Noah Lowry

Noah Lowry
Lowry with the Giants in June 2007
Free Agent — No. --
Starting pitcher
Born: October 10, 1980 (1980-10-10) (age 31)
Bats: Right	Throws: Left
MLB debut
September 5, 2003 for the San Francisco Giants
Career statistics (through 2008)
Win	40-31
Earned run average	4.03
Strikeouts	420
Teams
San Francisco Giants (2003–2007)

Noah Ryan Lowry (born October 10, 1980, in Ventura, California) is a free agent left-handed starting pitcher formerly of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball.

College and the MLB Draft

Lowry was first drafted out of Nordhoff High School, in Ojai, California, by the Texas Rangers in the nineteenth round of the 1999 MLB Draft, but instead opted to attend Pepperdine University. At Pepperdine, Lowry went 14-2 with a 1.71 ERA as a junior.

Major league career

Lowry in bullpen

Following a September call-up in 2003, Lowry enjoyed a very successful partial rookie year for the Giants in 2004, going 6-0, and finishing with a 3.82 ERA in fourteen starts. He was named the National League's Player of the Week for the week of August 9. With an early victory to start off the 2005 season, Lowry began his career with a 7-0 record, the longest winning streak for any pitcher in San Francisco Giants history (and the second longest in Giants franchise history, behind Hooks Wiltse's 12-0 start in 1904).^[1]

In eighteen starts before the 2005 All-Star break, Lowry posted an ERA of 5.07. He had an 8-4 record and a 2.43 ERA after the break. Lowry's best month came in August, when he went 5-0 with a 0.69 ERA, which earned him Pitcher of the Month honors. He finished the season with a 13-13 record, 3.78 ERA, and 172 strikeouts in 204⅔ innings.

Prior to the 2006 season, the Giants signed Lowry to a four-year deal with an option for a fifth year, valued at $9.25 million. At the time, it was the second largest contract for a pitcher with only one full season of big league service. Lowry received a $1 million signing bonus and $385,000 salary for 2006. The contract guarantees him totals of $1.115 million for 2007, $2.25 million for 2008, and $4.5 million for 2009. The contract includes a 2010 option for $6.25 million that will be activated automatically if a certain number of starts, innings and Cy Young Award vote placement is achieved. The 2010 option also includes another $1.5 million in incentives.^[2]

Injuries hampered his performance right from the beginning of the 2006 season. In his first start of 2006, Lowry was removed from the game in the second inning due to an oblique strain,^[3] forcing him to miss the first month of the season. Lowry also suffered from an elbow injury in September.

Despite a losing season for the Giants in 2007, and a season cut short by a forearm injury, Lowry managed to win a career high 14 games, the most for any pitcher on the Giants staff. He finished the season with a 14-8 record and a 3.92 ERA.

Lowry was slated as the number three starter for the Giants in 2008, but the forearm injury that shut him down in 2007 kept him out of the 2008 season. After having trouble throwing strikes early on in spring training, Lowry was diagnosed with exertional compartment syndrome and had surgery on his left forearm.^[4]

In May 2009 Lowry had rib removal surgery to relieve the continued pain in his shoulder and neck associated with his recent diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome.^[5] The new diagnosis brings the original diagnosis of exertional compartment syndrome into question along with the necessity of his 2008 surgery.^[6]

Lowry had surgery for a rare neuromuscular problem in his left forearm, at the time diagnosed by the San Francisco Giants' medical staff as exertional compartment syndrome, on March 7, 2008, and then had an arthroscopic procedure to remove a bone spur from his left elbow in September that year. But that was just the start of a complicated situation that led to a back and forth between Lowry's camp and the Giants about whether the team had misdiagnosed Lowry's original condition. The Giants denied any wrongdoing. Lowry had been experiencing regular tingling in his forearm because of the nerve problem. He was later diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome. Lapa told ESPN.com last spring that the Giants' medical staff misdiagnosed the forearm injury 14 months earlier, subjecting Lowry to an unnecessary arm operation and turning a potential short-term recovery into a lengthy medical ordeal. Lapa said Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Greg Pearl confirmed the diagnosis in separate consultations with Lowry. Lapa said the circulatory issue was the source of Lowry's forearm tightness in August 2007 and a mysterious control meltdown in spring training 2008, but that the Giants' medical staff failed to identify the problem. In Feb 2010, Lowry was working out under the direction of noted personal trainer Brett Fischer at Fischer Sports Physical Therapy & Conditioning in Phoenix. ^[7]

References

1. ^ SI Kids MLB Recap - Ranger vs. Giants, June 28, 2006
2. ^ Shea, John (2006-04-03). "Giants Notebook: Lowry soaks up his latest deal". San Francisco Chronicle. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/03/SPGMKI2DI61.DTL&hw=Noah+Lowry+contract&sn=004&sc=668. 
3. ^ In Lowry, Giants are looking out for No. 3
4. ^ Schulman, Henry (2008-03-07). "Giants' Lowry needs surgery". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/SP0RVEVE8.DTL&hw=lowry&sn=001&sc=1000. 
5. ^ Baggarly, Andrew (2009-05-18). "Lowry's career with Giants might be over". San Jose Mercury News. http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_12399141. 
6. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4179864
7. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4877765

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Andy Pettitte	National League Pitcher of the month August 2005	Succeeded by Andy Pettitte

Persondata
Name	Lowry, Noah
Alternative names	Lowry, Noah Ryan
Short description	American baseball pitcher
Date of birth	1980-10-10
Place of birth	Ventura, California, United States
Date of death
Place of death