Jake Bird (baseball)

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111+2⁄3 innings. [13] [14] He said: "I'm just trying to pitch contact. My stuff is pretty heavy ... which gets a lot of ground balls... (Just) let the defense do their thing." [15] He was named All-Pac-12, Pac-12 All-Academic first team, and Academic All-America third team. [3] Following the season, he was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the fifth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft. [16]

Professional career

2018–21

Bird signed with the Rockies for a signing bonus of $50,000. [17] He made his professional debut in 2018 with the Grand Junction Rockies of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, going 4–1 with a 3.38 ERA and 30 strikeouts over 26+2⁄3 innings pitched in relief. [18] In 2019, he played with the Asheville Tourists of the Class A South Atlantic League, with whom he earned mid-season All-Star honors. He went 7–2 with two saves and a 3.62 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 40 games (second in the league) over 97 innings. [19]

To begin the 2021 season, he was assigned to the Hartford Yard Goats of the Double-A Northeast, where Bird induced a 70.9% ground ball rate. [20] He was then promoted to the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Triple-A West in early June. [21] Over 39 appearances between the two clubs, Bird went 6–1 with a 3.38 ERA and 59 strikeouts over 58+2⁄3 innings. [22] He pitched as a reliever in the Arizona Fall League for the Salt River Rafters after the season, and was 0–1 with a save and a 2.84 ERA. [23]

2022–23

Bird returned to the Isotopes to begin the 2022 season. There, before he was called up he had a 2.77 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 26 innings over 22 games, and induced a 64.4% ground ball rate. [24] [20] [25]

On June 11, 2022, the Rockies selected Bird's contract and promoted him to the major leagues. [26] He made his MLB debut on June 16, throwing one scoreless inning in relief versus the Cleveland Guardians. [27] On July 3, Bird earned his first career win after pitching a scoreless 8th inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks. [28] With the Rockies in 2022, he was 2–4 with a 4.91 ERA in 472⁄3 innings over 38 games. [29]

Bird was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to begin the 2023 season. [30] However, he was brought back up on Opening Day, and stayed up with the team. Bird maintained a spot on the Rockies roster for the entire 2023 season. He went 3-3 with a 4.33 ERA in 89.1 innings (his 84.1 relief innings tied him with the Detroit Tigers’ Tyler Holton for the most innings by any MLB reliever, and tied for the ninth-most by a Rockies reliever all-time) over 70 games (8th in the National League). [31] [32] [33] His 89.1 innings overall were the fourth-most for a season in Rockies history among pitchers who had pitched in relief 95% of the time. [31] Bird led the 2023 Colorado Rockies season in pitching appearances with 70, including 3 games started and 8 games finished. [33] His 52.6% ground ball percentage was the highest on the Rockies pitching staff for any pitcher with more than 25 innings pitched. [32] He finished the season with 77 strikeouts and 27 walks against 381 batters faced. [33]

2024–present

In 2024 he was 2-2 with one save and a 4.50 ERA in 40 innings over 35 games. [33] When there were two outs with runners in scoring position, he held opposing batters to a slash line of .172/.368/.207. [33]

