Sean Douglass was not in the Tigers plans for 2006. He came out of high school and went right in
to pro ball in 1997 as a right handed pitcher in the Orioles organization. He toiled for four years in the minors before
getting a July call up in 2001. He went
3.2 innings in a game against the Texas Rangers as the starter at the age of
22. He got shelled in his debut giving
up 6 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks. His
first batter and first hit was against former Tiger Frank Catalanaotto who got
a double to center. He stayed with the
O’s for several years with his best year being that first year in the majors in
2001 when he was 2-1 with a 5.31 ERA. He
got only a few starts with the O’s in 2002 and appeared in only 3 games in 2003
before he started to bounce. He was
picked by the Twins in 2003 off of waivers and then became a Toronto Blue Jay
before the next baseball season. He was
in the Toronto AAA team for 2004 and was 5-6 as a starter before he was signed
as a Tiger in November (after the season was over) as a Tiger. He started the 2005 season as a member of the
Toledo Mud Hens and was 9-1 with a 2.87 ERA as a starter. The Tigers called him up in the lost season
of 2005. The Tiges finished 71-91 and
Sean was a 26 year old number 5 starter.
He was 5-5 with a 5.56 ERA in 16 starts.
Not enough to really be a regular in the rotation (he had half the
starts of number 3 starter Nate Robertson).
At the end of the season the Tigers under Dave Dombrowski signed Jim
Leyland as manager and the Tigers started an exciting rebuilding program that
brought the first of many playoff appearances to Detroit. But Sean was not a part of that. In the shuffle of rebuilding he was
waived. He was picked up by the
Cleveland Indians at the end of the 2005 season and before spring training even
started he was released by the same Cleveland Indians. At that point Sean, who was only 27, sought
his fortune in Japan as a pitcher. He
signed with the Hiroshima Carp for 2006 of the Japanese Central League. Hiroshima was ground zero for the first
atomic bomb and was close to ground zero for the Japanese Central League in
2006 finishing 25 games behind the first place team and 21.5 behind the Hanshin
Tigers. Back in the US, the Detroit Tigers finished
in the playoffs and went to the World Series in 2006. But Sean was on the other side of the
world. In 2008 Sean was still in Japan
and in the Central League. But he had
moved to the Yakult Swallows. In the
standings the Swallows finished behind Sean’s old team, the Hiroshima Carp and
was still 17.5 games out of first. That
was the last time Sean was seen in pro ball having never been part of a
championship team at the age of 29.
Jim Poole
John Cerutti
Tom Sturdivant
Charlie Metro
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