Mike Fiers

Mike Fiers
Fiers pitching for the Houston Astros in 2016
Oakland Athletics – No. 50
Pitcher
Born: (1985-06-15) June 15, 1985
Hollywood, Florida
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 14, 2011, for the Milwaukee Brewers
MLB statistics
(through 2018 season)
Win–loss record 54–54
Earned run average 4.04
Strikeouts 827
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Michael Bruce Fiers (born June 15, 1985) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, and Detroit Tigers. Fiers pitched a no-hitter on August 21, 2015.

Amateur career

Fiers attended Deerfield Beach High School in Deerfield Beach, Florida, graduating in 2003. Fiers enrolled at Broward College, transferred to the University of the Cumberlands for one year, and then transferred to Nova Southeastern University.[1]

Professional career

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers selected Fiers in the 22nd round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.[2]

He began his career playing for the Rookie league Helena Brewers, Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, and Class A-Advanced Brevard County Manatees in 2009. Fiers played the 2010 season at Brevard and with the Double-A Huntsville Stars. He began the 2011 season with Huntsville but was promoted to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds in late May 2011.

Fiers pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2012

Fiers was called up to the majors for the first time on September 10, 2011.[2] He appeared in just 2 games in the Majors. On August 7, 2012, Fiers carried a perfect game into the 7th inning in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. He finished going 8 innings allowing 1 run on 3 hits, earning the victory.[3] For the season, he started 22 games for the Brewers, going 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA in ​127 2⁄3 innings. The following season, he was ineffective all season, only starting 3 times while making 8 relief appearances.

In 2014, Fiers split time between the Majors and the AAA level. On September 11, 2014, pitching against the Miami Marlins, Fiers hit Giancarlo Stanton in the face with an 88 mph fastball, sending him to the hospital.[4] With his next pitch, Fiers proceeded to hit Reed Johnson (pinch hitter who was completing Stanton's plate appearance) on one of his hands when he attempted to paint the inside corner. Both pitches were called strikes, because the batters were in the act of swinging. Miami third-baseman Casey McGehee, the on-deck batter, started yelling at the umpire, but Fiers thought that McGehee was yelling at him, so he tried to say that he did not do it on purpose, this then caused a bench-clearing shouting match. Fiers apologized to Stanton, and on September 12, 2014, Fiers was fined an undisclosed amount for causing the benches to clear.[5] He finished the season 6-5 despite posting an ERA of 2.13. In 14 games, 10 starts, he struck out 76 in ​71 2⁄3.

On May 7, 2015, Fiers became the 73rd pitcher in MLB history to record an Immaculate inning when he struck out Enrique Hernandez, Carlos Frias, and Joc Pederson on 9 consecutive pitches in the fourth inning.[6] In 21 starts, Fiers was 5-9 despite having an ERA of 3.89. In 118 innings, he struck out 121.

Houston Astros

On July 30, 2015, the Brewers traded Fiers and Carlos Gómez to the Houston Astros for Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, Josh Hader, and Adrian Houser.[7] On August 21, 2015, in his third start for the Astros, Fiers pitched a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Minute Maid Park, the 11th no-hitter in Astros' history and the first no-hitter for any team at Minute Maid Park. It was his first complete game as a major league pitcher. He finished the game with a career-high 134 pitches thrown, striking out 10 batters and walking three.[8] On September 14, 2017, Mike Fiers was suspended 5 games for throwing a pitch aimed at the head of Luis Valbuena. He finished 2-1 for Houston the rest of the 2015 season. The following season, he established a career high with 11 wins.

