Nelson Figueroa

Nelson Figueroa
New York Mets — No. 27
Relief pitcher
Born: May 18, 1974 (1974-05-18) (age 35) Brooklyn, New York
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 3, 2000 for the Arizona Diamondbacks
Career statistics (through 2009 season)
Win-Loss	13-28
Earned run average	4.54
Strikeouts	247
Teams
Arizona Diamondbacks (2000) Philadelphia Phillies (2001) Milwaukee Brewers (2002) Pittsburgh Pirates (2003-2004) Uni-President Lions (2007) New York Mets (2008-present)

Nelson Figueroa (born May 18, 1974 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the New York Mets. He attended Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts where he pitched for three years and earned a bachelors degree in American Studies.^[1] The right-handed starting pitcher and occasional long reliever stands at 6'1", 205 pounds. He features a fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup.

Early career

He was drafted 833rd overall by the New York Mets in the 30th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft and was subsequently traded along with outfielder Bernard Gilkey to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998 for Jorge Fábregas, Willie Blair and cash considerations. Figueroa made his major league debut with the Diamondbacks during the 2000 season, becoming the first Brandeis University alumnus to reach the major leagues. Figueroa started in three games that year and compiled an 0-1 record and a 7.47 ERA. On July 26, 2000, Figueroa was traded with Vicente Padilla, Travis Lee, and Omar Daal to the Philadelphia Phillies for Curt Schilling. Figueroa spent the rest of the 2000 season pitching for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons of the International League (AAA), compiling a record of 4-3 and an ERA of 3.78.

In 2001, Figueroa tossed 89 innings for the Phillies and finished the season with a 4-5 record and 3.94 ERA. The right-hander was claimed off waivers on October 11, 2002, by the Milwaukee Brewers. Figueroa spent one season in Milwaukee where he regressed to a 1-7 record and 5.03 ERA. He then signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Pirates on January 6, 2003. Figueroa spent most of the 2003 season pitching for the Nashville Sounds, the AAA affiliate of the Pirates. He was promoted late in the season and went 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA for Pittsburgh.

After a brief stint with the Pirates in 2004, Figueroa spent 2005 rehabilitating a torn rotator cuff that he had played with during the previous season. He signed a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals early in 2006 and spent the season pitching for the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs, where he posted a 4.38 ERA in 76 innings of work.

Foreign leagues

In 2007, he signed with Dorados de Chihuahua of the Mexican League. Figueroa went to Taiwan in September 2007 as a late season addition to the Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). He started 4 games for the Lions, won them all, had 8 walks and 21 strikeouts in 30 innings, had an ERA of 3.00, and helped the Lions secure the wild-card spot in the playoff series.

In the first round best-of-five series against Macoto Cobras, Figueroa started for the Lions in the first game. He pitched for 8 innings, gave up only 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs while striking out 8 hitters. The Lions won the game with a score of 9-4 with Figueroa the winning pitcher, and advanced to the championship series by sweeping the Cobras in three games.

In the 2007 Taiwan Series CPBL championship series against the La New Bears, Figueroa started in three games, the first, fourth, and seventh games, and won them all. He was selected as the series MVP and now holds the record in the Taiwan Series history as the starting pitcher with the most games won.

In the 2009 Venezuelan Winter league round robin, he pitched for Cardenales de Lara (Lara's Cardinals) and pitched a no hit no run for nine innings but the game was still 0-0, he came again in the 10th and received a hit, ending the streak. Cardenales won in 10 innings, 1-0. Figueroa was the winning pitcher.

Return to Major League Baseball

In his return to Major League Baseball on April 11, 2008, Figueroa had his first start with the New York Mets. He pitched 6 innings, allowed 2 hits, walked two and struck out 6, getting credit for the victory with the Mets going on to win 4-2. In attendance was his family, who cheered him on from Mets closer Billy Wagner's suite. On May 13, 2008, he along with reliever Jorge Sosa was designated for assignment to make room for activated reliever Matt Wise.^[2] He was eventually sent outright to the minors. Figueroa was brought back to the Mets on August 27, spending September as a member of the Mets' bullpen. On December 3, he was re-signed by the New York Mets to a minor league contract.

Nelson was called up on April 19, 2009 to start against the Brewers in place of injured Mike Pelfrey, and was designated for assignment following the game. On April 25, 2009, he re-signed with the Mets and was assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.

On October 4, 2009, the last day of the 2009 MLB regular season, Nelson Figueroa tossed a four-hitter and struck out seven batters for the first complete game and shutout of his major league baseball career. He had a 2-run triple against the Cardinals. He becomes the 1st pitcher to hit a triple since Orlando Hernandez back in 06

Personal

Figueroa is married and spends the off-season in Arizona. He is a graduate of Lincoln High School, Mark Twain Intermediate School 239, and Public School 188, the Michael E. Berdy School for the Gifted and Talented in Brooklyn, New York.^[3]

He is also an artist who helped design patriotic t-shirts for Major League Baseball in the aftermath of 9/11.^[4] The shirts were sold to raise money for charity. He has a skill with electronics that former manager Jerry Royster called "just amazing."^[4]

References

External links

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