- D. J. Houlton
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D. J. Houlton Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks — No. 54 Pitcher Born: August 12, 1979
Fullerton, CaliforniaBats: Right Throws: Right MLB debut April 9, 2005 for the Los Angeles Dodgers Career statistics
(through 2008 season)Win-Loss 6-11 Earned run average 4.99 Strikeouts 111 Teams - Los Angeles Dodgers (2005, 2007)
- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2008-present) (NPB)
Dennis Sean "D. J." Houlton Jr. (born August 12, 1979 in Fullerton, California) was a Major League Baseball pitcher and is currently a member of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Japan.
Houlton attended Servite High School and the University of the Pacific. On May 11, 2001, while at Pacific, Houlton pitched a complete game no hitter with an 8-0 victory over UC Riverside.
In the 2001 amateur draft, the Houston Astros drafted Houlton in the 11th round. He signed on June 9, 2001.
In 2001-2002, he pitched for the Michigan Battle Cats, the Astros Single-A team, going 14-5 with a 3.15 ERA in 35 games (16 starts). In 2003 and 2004, he pitched primarily for the then Double-A Round Rock Express in the Texas League, where he went 12-5 with a 2.94 ERA in 28 starts with 3 complete games.
On December 13, 2004, the Dodgers acquired Houlton from the Astros in the Rule 5 Draft. Houlton spent the entire 2005 season in the Major Leagues, going 6-9 with a 5.16 ERA in 35 appearances (19 starts).[1]
As one of the players brought to the team by General Manager Paul DePodesta and then Manager Jim Tracy, Houlton's fortune's faded when a new management team took over the Dodgers prior to the 2006 season. He failed to make the major league team out of spring training and spent the year with the Las Vegas 51s in AAA.
In 2006, Houlton struggled in the minor leagues, going 9-11 with a 5.60 ERA at Las Vegas and did not get called up. In 2007, going 5-4 with a 3.90 ERA over the first half of the season, Houlton was called up to the Dodgers on July 1, 2007. Houlton ended up at 0-2 with a 4.18 ERA in twenty-eight innings.
In January 2008, the Dodgers sold Houlton's contract to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Japanese Pacific League.[2]
Houlton with SoftBank
Houlton did not have a set role in his first season with the Hawks, as he started the season in the bullpen as the team's set-up man. Assigned the number #00, Houlton eventually became the team's closer in the absence of the team's ace closer Takahiro Mahara. Until the end of May, Houlton was regularly able to close games, many times getting six-out saves. However, after blowing three straight saves at the end of May and beginning of June (all in Interleague play), Houlton was demoted to ni-gun. He was recalled in July as a starter, and stayed in that role the rest of the season. He recorded six quality starts, while going seven or more innings four times. In the 2008 season, Houlton went 4-7 with 6 saves and a 4.27 ERA in 28 games (11 starts).
Reassigned with the number #54 in 2009 and being pegged a starter from the outset as Mahara was finally healthy, Houlton was able to finally settle into a role early on, a luxury he did not have the previous season. He responded immediately, giving the Hawks quality starts in each of his first eleven starts and posting a 5-3 record with a 2.13 ERA in that span. Houlton was able to maintain this torrid pace, as he went less than five innings only once during the season. He finished with a solid 11-8 record, but he did record a 2.89 ERA with 138 strikeouts in 171 innings.
References
- ^ Gurnick, Ken. "Notes: Saturday starter still uncertain, Houlton could be called up from Triple-A Las Vegas." MLB.com, 30 May 2007. Accessed 07/19/07.