In 2017, Fiers made 29 appearances (28 starts), finishing the year with a 8-10 record and a 5.22 ERA. The Astros finished the 2017 season with a 101-61 record, clinching an AL West pennant. Fiers did not participate in any playoff action, but was still on the 40-man roster at the time. The Astros won the 2017 World Series, giving Fiers his first career championship ring.[9]

Detroit Tigers

On December 8, 2017, Fiers signed a one-year, $6 million contract with the Detroit Tigers.[10] Fiers went through extended spring training due to a back injury, and was not on the Tigers 2018 opening day roster. He joined the team on April 8 and won his Tiger debut with six scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox.[11] On April 21, Fiers became just the second Tigers player since 1908 to give up 10 or more hits in fewer than six innings, strike out nobody and earn a victory, and the first Tigers player to do since Dan Petry in 1984.[12]

Fiers compiled a 7–6 record and a 3.48 ERA in 21 starts for the 2018 Tigers before being traded.

Oakland Athletics

On August 6, 2018, Fiers was traded to the Oakland Athletics for two players to be named later or cash considerations.[13] Minor league pitcher Nolan Blackwood was later identified as one of the players. On August 14, Fiers earned his first win with the A's, surrendering two runs and striking out five over six innings against the Seattle Mariners.[14] On Septembet 19, 2018, minor league pitcher Logan Shore was traded to the Tigers to complete the trade for Fiers.[15]

Scouting report

Fiers throws four pitches. He leads with a four-seam fastball at 88–91 miles per hour (142–146 km/h). He also has a slider (82–85 miles per hour (132–137 km/h)), curveball (70–73 miles per hour (113–117 km/h)), and changeup (79–83 miles per hour (127–134 km/h)). He also experiments with a cutter in the mid 80's for some extra movement to induce ground balls or surprise hitters. His primary off-speed pitch to lefties is the changeup and to righties is the curveball.[16] His changeup is considered by many to be his best pitch, and he has excellent command of the strikezone with all of his pitches. Despite having relatively low velocity, his command, the movement of his pitches (particularly his slow, looping curveball) all make him quite capable of racking up strikeouts. He had a K/9 of 9.6 during his four years in the minors, and has a respectable K/9 of 8.4 in the majors.

References

  1. ↑ http://observernewspaperonline.com/2014/02/27/fiers-back-home-at-dbhs/
  2. 1 2 "The Official Athletic Website of Nova Southeastern University - NSU Alumnus, Mike Fiers Called to Milwaukee Brewers". Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  3. ↑ "August 7, 2012 Cincinnati Reds at Milwaukee Brewers Play by Play and Box Score - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Hit by Pitch, the Miami Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton Is Taken to Hospital". New York Times. September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Fiers, DeSclafani disciplined by MLB". ESPN Go. September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  6. ↑ "May 7, 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee Brewers Play by Play and Box Score". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. May 7, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ Cassavell, A. J. (July 30, 2015). "Astros add Gomez, Fiers from Brewers". MLB.com. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  8. ↑ Snyder, Matt (August 21, 2015). "Astros' Mike Fiers throws no-hitter". CBS Sports. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  9. ↑ McTaggart, Brian; Gurnick, Ken. "Houston Astros win 2017 World Series". MLB. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  10. ↑ Beck, Jason (December 8, 2017). "Tigers, Fiers agree to one-year pact". MLB.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  11. ↑ Beck, Jason (April 8, 2018). "Fiers sizzles for Tigers in sweep of White Sox". MLB.com. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  12. ↑ Beck, Jason (April 21, 2018). "Castellanos leads humming lineup over KC". MLB.com. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  13. ↑ "A's Acquire RHP Mike Fiers from Detroit". Oakland Athletics. MLB.com. August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  14. ↑ Ross, Ben (August 14, 2018). "Mike Fiers battles through injury to earn first win with A's". NBCsports.com. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  15. ↑ "A's send 2nd-round pick Logan Shore to Tigers to complete Fiers deal". SFChronicle.com. 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
  16. ↑ "Brooks Baseball · Home of the PitchFX Tool - Player Card: Michael Fiers". Brooks Baseball. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
Achievements
Preceded by
Hisashi Iwakuma		 No-hitter pitcher
August 21, 2015		 Succeeded by
Jake Arrieta
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