Pitching repertoire

Bird is a ground ball pitcher with a low-slot, sidearm delivery. His sinker, which he throws 45% of the time, averages 96 mph, and has significant tailing action, inducing ground balls. [34] He throws a 92 mph cutter, an 85 mph slider, and a breaking ball at 82 mph. [20] [35]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Jeremy Fine (September 8, 2022). "Baruch Ha'bah Jake Bird!".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 David Gottlieb (June 10, 2017). "Jake Bird prepares for MLB Draft in wake of shoulder injury". Daily Bruin.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jake Bird - 2018 Baseball Roster". UCLA.
  4. ↑ Litman, Matthew (March 10, 2023). "Your guide to all the Jewish baseball players in the MLB". The Forward.
  5. ↑ "Jake Bird's High School Baseball Stats". MaxPreps.
  6. ↑ Eric Sondheimer (November 16, 2016). "Baseball: West Ranch is developing sophomore pitcher Trent Bird". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ↑ Justin Vigil-Zuniga (June 13, 2022). "West Ranch alum called up to Rockies". The Signal.
  8. ↑ "Harvard-Westlake's Jack Flaherty is Daily News All-Area Baseball Player of the Year". Los Angeles Daily News . June 17, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Major League Baseball Draft; 2018 - Jake Bird". West Ranch Baseball.
  10. ↑ Eric Sondheimer (February 27, 2014). "Baseball: West Ranch pitcher Jake Bird commits to UCLA". Los Angeles Times .
  11. ↑ "#33 Jake Bird - Profile". pointstreak.com. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  12. ↑ "2017 Pac-12 Conference Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com.
  13. ↑ Scott Greene (February 6, 2019). "Diving Deep - Exciting Prospects Who Didn't Make Our Top 50s".
  14. ↑ Thuc Nhi Nguyen (February 13, 2019). "'This is their time': Juniors hope to lead UCLA baseball to College World Series". Los Angeles Daily News .
  15. ↑ Jack Kearns (May 16, 2018). "Pitcher Jake Bird aims to prove himself, finish strong in last season," UWIRE.
  16. ↑ Sam Connon (June 9, 2018). "Four current Bruins, four UCLA commits selected in MLB Draft". Daily Bruin.
  17. ↑ "Jake Bird - Stats". The Baseball Cube.
  18. ↑ Matt Meyer (June 14, 2018). "Welcome to Rookie baseball". The Daily Sentinel.
  19. ↑ Doug Maurer (June 5, 2019). "Four Tourists Headed to the All-Star Game". Asheville.com News.
  20. 1 2 3 DeGenz, Mario (July 13, 2022). "Wednesday Rockpile: Jake Bird is tipping pitches". Purple Row.
  21. ↑ Kyle Newman (May 28, 2021). "Rockies Insider: Early-season scouting report on notable prospects in Double-A Hartford, Triple-A Albuquerque". The Denver Post.
  22. ↑ Jonathan Mayo (October 27, 2021). "Vilade treasuring Fall League opportunity". MLB.com.
  23. ↑ Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra (October 6, 2021). "Here are the Arizona Fall League rosters". MLB.com .
  24. ↑ "Jake Bird Called Up by Colorado Rockies". UCLA. June 12, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Isotopes 2022 Opening Day Roster Announced". milb.com. April 4, 2022.
  26. ↑ "Saturday's Transactions". Bakersfield.
  27. ↑ Danielle Allentuck (June 16, 2022). "Brian Serven's and Connor Joe's four-hit days not enough as Guardians sweep the Rockies". The Gazette.
  28. ↑ Justin Vigil-Zuniga (July 5, 2022). "Bird gets first career win against Diamondbacks". The Signal. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  29. ↑ "Jake Bird Amateur, College, Minor & Fall Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com.
  30. ↑ "Rockies' Jake Bird: Sent down to Triple-A". CBS Sports. March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  31. 1 2 "Jake Bird Stats, Age, Position, Height, Weight, Fantasy & News". MLB.com.
  32. 1 2 Dechert, Renee (December 1, 2023). "Ranking the Rockies: No. 9, Jake Bird". Purple Row.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jake Bird Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com.
  34. ↑ Milholm, Joelle (January 5, 2024). "Friday Rockpile: Is the bullpen an answer to the Rockies starting pitching problem?". Purple Row.
  35. ↑ "Jake Bird," Brooks Baseball.
Jake Bird
Jake Bird (April 19, 2022) (cropped).jpg
Bird with the Albuquerque Isotopes in 2022
Colorado Rockies – No. 59
Pitcher
Born: (1995-12-04) December 4, 1995 (age 29)
Newhall, California, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 16, 2022, for the Colorado Rockies
Colorado Rockies current roster
Active roster
Coaching staff
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