Victor Santos started his major league career as a Tiger. He was born in the Dominican Republic and was
signed by the Tigers as a amateur free agent in 1995. He worked his way up to the Tiges in 2001
when he was called up by the big club five days into the season on April
7. He debuted against the Minnesota
Twins in relief two days later and gave up 3 runs, all unearned, in 2.1 innings
of relief. He then went on a tear
and did not allow a earned run in his
first 27.1 innings pitched in the majors.
This was the longest streak to begin a career by a rookie since Fernando
Valenzuela. He was given his first start
on May 12, and pitched a no-hitter into the 6th before he was pulled
after allowing one hit. Victor got his
first win 6 days later against Tampa Bay.
He had a rough end of May and June and was sent back Toledo for about a
month before coming back to the majors.
He then went back to his old form and ended the season the season at 2-2
with a 3.30 ERA. He had a 1.34 ERA in
relief with a .189 batting average against.
He was also named Tiger Rookie of the Year by the Detroit press. In spring training of 2002 he was traded to
the Colorado Rockies with minor leaguer Ronnie Merrill for Jose Paniagua. Victor bounced around the majors for the next
five years spending time with Texas, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and
Baltimore before his time in the majors ended in 2007. His career record was 23-48 and a 5.21 ERA.
Matt Walbeck had two stints with the Tigers. He started his time in the majors in 1993
with the Chicago Cubs. He was a back up
catcher who only got in 11 games. He
then went to Minnesota in 1994 and spent the next three years there and started
two of the three seasons. The Tiges got
Matt from the Twins at the end of the 1996 season minor leaguer Brent
Stentz. Matt was the back up catcher
behind Raul Casanova and in 47 games hit .277 with 3 homers and 10 RBI’s. At the end of the season Randy Smith traded
Matt and Phil Nevin to the Anaheim Angels for minor leaguer Nick Skuse who
never played a day in the majors. Matt
spent the next three seasons with the Angels and hit .240 and was the starting
back stop for two of the three seasons.
At the end of the 2000 season he became a free agent and bounced around
from the Reds to the Phillies to the Padres where Randy Smith made a trade to
bring Matt back to the Tigers. Matt
spent two more years as a Tiger back up back stop and hit 1 more homer and 9
more RBI’s in 86 games. He ended his
career as a .233 hitter and hit .228 while with Detroit.
Dave Beard
Earl Wilson won most of the games in his career as a Tiger.
Mike Dorgan
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