- ^ Dodgers pitcher D.J. Houlton to play in Japan
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
- Statistics at thebaseballcube.com
- Pitcher Goes Big League in Japan
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks current roster First squad 1 Hiroshi Shibahara | 3 Nobuhiko Matsunaka | 5 Nobuhiro Matsuda | 6 Hitoshi Tamura | 9 Hiroki Kokubo | 11 Shinsuke Ogura | 14 Takahiro Mahara | 19 Masahiko Morifuku | 21 Tsuyoshi Wada | 23 Ryuma Kidokoro | 24 Seiichi Uchikawa | 25 Brian Falkenborg | 27 Toru Hosokawa | 28 Kenji Ohtonari | 30 Yuya Hasegawa | 32 Satoru Morimoto | 34 Hiroki Yamada | 36 Kenji Akashi | 40 Yoshiaki Fujioka | 42 Alex Cabrera | 46 Yuichi Honda | 48 Keisuke Kattoh | 49 Jose Ortiz | 47 Toshiya Sugiuchi | 50 Tadashi Settsu | 51 Takehito Kanazawa | 52 Munenori Kawasaki | 54 D. J. Houlton | 62 Katsuki Yamazaki | 70 Hidenori Tanoue |
Second squad 00 Teruaki Yoshikawa | 0 Tadaatsu Nakazawa | 2 Kenta Imamiya | 4 Masaumi Shimizu | 7 Soichiro Tateoka | 10 Keiji Nakahara | 12 Hiroaki Takaya | 13 Hideaki Takahashi | 17 Shota Ohba | 18 Nagisa Arakaki | 20 Shingo Tatsumi | 22 Ayatsugu Yamashita | 26 Hiroyuki Kawahara | 29 Reo Chikada | 31 Kenta Nakanishi | 33 Sho Arima | 37 Shuhei Fukuda | 38 Yasushi Kamiuchi | 39 Yuki Kume | 41 Sho Iwasaki | 43 Tomoaki Egawa | 44 Yuki Yanagida | 45 Lee Tu-Hsuan | 53 Keisuke Kaneko | 55 Teruaki Yoshikawa | 55 Yusuke Kosai | 56 Daichi Hoshino | 57 Anthony Lerew | 58 Takeshi Tsuji | 59 Takaki Minami | 60 Akira Nakamura | 61 Kim Mu-yon | 63 Ryuta Ohtahara | 66 Kazumi Saitoh | 64 Toru Takahashi | 65 Yuki Shimooki | 67 Masato Sakata | 68 Koji Toyofuku | 91 Yan Yao-Shun | 121 Keisuke Yasuda (Trainee) | 126 Daiki Nakahara (Trainee) | 127 Daichiro Itoh (Trainee) | 128 Kodai Senga (Trainee) | 129 Taisei Makihara (Trainee) | 130 Takuya Kai (Trainee) | 131 Akihiro Yanase (Trainee) | 132 Ryuta Ohtahara (Trainee) | 133 Shunya Suzuki (Trainee) | 134 Hiroaki Ohnishi (Trainee) | 135 Yuji Ohshiro (Trainee) | 136 Soichi Fujita (Trainee) | 140 Juan DeLeon (Trainee) |
First squad Coaching Manager: 81 Koji Akiyama | Head coach: 80 Daijiro Ohishi | Pitching coaches: 82 Ikuo Takayama, 86 Keisaburo Tanoue | Hitting coach: 83 Yoshiie Tachibana | Baserunning coaches: 84 Hiroshi Yugamidani, 87 Tatsuya Ide | Battery coach: 85 Tetsuya Matoyama | Conditioning coaches: 92 Shuichi Yamakawa, 96 Shingo Kan
Second squad Coaching Manager: 71 Yusuke Torigoe | Pitching coach: 73 Manabu Saitoh | Hitting coaches: 75 Yoshinori Yamamura | Baserunning coaches: 77 Takaya Hayashi, 87 Akihito Igarashi | Battery coach: 72 Masanori Taguchi | Conditioning coach: 95 Takashi Kawamura | Assistant conditioning coach: 93 Junji Hoshino | Assistant coach (Pitchers): 94 Shinji Kurano | Assistant coach (Fielders): 97 Katsuhiko Miyaji | Assistant coach (Battery): 99 Hiroyuki Mori |
Categories:- 1979 births
- Living people
- People from Fullerton, California
- Baseball players from California
- Major League Baseball pitchers
- Los Angeles Dodgers players
- Las Vegas 51s players
- Round Rock Express players
- Pacific Tigers baseball players
- American expatriate baseball players in Japan
- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks players
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