Robert Joseph Ayala (born July 8, 1969) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), 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, ...

for the

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

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

Career

Ayala went to high school at Rio Mesa in

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California, United States. On California's Central Coast (California), Central Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the List of largest California cities by populati ...

. He was brought up with the Reds as a starter before moving to the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

in his second season. The Reds traded Ayala with catcher Dan Wilson to the Mariners for

Bret Boone Bret Robert Boone (born April 6, 1969) is an American former professional baseball second baseman who is a hitting coach for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). During his career, Boone was a three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glo ...

and Erik Hanson in November . Ayala finished the strike-shortened season with a 2.86

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and 71 strikeouts in 57 innings while saving 18 games. He earned a career-high 19 saves during the Mariners' "Refuse to Lose" 1995 season. On April 24, 1996, Ayala suffered a severe hand laceration trying to open a Chicago hotel window. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, Ayala struggled to a 7.29 ERA over 62 games with a 1-10 win-loss record over his appearances. He accrued a -2.1

WAR War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

which would be the worst of his career. In an ESPN article senior writer

Jim Caple Jim Caple (1962 – October 1, 2023) was an American columnist and senior writer for ESPN.com. He worked previously with the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' and the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press''. Life and career Caple was born in 1962.

later listed Ayala as one of the Mariners' "Hometown Bums", noting he finished the season having blown more saves (9) than games saved (8). The Mariners traded Ayala to the Montreal Expos for minor leaguer Jimmy Turman on April 3, 1999, with Seattle paying all of Ayala's $1.8 million salary that year. Montreal released him a few months later and he finished the season pitching for the

. The

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

signed Ayala as a free agent, making him a non-roster invitee for the season. They released him before the start of the regular season. He started the regular 2000 season pitching for the Triple-A

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. T ...

, but after starting 1–2 with a 4.61 ERA, was released on May 8. On May 18, he signed with 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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

' Triple-A affiliate, the

Albuquerque Dukes The Albuquerque Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. History The first Dukes team was formed in 1915 as part of the Class D Rio Grande Association. The team finished in third place with a 32-25 record. Fran ...

. Two months and nine saves later, the Dukes released him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Bobby 1969 births Living people Albuquerque Dukes players 20th-century American sportsmen American expatriate baseball players in Canada Cedar Rapids Reds players Charleston Wheelers players Chattanooga Lookouts players Chicago Cubs players Cincinnati Reds players Greensboro Hornets players Gulf Coast Reds players Indianapolis Indians players Iowa Cubs players Major League Baseball pitchers Montreal Expos players Port City Roosters players Seattle Mariners players Baseball players from Ventura, California Tacoma Rainiers players Rio Mesa High School alumni