Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels
Hamels pitching for the Phillies in 2010
Philadelphia Phillies — No. 35
Starting pitcher
Born: December 27, 1983 (1983-12-27) (age 27) San Diego, California
Bats: Left	Throws: Left
MLB debut
May 12, 2006 for the Philadelphia Phillies
Career statistics (through 2011 season)
Win-Loss	74–54
Earned run average	3.39
Strikeouts	1,091
Teams
Philadelphia Phillies (2006–present)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (2007, 2011) NLCS MVP (2008) 2008 World Series MVP World Series champion (2008)

Colbert Michael "Cole" Hamels (born December 27, 1983 in San Diego, California) is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Hamels throws a four-seam fastball, a circle changeup, a curveball, and a cut fastball, which he added in 2010.^[1] He was named Most Valuable Player of the 2008 World Series and National League Championship Series after posting a 4–0 record in the postseason.

Biography

High school and draft

Cole Hamels attended Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego, California. According to Tony Gwynn, a lot of scouts were interested in Hamels while he was pitching for RBHS because his fastball was clocked as high as 94 mph as well as his advanced secondary offerings. However, he broke his pitching arm in his sophomore year, so teams, including the San Diego Padres, lost interest. Nonetheless, Hamels was drafted in the first round of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, who held the 17th overall selection.^[2]

Minor league career

Hamels began his professional baseball career in 2003, pitching at Single-A Lakewood. Later that season, he was promoted to Class-A Advanced Clearwater. After the 2003 season, Hamels received the Paul Owens Award as the best pitcher in the Phillies' minor league system.^[3]

During the next two seasons, however, Hamels was plagued by injuries and pitched only sparingly. He missed most of the 2004 season with an elbow injury. In 2005, he broke his pitching hand in a bar fight before the season began,^[4] and once he recovered, then hurt his back, and was shut down for the rest of the season.

In 2006, a healthy Hamels started again at Clearwater, and after a brief stint at Double-A Reading was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where in just three games, he struck out 36 batters while giving up only one walk and one run.^[5] His minor league totals were 14–4, with 273 strikeouts in 35 games pitched.^[6]

Major League career

2006

Hamels was called up to the Phillies in May 2006.^[5] In his MLB debut on May 12, he pitched five scoreless innings in which he allowed only one hit, striking out seven batters but walking five, but earned a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds when reliever Ryan Madson gave up a 2-run lead.^[7] In his second career start, Hamels was dominant until the seventh inning, in which he was pulled after he allowed several baserunners, but again received a no-decision.^[8] A shoulder injury scratched Hamels from the lineup of what would have originally been his third major league start. He was put on the 15-day disabled list^[9] and returned on June 6 to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 10–1, for his first Major League victory. On August 14, 2006, Hamels had his best start of his rookie campaign, shutting out the New York Mets over eight innings and striking out nine in the 13–0 victory.^[10]

2007

Hamels pitching in 2007

On April 21, 2007, Hamels struck out 15 Reds in his first career complete game. He allowed one run on five hits and two walks, setting a career high for strikeouts.^[11] On May 16, 2007, he carried a perfect game into the seventh inning, where he walked leadoff man Rickie Weeks and then surrendered a home run to the next batter, J. J. Hardy. He struck out 11 batters in a 6–2 decision over the Milwaukee Brewers.^[12] On June 12, 2007, Hamels went eight innings to become the first National League pitcher of the season to win nine games.

On July 1, 2007, he was named to the NL All Star Team for the first time.^[13] On August 22, Hamels was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a mild left elbow strain. On September 28, he pitched the Phillies into first place by striking out 13 Washington Nationals over 8 innings in a 6–0 win.

Hamels finished with an impressive regular-season record of 15–5. The Philadelphia chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America presented him the "Steve Carlton Most Valuable Pitcher" award.

2008

Before the season got underway in March, Hamels made a complaint about the Phillies underpaying him, saying it was a "low blow" and he was "caught off-guard" with the gap between what he and agent John Boggs felt was a fair reward for his performance last season and what he was paid.^[14]

Hamels led the Phillies throughout the first month of the season in most pitching categories, including wins (3), ERA (2.70), and innings pitched (43⅓). Continuing his dominance into May, Hamels recorded his first career complete game shutout against the Atlanta Braves on the 15th of that month.

