Josh Towers | |||
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Towers with the Blue Jays in 2007
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Pitcher | |||
Born: Port Hueneme, California |
February 26, 1977 |||
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MLB debut | |||
May 2, 2001, for the Baltimore Orioles | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
September 12, 2009, for the New York Yankees | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Win–loss record | 45–55 | ||
Earned run average | 4.95 | ||
Strikeouts | 389 | ||
Teams | |||
Joshua Eric Towers (born February 26, 1977) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball pitcher. Towers stands at 6 ft 1 in tall, and weighs 188 lb.
Towers was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 15th round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft. In 2001, Towers made his major league debut, compiling eight wins and ten losses while posting an ERA of 4.49 in 140.1 innings. Towers started 2002 with three straight losses along with two no-decisions in his first five games, giving up eleven home runs during that span. He would finish the year in the Orioles minor-league system.
Towers signed with the Blue Jays as a minor league free agent for the 2003 season. Joining the team midway through the season, he would go on to have a very successful run, appearing in 14 games (eight starts). He would finish the year 8–1 with a 4.48 ERA. Unusually, while with the Blue Jays Towers was assigned the uniform number 7. This made him the only pitcher in the major leagues with a single-digit uniform number at that time, and the also first pitcher in Blue Jays history whose uniform number contained but a single digit. Though several dozen pitchers had worn a single digit uniform number for a span of several games, Towers was the first to wear it regularly over the course of several seasons since pitcher Ben Chapman (a converted outfielder) wore number 5 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944-45.
In 2004, Towers became the Blue Jays' fifth starter, going a mediocre 9–9 with a 5.11 ERA in 21 games started.