Joshua Ray Pearce (born August 20, 1977 in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The unin ...

) is a former

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) ...

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 ...

who played for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals h ...

from to . Pearce was drafted by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...

out of West Valley High School in Yakima, Washington in the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign. Instead, he attended Portland State University (1998), the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. ...

and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2nd round of the

1999 Major League Baseball Draft The 1999 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, was held on June 2 and 3, 1999. A total of 1474 players were drafted over the course of 50 rounds. First round selections ...

. Though not dominant in the minors, he steadily worked his way up the ranks and made his major league debut on April 20, 2002; he pitched 4.2 innings and gave up 3

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s, getting a no-decision. In , Pearce pitched in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

for Triple-A Memphis and had a 3.56

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Com ...

in 26 games. In , his last professional season, he pitched for Double-A Springfield and Memphis.

External links

Baseball-ReferenceBaseball-Cube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearce, Josh 1977 births Living people Baseball players from Washington (state) Major League Baseball pitchers Arizona Wildcats baseball players New Jersey Cardinals players Arkansas Travelers players New Haven Ravens players Memphis Redbirds players Palm Beach Cardinals players Tennessee Smokies players Springfield Cardinals players St. Louis Cardinals players