Less than one month later, Hamels followed with a repeat of that complete game, beating the Reds, 5–0, on June 5. Though the Phillies were a picture of inconsistency through June, posting a long streak of wins followed by a prolonged team-wide slump, Hamels posted a 3–1 record and a 2.61 ERA in the month.^[15]

Cole Hamels in World Series Victory Parade on October 31, 2008

For the season, Hamels was 14–10 with a 3.09 ERA; he had the lowest OBP-against in the majors, .272.^[16] He was also judged as having the most effective changeup in the majors.^[17]

Hamels pitched in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Brewers, pitching eight strong innings and striking out nine while notching his first career playoff win. He was named the MVP of the National League Championship Series, going 2–0 in the NLCS with a 1.93 ERA and winning the series clincher on October 15 in Los Angeles. He also recorded the win in Game 1 of the World Series, surrendering two runs in seven innings of work. Overall, Hamels made five postseason starts in 2008, going 4–0 with a 1.80 ERA.^[18]

Hamels was named Most Valuable Player of the World Series, making him only the fifth player to win two post-season MVP awards in the same year. The previous double-winners were Willie Stargell in 1979, Darrell Porter in 1982, Orel Hershiser in 1988 and Liván Hernández in 1997. The New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) likewise chose him as the World Series MVP, presenting him the Babe Ruth Award. The Philadelphia chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America presented him the "Steve Carlton Most Valuable Pitcher" award for the second consecutive year.

2009

Hamels started his 2009 season by signing a 3-year, $20.5 million deal with the Phillies.^[19] On February 14, the first day of spring training for pitchers and catchers, when asked who the Opening Day starter would be, manager Charlie Manuel responded:

Yeah, you might as well go ahead and pencil him in [...] I don't think there's any sense in me playing games. Go ahead, pencil him in.^[20]

Hamels pitching against the Cincinnati Reds in 2009

However, Hamels left training camp on March 16 and flew to Philadelphia to have his left elbow examined by Dr. Michael Ciccotti. Hamels felt tightness in between innings and after he was done pitching for the day. "This will obviously set me back a couple of days, and I don't think that should be a big deal", said Hamels.^[21] Ciccotti found no structural damage in his arm.^[22] Hamels did not pitch on Opening Day, even though no structural damage was evident.^[23][24] Hamels posted a 10–11 record and a 4.32 ERA in the regular season, his first major league season in which he posted a sub-.500 record, and the worst ERA of his career to that point. However, Hamels' strikeout, walk, line drive, ground ball and fly ball rates all remained similar, while his home run rate saw an increase of .01 home runs allowed per nine innings pitched. Hamels's fielding-independent pitching also remained the same from 2008 to 2009 at 3.72,^[25] with Hamels' batting average on balls in play increasing from .270 to .325. Sabermetricians such as Tom Tango and Rob Neyer have disputed the common belief^{[citation needed]} that something was wrong with Hamels during the 2009 season.^[26][27][28] Baseball Prospectus' Matt Swartz went deeper into the statistics, checking marks such as percentage of strikes thrown, percentage of balls hit to the outfield, percentage of pitches fouled, missed, pulled, hit to center, and hit to the opposite field, as well as percentage of hitters with two strikes that he struck out.^[29][30]

Hamels started the second game of the 2009 National League Division Series, allowing four earned runs through five innings to take the loss. The Phillies, however, won the series, three games to one. Hamels earned the win in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series, as the Phillies beat the Dodgers, 8–6. Hamels started Game 3 of the World Series against the New York Yankees, pitching 4 ¹⁄₃ innings, allowing 5 earned runs and taking the loss.

2010

In 2010, Hamels posted a 12-11 record with a 3.06 ERA, the lowest in his career to that his point, but received poor run support.

2011

As of August 7, Hamels has a 13-6 record, 150 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.53, and a 0.96 WHIP. On July 3, when the rosters for the 2011 MLB All-Star game in Phoenix, Arizona were announced on TBS, Hamels was voted in along with fellow pitchers and teammates Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee; however, he was not eligible to play because he had pitched the Sunday prior to the All-Star Game. He finished fifth in the Cy Young Voting behind Clayton Kershaw, Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Ian Kennedy respectively.

Personal life

He lives in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Heidi Strobel, whom he married on December 31, 2006. Strobel was a contestant on the sixth edition of the reality show Survivor. They welcomed their first child, son Caleb Michael, on October 9, 2009.^[31] Their second son, Braxton, was born on November 2, 2011. Cole is the oldest of three, with a younger brother Mitchell and a younger sister Jillian, who lives in San Francisco, California, and attends San Francisco State University. Hamels' parents, Gary and Amanda Hamels, reside in San Diego.

In a promotion video for the first person shooter video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Hamels appeared denouncing a phenomenon in the game known as grenade spam. The video is currently on YouTube and actually lead a competing game to MW2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, to release a YouTube video of their own, this time featuring New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia. The video with Sabathia pokes fun at Hamels' video and points out the more realistic features of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as compared to Modern Warfare 2.

