Kelly Douglas Wunsch (born July 12, 1972) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB)

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, ...

who played for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

and

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 ...

from 2000 to 2005.

Amateur career

A native of

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Wunsch attended

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. In 1992, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Orleans Cardinals The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

and was named a league all-star.

Professional career

Wunsch was drafted by the

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

in the with 26th pick in the first round of the 1993 Major League Baseball Draft. But despite his high draft slot, Wunsch was never able to reach the majors with the Brewers, struggling with inconsistency and injuries, including an elbow injury that kept him out for all of the 1996 season. During his struggles, Wunsch switched to a sidearm style delivery, which gave him better control, but decreased his velocity, forcing him to make the move to being a relief pitcher, instead of a power starter. After seven seasons within the Brewers organization, Wunsch was granted free agency. He eventually signed the

as a

non-roster invitee A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

. Wunsch played well enough in spring training to make the major league roster, and he made his Major League Baseball debut with the White Sox on April 3, 2000, coming on in the 8th inning, and pitching an inning, not allowing a hit. Wunsch would go onto make a league-leading 83 appearances out of 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 ...

for the White Sox in 2000, pitching to a 6–3 record with 2.93

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

and 1 save in innings. Wunsch received a two votes in

AL Rookie of the Year In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The aw ...

voting, finishing in fifth place. The next three seasons, Wunsch was used as a

left-handed specialist In baseball, a left-handed specialist (also known as lefty specialist) is a relief pitcher who throws left-handed and specializes in pitching to left-handed Batter (baseball), batters, weak right-handed batters, and switch-hitters who bat poorly ...

out of the White Sox bullpen, appearing in 126 games, pitching to 3.00 ERA in 90 innings. Over this timespan, Wunsch struggled with repetitive shoulder and arm issues in his left pitching arm, which forced him to spend 202 total days on the

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

. Wunsch began the 2004 season with the White Sox's Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte, while recovering from left shoulder inflammation. He would return from his injury and was called up to make 3 appearances in late May, pitching in 2 total innings with a 0.00 ERA. Wunsch would then be sent back down to Triple-A, because his role as a left-handed reliever had been supplanted by

Dámaso Marte Dámaso Marte Saviñón (born February 14, 1975) is a Dominican former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played for the Seattle Mariners (), Pittsburgh Pirates (, –), Chicago White Sox (–), and New York Yankees (–). Professional ...

and Neal Cotts. After being granted free agency in the 2004 offseason, Wunsch joining the

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. Founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the ...

in 2005, Wunsch pitched quite well as a left-handed specialist, with 4.56 ERA in 45 appearances, but missed the latter half of the season due to a torn peroneal tendon in his right ankle. He signed with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

in February 2007 to attempt a comeback, but was released on March 28.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wunsch, Kelly 1972 births Living people Baseball players from Houston Beloit Brewers players Beloit Snappers players Charlotte Knights players Chicago White Sox players El Paso Diablos players Helena Brewers players Huntsville Stars players Las Vegas 51s players Los Angeles Dodgers players Louisville Redbirds players Louisville RiverBats players Major League Baseball pitchers Stockton Ports players Texas A&M Aggies baseball players Orleans Firebirds players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela American expatriate baseball players in Australia Brisbane Bandits players Anchorage Glacier Pilots players