The 100 Greatest Angels: #31 Jarrod Washburn

"Ever since I was old enough to know what baseball was," he said, "I wanted to be a major leaguer. Sure, a lot of kids dream about it. But they lose that dream. I never did. I always wanted to be on TV being watched by other little kids." In high school, he once struck out the first ten batters in a game, and when the eleventh bunted into a groundout, Washburn was visibly upset at having missed the opportunity to collect another K. "A lot of guys have the talent," single-A Lake Elsinore Storm pitching coach Howie Gershberg said of Washburn, "but they lack the intensity and aggressiveness. That's not Jarrod's problem."

Neither was a lack of ambition. In the fifth grade, Washburn was asked to write an essay about where he saw himself in 20 years; he wrote about being in the Hall of Fame. As a grade schooler he watched major league players on TV and charted the pitches, once declaring to his mother that he could strike out Reggie Jackson. As a high schooler, he struck out 254 batters in 175.2 innings, going 6-2 as a senior, helping Webster High to win their regional finals.

From high school, he went on to a very good college career at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh team, accumulating a 10-1 record as a sophomore with a complete game victory in the Division III College World Series championship game. Scouts had started to notice him, and he was projected to go as high as the fifth round. The Angels jumped at the chance to draft him in the second round of the 1995 draft, and the southpaw went straight to work at Cedar Rapids, where he built a respectable 3.44 ERA and an 0-1 record over three starts.

Washburn got his first callup in 1998 as the result of an elbow injury to Jack McDowell. His first three starts were numerically brilliant, but his debut game, June 2, 1998 was a chaotic zoo featuring five hit batters (including Angels catcher Phil Nevin -- twice), two bench-clearing brawls (one of which was started by Nevin after getting hit the second time), twelve ejections, and nine relief pitchers total. The fact that Washburn pitched six innings of scoreless ball -- despite surrendering six walks and getting five strikeouts -- was lost in the chaos, but there was no hiding his competence in his next two starts. Despite getting roughed up a bit toward the end of the season, Washburn managed to finish the year 6-3 with a 4.62 ERA, a respectable set of numbers for a rookie.

Washburn didn't start 1999 in the starting rotation, and was remanded to AAA Edmonton. Despite rumors of the front office packaging him in a deal with the Dodgers, along with Jim Edmonds, to acquire first baseman Eric Karros and Ismael Valdes, he stuck with the team and got a callup again in July. Unlike the previous year, he was used from the bullpen, was immediately bad and stayed that way until the last game of the year, when he was one out away from a complete game shutout against the Rangers. Part of his troubles stemmed from a ribcage strain, an injury that would haunt him throughout his career.

Again in 2000 he failed to make the team out of Spring training, but got a May callup, and was used exclusively as a starter, finishing with a 7-2 record and a respectable 3.74 ERA. He was supposed to start the 2001 season in the rotation, but a strep throat infection during spring training disabled him, sending him back to the minors to complete his preparations for the regular season. But that hiccup aside, his 2001 went well, pitching nearly 200 innings for the first time in his career, finishing 11-10 with a 3.77 ERA over 30 starts, more than double his previous total.

Finally in 2002, everything went right. Washburn pitched the season opener -- and the loss, failing to collect a win until his fourth game on April 19. He wouldn't log another until July 27, posting six straight wins from June 22 through July 21, despite giving up five runs in the last game of that sequence. "You never deserve to win when you give up five runs but my teammates picked me up big time," Washburn said.

The Halos' plan for the year was to get the starters to combine for more than 1,000 innings, and by acquiring Kevin Appier, they seemed set to do that. Despite the fact that it didn't quite happen -- they ended up with 880 innings -- the Angels won the Wild Card, and eventually, the World Series. Washburn's postseason record that year was, in toto, unimpressive -- a 3.75 ERA against the Yanks, but surrendering eight runs in 3.1 innings to the Twins, and a 5.28 ERA in the World Series over 15.1 innings -- but despite it, he won two games, losing two as well.

Washburn's 2003 was a big step down from his 2002, with his ERA increasing well over a run to a 4.43 ERA, and accumulating a losing 10-15 record. His 2004, a season in which his ribcage injury returned, saw his innings pitched drop by about a quarter while his ERA soared even higher to 4.64. He returned in 2005, healthy for the most part, and brought his ERA down to 3.20, the second-lowest of his career. Still, his strikeout rate had plummeted to a very iffy 4.77 K/9, the lowest of his career. GM Bill Stoneman refused to offer him a contract, allowing him to walk without arbitration; he signed with the Mariners in December on a four-year, $36 million contract.

I'm fine with letting him walk, but as far as judging his contributions to the franchise, I say peripherals-schmeripherals -- he was on balance the best starter during the Angels' best era. And he was a gutsy SOB, too, from the moment he was called up. He wore the uniform well.