C. J. Nitkowski

Christopher John "C.J." Nitkowski (born March 9, 1973, Suffern, New York) is a left handed baseball pitcher, as of 2008 with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, in the Japanese Pacific League.

Nitkowski attended Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, New Jersey, graduating in 1991. Not drafted out of high school, he attended Florida Atlantic University for one year before transferring to St. John's University. The Cincinnati Reds made him the ninth overall pick in the June 1994 draft.

He made his Major League Baseball debut on June 3, 1995 with the Reds, and spent his earlier years as a starter before being converted to the bullpen. He has played for several other Major League teams including the Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees. However, after the 2006 season where he played exclusively in AAA with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Nitkowski accepted a 1-year contract tender with Nippon Professional Baseball's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

Nitkowski was one of the first Major Leaguers to maintain his own Web site, where he posted ongoing personal diaries about life in the big leagues. In many ways, his contributions anticipated the phenomenon of blogging, several years before that term became known to the general public.

Raised a Catholic, Nitkowski converted to evangelical Christianity following an incident in which his son nearly drowned in a swimming pool incident during spring training of 2002.

Major League Baseball career statistics

External links

* [http://www.cjbaseball.com CJBaseball.com] (CJ's own blog)
* [http://www.spotstarters.com/?p=232 Spotstarters.com] (Interview with C.J. Nitkowski, 2007)