Mike Myers

A photo of Mike Myers.

For the pitcher of a similar name born in 1977, see Mike Meyers.

Michael Stanley Myers (born June 26, 1969 in Arlington Heights, Illinois) is a left-handed Major League Baseball relief pitcher.

High school and college

Myers attended high school at Crystal Lake Central High School in Illinois and later pitched at Iowa State University. In the summers of 1988 and 1989, he pitched for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Minor League career

Myers was in the minor leagues for parts of six seasons. In his final four minor league seasons, he was 14-27 with a 4.29 ERA. He was used primarily as a starting pitcher until 1995, when he pitched 42 games, all in relief, for the Charlotte Knights and Toledo Mud Hens.

Major League career

Myers was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the fourth round of the 1990 amateur draft. Before he ever played for the Giants at the major league level, he was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 1992 Rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut with the Marlins on April 25, 1995, pitching an inning of scoreless relief. In August of that year, the Marlins traded Myers to the Detroit Tigers as the player to be named later from an earlier deal between the two clubs. He would pitch for Detroit through the 1997 season, and then he would spend time with the Milwaukee Brewers, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Chicago White Sox.

Myers is a submarine pitcher, throwing the ball with his arm at or below his shoulder rather than above. When Myers was with the Tigers, Baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline, then a broadcaster with the team, suggested that Myers experiment with the submarine style of pitching. His luck improved in his next two appearances against Baltimore, retiring three batters in a row both times. "Kaline suggested my throwing sidearm to give me a little bit of funk and mystery against left-handed hitters. After what I did against Baltimore, I just kept going from there," Myers said. He throws two different breaking balls with a deceptive movement that disconcerts opposing hitters, especially left-handed hitters. Myers is particularly durable as well. Since his first full major league season in 1996, he has appeared in at least 60 games every year, topping 80 appearances in his first two seasons to lead the league both years, and over 70 in his next four seasons.

Myers's primary role is as a left-handed relief specialist (known in the sport as a "LOOGY, or Lefty One-Out GuY"), against baseball's left-handed hitters, though the statistics say he has difficulty performing his job against the very best of the group. With the Rockies and Diamondbacks, he would frequently come into games to face Giants slugger Barry Bonds, and was similarly used by the Red Sox against Hideki Matsui of the Yankees and by the Yankees against David Ortiz of the Red Sox. However, through the end of the 2007 season, Bonds is 8-for-25 (.320) with a home run and eight walks against Myers, while Ortiz is 5-for-17 (.294) with a home run and two walks, and Matsui is 3-for-9 (.333) with a home run and a walk.

On January 25, 2008, Myers signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers to a minor league contract and will be invited to Spring Training. Myers did not make the Dodgers team, but was assigned to play for the Las Vegas 51s in AAA. He asked for his release from the 51s on April 25 and became a free agent.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Myers reigns as king of the lefty specialists