Clay Zavada

Clay Zavada
Free agent
Relief pitcher
Born: June 28, 1984 (1984-06-28) (age 27) Streator, Illinois
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
May 21, 2009 for the Arizona Diamondbacks
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Win-Loss	3-3
Earned run average	3.35
Strikeouts	52
Teams
Arizona Diamondbacks (2009)

Clay Pflibson Zavada (born June 28, 1984 in Streator, Illinois) is a Major League Baseball pitcher who pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009. He is noted for his Rollie Fingers moustache.^[1]

Early career

Zavada attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Playing with the Mobile BayBears in the spring before his debut, Zavada struck out 18 in 17 and 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.60, limiting batters to a .169 average.^[2]

2009: Rookie Season

Clay Zavada was originally drafted to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 30th round of 2006 out of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Zavada left baseball after the death of his father in the winter following his first pro season. Upon receiving his business degree, he returned to play baseball for the Southern Illinois Miners, an independent team.^[3]

Zavada was called up to the Diamondbacks for the first time on May 13, but was returned to Double-A baseball Mobile BayBears the next day to make room for debut starter Bryan Augenstein.^[4] He was recalled on May 21, and made his Major League debut the next day.^[5] In his MLB debut, Clay entered the game in relief of starter Max Scherzer and threw a perfect seventh inning, defeating his rookie opponent Christian Martinez, who was also making his major league debut for the Florida Marlins.^[2]

2010 season

After failing to make the team in 2010 and struggling in AAA, Zavada had Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2010 season.^[6]

References

1. ^ http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090701&content_id=5648484&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090522&content_id=4882786&vkey=news_ari&fext=.jsp&c_id=ari
3. ^ Thomas, Katie (December 21, 2008). "Clay Zavada: A Lunch-Pail Prospect for the Diamondbacks". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/sports/baseball/21pitcher.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2. 
4. ^ http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=30088
5. ^ http://www.azsnakepit.com/2009/5/22/883082/diamondbacks-4-marlins-3-feat-of
6. ^ "Scout.com - The Diamondbacks". Diamondbacks Injury Updates. http://diamondbacks.scout.com/a.z?s=247&p=2&c=971846&ssf=1&RequestedURL=http://diamondbacks.scout.com/2/971846.html. Retrieved 2010-05-26. 

External links

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

Persondata
Name	Zavada, Clay
Alternative names
Short description	American baseball player
Date of birth	June 28, 1984
Place of birth	Streator, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death