David Aardsma

David Aardsma

Position	Relief Pitcher
Team	Boston Red Sox
Years of Experience	4 years
Age	26
Height	6 ft 4 in
Weight	205 lb
Bats	Right
Throws	Right
College	Rice University
2008 Salary	$350,000
Place of Birth	Denver, Colorado
Selection	1st round (22nd overall) 2001 amateur draft
Drafted by	San Francisco Giants
Major League Debut	April 6, 2004

David Allen Aardsma (December 27, 1981–) is a Major League Baseball player for the Boston Red Sox.

Aardsma attended Cherry Creek High School, which was also the high school of Major Leaguers like Josh Bard, John Burke, Brad Lidge, Darnell McDonald and Donzell McDonald. He graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 2000.

He attended Pennsylvania State University in his freshman year of college. He transferred to Rice University in 2001, where he remained for the rest of his college tenure. At Rice, Aardsma became a dominant closer, where he set school single-season and career saves records in 2002-03. In the 2003 College World Series, Aardsma earned two wins and a save as the Owls won their first national championship. He also retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced at the College World Series.

The righthander was drafted in the 1st round (22nd overall) of the 2003 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants. He went to the San Jose Giants (Class A), and played brilliantly. He posted a 1.96 ERA while striking out 28 in about 18 innings. He made the major-league roster in 2004, skipping AA and AAA, and made his debut in the season's second game. In his major league debut, in front of friends and family at Minute Maid Park, he pitched two innings, allowing three hits and walking one, to earn his first MLB win. In his first 6 appearances, he had a 1.80 ERA (this success did not carry over, as he finished the season with a 6.75 ERA in 11 games: After giving up two runs in one inning on April 20, he was sent down to Fresno, the Giants AAA team, the next day).

Aardsma's route through professional baseball has been somewhat unique, given that after making the leap from A ball to the Giants, he was demoted to AAA and then subsequently started the 2005 in AA. He started the 2006 season with AAA Iowa.

Honors and Awards

• In 2002, Aardsma was a Summer League First-Team All-American.

Transactions

He was traded with Jerome Williams to the Chicago Cubs for LaTroy Hawkins on May 28, 2005.

On November 16, 2006, he was traded with Carlos Vasquez to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Neal Cotts.

On January 28, [2008], he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for pitching prospects Willy Mota and Miguel Socolivich

Other Facts

• He is first on the all-time list of Major League Baseball players by alphabetical order. He replaced Hank Aaron as first on the list, and dropped Tommie Aaron (Hank's brother) to third.
• Aardsma currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.
• In his career, Aardsma has spent more time as teammates with minor leaguers Chris Begg and James Garcia and catcher Trey Lunsford, than any other teammate.

External links

• David Aardsma, The Baseball Cube
• David Aardsma, MILB
• Another David Aardsma Biography
• The Aardsma at Urban Dictionary