- Kurt Ainsworth
Infobox MLB retired
name=Kurt Ainsworth
position=Pitcher
bats=Left
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1978|9|9
deathdate=
debutdate=September 5
debutyear=by|2001
debutteam=San Francisco Giants
finaldate=May 14
finalyear=by|2004
finalteam=Baltimore Orioles
stat1label=Win-Loss
stat1value=6-8
stat2label=Earned run average
stat2value=5.19
stat3label=Strikeout s
stat3value=90
teams=
*San Francisco Giants (by|2001-by|2003)
*Baltimore Orioles (by|2003-by|2004)
highlights=Kurt Harold Ainsworth (born
September 9 ,1978 inBaton Rouge, Louisiana ) is a retiredMajor League Baseball pitcher . He played for theSan Francisco Giants andBaltimore Orioles and went toLouisiana State University .High school career
Kurt Ainsworth attended Catholic High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As a senior, he was a first team All-State selection, won the Student-Athlete Award, and was named a Catholic High Man of the Year. After his senior baseball season, he played in the Louisiana All-Star game.
Professional career
After playing collegiately for Louisiana State University, Ainsworth was made the first-round draft pick (24th overall) of the
San Francisco Giants in the 1999 MLB amateur draft. He signed with the Giants and finished the 1999 season with theSalem-Keizer Volcanoes of the Class ANorthwest League , where he started 10 games and accumulated a record of 3-3 and an ERA of 1.61.He spent the by|2000 season with the
Shreveport Captains of theTexas League . At the age of 21, he was the same age as many of the players in rookie leagues, but he went 10-9 with an ERA of 3.30 and 130strikeout s in 158 innings in the Class AA Texas League. This earned him a promotion to the Class AAAFresno Grizzlies of thePacific Coast League in by|2001. Although he again went 10-9 at Fresno, his ERA in 27 games was 5.07; nevertheless, he was still called up to the Major Leagues and made two relief appearances for the Giants in 2001.The by|2002 season was a more successful one for Ainsworth. He again spent much of the season with Fresno, but with better results; his ERA in 19 starts there was 3.41, and his record for the season was 8-6. He made six appearances (four starts) for the Giants during the season; although his record for the Giants was just 1-2, his ERA in 25 2/3 innings was 2.10, and he struck out 15 batters.
Just as Ainsworth's career was looking very promising, it started falling prey to serious arm injuries in by|2003. He began the season in the Giants' starting rotation and made 11 starts for them; he went 5-4 with an ERA of 3.82 in 66 innings pitched. On
June 3 , 2003, he was placed on thedisabled list with inflammation in his shoulder. He made a rehabilitation appearance with Fresno onJune 15 , but lasted just two innings; later in the month, doctors found that his shoulder blade was broken, an extremely unusual injury for a pitcher. OnJuly 31 , the trading deadline, the Giants traded him andDamian Moss to the Baltimore Orioles forSidney Ponson . He was not activated from the disabled list untilSeptember 20 , and he appeared in just three games for the Orioles in 2003, pitching 2 1/3 innings in relief and accumulating an 0-1 record with an 11.57 ERA.Ainsworth recovered in time to start the by|2004 season with the Orioles, but he made only seven starts before the Orioles demoted him to the Class AAA
Ottawa Lynx . He pitched only four innings for the Lynx before he went on the disabled list again with right elbow inflammation; he was out until mid-August, and he finished the season by making two rehab starts for the Orioles's short-season Class A club, theAberdeen IronBirds .Ainsworth made two appearances for the Orioles in
spring training in by|2005. In three innings, he allowed five runs, for an ERA of 15.00, and his record was 0-1. He was sidelined beginning in spring training with what he would find out was a tornlabrum and a tornrotator cuff . He considered retirement but underwent shoulder surgery in late March; he was hoping for a return in the by|2006 season, but did not succeed.External links
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