Benjamin Anthony Kozlowski (born August 16, 1980) is a former professional baseball left-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

. He previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

for the Texas Rangers and in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formatio ...

for the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Mat ...

. Drafted by the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in B ...

in the 12th round of the 1999 MLB amateur draft, Kozlowski made his

debut with the Texas Rangers on September 19, 2002. He struck out

John Olerud John Garrett Olerud, Jr. (; born August 5, 1968), nicknamed "Johnny O", is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from through , most notably as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays te ...

looking for his first Major League strikeout. His 2003 season was cut short when he suffered a torn elbow ligament, necessitating

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's ...

. Kozlowski returned to action in the middle of the 2004 season, but struggled, and was placed on waivers by the Rangers after the season. Kozlowski was claimed off of waivers by the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He was traded from the Reds to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

for outfielder

Cody Ross Cody Joseph Ross (born December 23, 1980), nicknamed "Toy Cannon" and "Ross the Boss," is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 12 seasons with the Detroit Tigers (2003), Los Angeles Do ...

in May .

External links

Ben Kozlowski - mlb.com
1980 births Living people Texas Rangers players Hiroshima Toyo Carp players American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players from St. Petersburg, Florida Major League Baseball pitchers Gulf Coast Braves players Macon Braves players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Charlotte Rangers players Tulsa Drillers players Frisco RoughRiders players Stockton Ports players Louisville Bats players Chattanooga Lookouts players Las Vegas 51s players Jacksonville Suns players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players Somerset Patriots players Sugar Land Skeeters players Junior college baseball players in the United States Estrellas Orientales players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Charros de Jalisco players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Cañeros de Los Mochis players Criollos de Caguas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Águilas del Zulia players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1980s-stub