References

1. ^ "Cole Hamels - Statistics (Pitch Type)". Fangraphs. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4972&position=P#pitchtype. Retrieved September 23, 2010. 
2. ^ "Cole Hamels Phillies Biography". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/team/player_career.jsp?player_id=430935. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
3. ^ "Phillies announce 2003 Paul Owens Award winners". MLB.com. September 2, 2003. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20030902&content_id=508225&vkey=pr_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved October 15, 2009. 
4. ^ Gennaria, Mike (February 1, 2005). "Hamels to have surgery on left hand". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050201&content_id=937908&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Mandel, Ken (May 10, 2006). "Phenom Hamels to be called up to Phils". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060510&content_id=1446829&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
6. ^ "Cole Hamels Minor League Splits and Situational Stats". minorleaguesplits.com. Archived from the original on April 29, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070429234328/http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/pl/430/430935.html. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
7. ^ Mandel, Ken (May 13, 2006). "Hamels enjoys stellar debut in Phils' win". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060512&content_id=1451027&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
8. ^ Mandel, Ken (May 18, 2006). "Hamels solid early, but Phils falter late". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060518&content_id=1459852&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
9. ^ Mandel, Ken (May 24, 2006). "Hamels on DL with left shoulder strain". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060524&content_id=1470160&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
10. ^ Mandel, Ken (August 14, 2006). "Phils cruise behind Hamels, offense". Phillies.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060814&content_id=1609679&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
11. ^ Zolecki, Todd (April 22, 2007). "Hamels fans 15 in Phils' victory". Philly.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070524134957/http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20070422_Hamels_fans_15_in_Phils_victory.html. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 
12. ^ Zolecki, Todd (May 17, 2007). "Hamels flirts with perfection in win". Philly.com. http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/sports/20070516_Hamels_flirts_with_perfection_in_win.html. Retrieved May 17, 2007. ^{[dead link]}
13. ^ "?". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/12/sports/s202135D29.DTL. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ Smallwood, John (March 4, 2008). "Baseball's Young Stars Caught in Salary Trap". Philadelphia Inquirer. Pro Athletes Only. http://proathletesonly.com/news/featured/baseballs-young-stars-caught-in-salary-trap/. Retrieved August 18, 2009. 
15. ^ "Cole Hamels' 2008 splits". Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7509/splits;_ylt=AiqDtvO98ewYstoRdrED7YSFCLcF. Retrieved June 29, 2008. 
16. ^ "2008 Major League Baseball PH/HR/Situational Hitting". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2008-situational-batting.shtml. Retrieved August 18, 2009. 
17. ^ "Major League Leaderboards – Pitchers (2008)". Fangraphs. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&type=7&season=2008&month=0. Retrieved October 26, 2009. 
18. ^ "Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher wins World Series". ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3671956. Retrieved October 29, 2008. 
19. ^ ESPN.com news services (January 18, 2009). "Phils lock in Hamels at 3 years, $20.5M". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3840342. Retrieved October 15, 2009. 
20. ^ Todd Zolecki (February 14, 2009). "Phillies tab Hamels for Opening Day". philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com. mlb.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090214&content_id=3828666&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved February 15, 2009. 
21. ^ "Hamels' ailing elbow to be checked". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 16, 2009. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=3984854. Retrieved March 17, 2009. 
22. ^ http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9344352/Doctor:-Hamels-has-no-damage-in-pitching-elbow?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=49 Retrieved on 2009-03-17.
23. ^ Zolecki, Todd (March 17, 2009). "Good news for Hamels; opener still iffy". Phillies.MLB.com. Major League Baseball. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090317&content_id=4004206&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved March 17, 2009. 
24. ^ Todd Zolecki (April 6, 2009). "Homers sink Myers, Phils in opener". MLB.com. http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090405&content_id=4133812&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi. Retrieved April 7, 2009. 
25. ^ http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4972&position=P#advanced
26. ^ http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/cole_hamels_babip/
27. ^ http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/638/cole-hamels-as-good-as-ever
28. ^ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/cole-hamels-looks-to-rebound...from-what/
29. ^ http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9673
30. ^ http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9751
31. ^ Dan Stamm (October 9, 2009). "Hamels' Baby Boy Born". nbcphiladelphia.com. nbcphiladelphia.com. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/sports/Hamels-Baby-Boy-Born-63880872.html. Retrieved October 9, 2009. 

External links

• Cole Hamels's official website
• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Tom Gordon	Steve Carlton Most Valuable Pitcher 2007–2008	Succeeded by Roy Halladay
Preceded by Matt Holliday	National League Championship Series MVP 2008	Succeeded by Ryan Howard
Preceded by Mike Lowell	World Series MVP 2008	Succeeded by Hideki Matsui

Persondata
Name	Hamels, Cole
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 27, 1983
Place of birth	San Diego, California
Date of death
Place of death