Dan Haren

Dan Haren
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — No. 24
Starting pitcher
Born: September 17, 1980 (1980-09-17) (age 31) Monterey Park, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 30, 2003 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics (through 2011 Season)
Win–Loss record	107-84
Earned run average	3.59
Strikeouts	1,443
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (2003–2004) Oakland Athletics (2005–2007) Arizona Diamondbacks (2008–2010) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2010–present)
Career highlights and awards
3× All-Star selection (2007, 2008, 2009) 2× NL Pitcher of the Month

Daniel John Haren (born September 17, 1980, in Monterey Park, California) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.^[1]

High-school and college career

Haren, who is of Irish and Mexican descent, graduated from Bishop Amat High School in La Puente, CA in 1998. He attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA on a baseball scholarship. It was there that Haren teamed up with Noah Lowry, a left-handed pitcher just one month younger than Haren, to form the best starting pitching duo in the West Coast Conference. In the 2001 season, Haren posted a 2.22 ERA in 17 starts, and Lowry posted a 1.71 ERA in 18 starts. The teammates (and roommates) skipped their senior seasons, and Lowry was taken in the 1st round (30th overall) by the San Francisco Giants and Haren was taken in the 2nd round (72nd overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft.^[2]

Professional career

St. Louis Cardinals

Haren made 28 starts in A-ball in 2002 for Peoria and Potomac, finishing with a combined ERA of 2.74. He started 2003 in Double-A Tennessee, but was promoted after eight starts to Triple-A Memphis.

Haren made his major league debut at the age of 22. He pitched well in his debut but was out-dueled by Jason Schmidt, who went on to finish second in the National League Cy Young Award voting that year. In his MLB debut, he showed off his batting skills by hitting the very first pitch he saw for a double. After finishing 2003 with a 5.08 ERA for the Cardinals, however, he was sent back down to AAA Memphis for the 2004 season. He received a late-season call-up, and made five appearances in the post-season for the Cardinals, including two in the World Series. The Cardinals were swept by the Boston Red Sox, but Haren pitched well, tossing 4 2/3 scoreless innings.

Pitching in a game against the Seattle Mariners

Oakland Athletics

After the 2004 season, Haren was traded in a package that included right-handed reliever Kiko Calero and top hitting prospect Daric Barton to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder, one of the best pitchers in the American League at the time. Mulder was surprisingly not missed, as Haren went 14-12 with a 3.73 ERA in his first full season as a major leaguer.^[3]

With Haren joining the A's, he got the opportunity to pitch against the rival San Francisco Giants in the Bay Bridge Series. Coincidentally, he has gone head-to-head multiple times against best friend and former teammate Noah Lowry, who also quickly made it to the majors. Haren has been the victor in both of the Haren/Lowry duels.

In 2005, Haren broke the top 10 in the American League in the following categories: innings (217-9th place), strikeouts (163-6th place), and complete games (3-4th place).

Furthermore, in 2007, Haren had one of the best seasons among any pitcher in the majors. Haren finished in the top ten in the American League in wins, with 15, strikeouts, with 192, and finished in the top three in the AL in ERA with 3.07.

In 2007, he was also selected to start the MLB All Star Game after Mark Buerhle declined for the American League.

On December 14, 2007, Haren was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks along with Connor Robertson for prospects including Carlos González, Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Greg Smith, Dana Eveland, and Chris Carter.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Haren pitching during the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis.

In his first season with the Arizona Diamondbacks he was selected to the 2008 All-Star game at Yankee Stadium along with his teammate, Brandon Webb. He finished 2008 with an impressive 3.33 ERA to go along with a 16-8 win-loss record, and a career-high 206 strikeouts.

On August 6, 2008, Haren agreed to a four-year, $44.75 million contract and a team option for the 2013.^[1]

Haren was also selected a 2009 NL All-Star, representing the Diamondbacks along with Justin Upton. Haren had a great year, finishing with a record of 14-10, 3.14 ERA, and 223 strikeouts.

In 2009 he was named # 33 on the Sporting News' list of the 50 greatest current players in baseball. A panel of 100 baseball people, many of them members of the Baseball Hall of Fame and winners of major baseball awards, was polled to arrive at the list.^[4]

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

On July 25, 2010, Haren was traded to the Angels for starting pitcher Joe Saunders, and minor league pitchers Rafael Rodríguez, Patrick Corbin, and Tyler Skaggs.^[5][6]

In 13 games with the Angels to close out the 2010 season, Haren went 5-4 with 75 strikeouts and a 2.87 ERA.

Haren also had an impressive year at the plate, posting a .364 batting average and .902 OPS with one home run in 55 at bats.

On September 10, 2011, Haren threw a complete-game shutout against the New York Yankees, allowing four hits and striking out seven.

Pitching style

Haren throws a 91–94 mph fastball with movement (hit 97 mph), a recently added 90-93 mph two-seam fastball, a sharp split-finger fastball, and a spike curve. Haren has also added and relied more heavily upon an 86-90 mph cut fastball, which he credited for last season's success.^[7] His curveball is just an average offering that he flips over to get ahead early in the count, while his splitter is a plus pitch and his main strikeout weapon. When able to control his split-finger fastball, batters swing as the ball drops down at the last second. He has excellent control, having one of the best K/BB ratios in the league, but is prone to giving up home runs. Haren usually has a slow pitching delivery, highlighted by a slight pause in the middle of his windup, that he speeds up with runners on base. His pitching style is often dubbed a "chess match" by reporters and announcers (particularly Daron Sutton and Mark Grace of the Diamondbacks announce team) due to his ability to change speeds and throw any pitch on any count (and often throws pitches in succession, i.e. four straight breaking balls), often going against scouting reports, making it particularly hard to hit him.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "D-backs sign All-Star hurler Haren to four-year, $44.75M deal". ESPN.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3520882. Retrieved November 5, 2008. 
2. ^ http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/060216wbcfeature.html
3. ^ "A's trade Mulder to Cardinals for Haren, Calero". Sports Illustrated. December 18, 2004. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/12/18/mulder.trade.report/. Retrieved November 5, 2008. 
4. ^ [1]
5. ^ Dodd, Mike (July 25, 2010). "Angels acquire Dan Haren for Joe Saunders, 3 others". USA Today. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2010/07/angels-acquire-dan-haren-for-joe-saunders/1. 
6. ^ "The Fabulous Forum". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/07/report-tyler-skaggs-is-player-to-be-named-in-angels-deal-for-haren.html. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Haren credits cut fastball for success". http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/2009/06/25/20090625spt-dbharen.html. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Stats and Pitch Arsenal at SportsMogul.com

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Kenny Rogers	American League All-Star Game Starting Pitcher 2007	Succeeded by Cliff Lee
Preceded by Roy Halladay	American League Pitcher of the month May 2007	Succeeded by J. J. Putz
Preceded by Todd Wellemeyer	National League Pitcher of the month June 2008	Succeeded by CC Sabathia

Persondata
Name	Haren, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 17, 1980
Place of birth	Monterey Park, California
Date of death
Place of death