" at him, which led to the benches clearing again. After the game, Towers called Pena a "quitter," referring to his resignation as the Kansas City Royals' manager in 2005, and said he is not in a position to run his mouth. Towers promptly surrendered two runs after the incident, lost the game and was moved, for the second time in the season, to the bullpen.^[7]

On February 6, 2008, Towers signed a one-year contract with the Colorado Rockies. He spent four months with the Rockies' Triple-A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. On July 26, he made himself a footnote in the record books when, during the second inning, he surrendered seven RBI and two home runs to Ryan Roberts of the Oklahoma RedHawks. ^[8]

After becoming a free agent, Towers signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals in January 2009. He was released on May 5, 2009 after spending time with the Syracuse Chiefs. On May 10, 2009, he was signed to a minor league contract by the New York Yankees and sent to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. On August 8, 2009 he was called and placed on the Yankees roster but was designated for assignment the following day to make room for newly acquired pitcher Chad Gaudin. Towers cleared waivers and was outrighted back to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. On September 5, he was recalled to the Yankees. The following day he was called in to pitch in a relief appearance for the Yankees, and in doing so, became the 1,500th player to play in an official game for the franchise. ^[9]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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