The 500th player to don the Blue Jays jersey in franchise history gets the spotlight in today's POTD.
Brian Wolfe sits in the bullpen prior to a September 10th game at Rogers Centre.
Wolfe looks up in the stands during pre-game warm ups at the Rogers Centre for the home finale September 27th.
Wolfe relieves Brian Tallet in the eighth inning and later gives up a solo homer to Seattle's Mike Sweeney during his one inning of work. However, the Jays rallied for three runs in the next half inning to make Wolfe the winning pitcher in his final appearance in Toronto as the Jays held off the M's 5-4.
The 29 year-old Wolfe will be continuing his baseball career in Japan as he has signed a deal with the Nippon Ham Fighters. The Fullerton, California native was taken by Minnesota in the sixth round of the 1999 amateur draft and began his pro career as a starter. The 6-foot-3, 230 pound righty was a perfect 4-0 with the Gulf Coast League Twins in 1999 and he won 13 games with Quad Cities of the Midwest League in 2001. He began to see more time in the bullpen during his slow climb up the minor league ladder which saw him reach AAA Rochester in 2005. However, an ERA of eight-and-a-half with the Red Wings in three appearances and an ERA of just over seven with AA New Britain helped convince the Twins to let Wolfe go in mid-May.
Wolfe was claimed by Milwaukee just 10 days later and he bounced back nicely with a 0.78 ERA in 18 appearances with Brevard County of the Florida State League and a 3.38 ERA in 16 appearances with AA Huntsville of the Southern League. He managed 41 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings at those two levels. Just when he thought he may have found a home in the Cheesehead State, Wolfe was traded to Toronto for third baseman Corey Koskie in 2006. His first season in the organization did not go as planned as he went a combined 2-7 with a 5.83 ERA with Dunedin and New Hampshire but he had a respectable K-BB total of 51-18.
Wolfe found his mojo in 2007 when he went 2-0 with an ERA of 1.04 in 17 appearances at AAA Syracuse. That performance earned him his first call up to the bigs in a debut that will never be forgotten thanks to a certain player wearing #13 for the Bronx Bombers. Wolfe was called in to relieve Scott Downs in the ninth inning of a May 30th contest at Rogers Centre in what turned out to be a blowout victory for the Yankees. He induced a pop up from Jorge Posada to the left side of the infield that Howie Clark seemed to have at third base. However, "Mr. Sportsmanship" (initials A.R.) decided to yell "HA!" or MINE!" to distract Clark while running from second to third and Clark backed off, only to see the ball fall between him and shortstop John McDonald. Clark thought "Johnny Mac" was calling him off but he was duped by "Rhymes with A Fraud". Wolfe wound up allowing a Jason Giambi two-run single before retiring Doug Mientkiewicz on a pop up to short to end the inning. Things got better for Wolfe as he earned his first two major league wins in back to back games against Colorado at the Rogers Centre in late June. He ended his rookie season with a 3-1 record, a 2.98 ERA, six holds and a WHIP of 0.99.
The 2008 campaign saw Wolfe spend some time with Dunedin and Syracuse as he suffered a triceps injury but he put together another respectable season with the Jays as he went 0-2 with a 2.45 ERA in 20 appearances. Wolfe was sent down to AAA Las Vegas to begin 2009 but he earned the victory in his first game back with Toronto on May 5th as he got the win in Brett Cecil's debut in a game the Jays outslugged the Tribe 10-6. He spent the majority of May with the Jays before being sent back to Las Vegas. Wolfe wouldn't be back until September and his numbers at AAA and the bigs were not exactly stellar. He was 2-3 with a 5.05 ERA in Vegas and 2-2 with an 8.22 ERA with the Jays.
Best of luck to Brian Wolfe in the Land of the Rising Sun!
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20100109234011543