Marco Estrada (baseball)
Encyclopedia
Marco René Estrada is a Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 right-handed pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

.

Early life

A graduate of Sylmar High School
Sylmar High School
Sylmar High School is a public school in the northeast San Fernando Valley in the Sylmar district of Los Angeles, California. Established in the 1950s, it is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, District 2, and serves more than 3,600 students in grades 9-12. The school mascot is the...

 in Sylmar, California, Estrada attended Glendale Community College
Glendale Community College (California)
Glendale Community College is a community college in Glendale, California, USA. It was founded to serve the needs of the people in the Glendale Union High School District which at the time included La Crescenta, Glendale, and Tujunga...

 and Long Beach State University. He was selected by the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...

 in the sixth round of the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft
2005 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2005 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft, was held on June 7 and 8. It was conducted via conference call with representatives from each of the league's 30 teams...

.

Professional career

After being drafted by Washington, Estrada began his minor league
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 career pitching for the Vermont Expos in the short-season New York-Penn League. In three starts
Starting pitcher
In baseball or softball, a starting pitcher is the pitcher who delivers the first pitch to the first batter of a game. A pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher....

 and six relief
Relief pitcher
A relief pitcher or reliever is a baseball or softball pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed due to injury, ineffectiveness, fatigue, ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as being substituted by a pinch hitter...

 appearances, he pitched 33⅔ innings, compiling a win
Win (baseball)
In professional baseball, there are two types of decisions: a win and a loss . In each game, one pitcher on the winning team is awarded a win and one pitcher on the losing team is given a loss in their respective statistics. These pitchers are collectively known as the pitchers of record. Only...

–loss record of 1–3 and an ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...

 of 5.08. During that time, he struck out
Strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout or strike-out occurs when a batter receives three strikes during his time at bat. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters....

 37 batters while issuing just 16 walks
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...

.

Estrada spent the 2006 season with the GCL Nationals, Washington's affiliate in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League
Gulf Coast League
The Gulf Coast League is a minor league baseball league which operates in Florida. It is a Rookie League, with a season running from mid-June to late August. The season is 60 games long and teams in the league are divided into three divisions, East, North and South...

, and the Savannah Sand Gnats
Savannah Sand Gnats
The Savannah Sand Gnats are a minor league baseball team in Savannah, Georgia and are a member of the A-level South Atlantic League. Since the 2007 season, the Sand Gnats have been an affiliate of the New York Mets.-History:...

 of the Class A South Atlantic League
South Atlantic League
The South Atlantic League is a minor league baseball league based chiefly in the Southeastern United States, with the exception of three teams in the Mid-Atlantic States...

. He accrued a record of 3 wins and 4 losses and a 3.98 ERA over 61 innings, consisting of 12 starts and 1 appearance in relief, striking out a total of 56 batters and walking just 20.

In 2007, Estrada pitched for the GCL Nationals, the Class A Hagerstown Suns
Hagerstown Suns
The Hagerstown Suns are a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States. They play in Municipal Stadium, which was opened in 1930 and seats 4,600 fans....

 of the South Atlantic League, and the Potomac Nationals
Potomac Nationals
The Potomac Nationals are a Minor League Baseball team located in Woodbridge, Virginia. The Nationals play in the Class A Advanced Carolina League, and are an affiliate of the Washington Nationals.-History:...

 in the Class A-Advanced Carolina League
Carolina League
The Carolina League is a minor league baseball affiliation which operates in the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...

. He logged 105⅔ innings in 23 starts, winning 6, losing 8, and recording a 4.85 ERA with 102 strikeouts and 37 walks.

Estrada began the 2008 season with the Harrisburg Senators
Harrisburg Senators
The Harrisburg Senators are a minor league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals....

 of the Double-A Eastern League, where he pitched 74⅓ innings in 13 starts, accruing an ERA of 2.66, striking out 67 batters and walking 32. In June he was promoted to the Syracuse Chiefs of the Triple-A International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...

. He was called up to the majors on August 19 and made his debut the next day. He made 11 appearances as a reliever that season. He pitched in four games (including one start) for the Nationals in 2009, but played the majority of the season with Syracuse.

On February 3, 2010, Estrada was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

. He began the season with the Triple-A Pacific Coast League's Nashville Sounds
Nashville Sounds
The Nashville Sounds are a minor league baseball team of the Pacific Coast League , and the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the city's association with the music industry...

. He was recalled to the big league club and made his Brewers debut on May 18, 2010, entering the game against the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

 as a relief pitcher in the 5th inning. He recorded nine consecutive outs through three innings before giving up a solo home run to Joey Votto
Joey Votto
Joseph Daniel "Joey" Votto, is a Canadian Major League Baseball first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. He is the 2010 NL MVP, the recipient of the National League Hank Aaron Award for 2010, and won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's athlete of the year in 2010.-Early life:Votto was born on...

 in the bottom of the 8th. He also made his first official at-bat in that game, grounding out in the 6th. He was outrighted to Nashville after the season.

On April 6, 2011, Estrada was again called up to the majors, taking the injured Zack Greinke
Zack Greinke
Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009 with the Kansas City Royals.-High school & minor leagues:Greinke was born in Orlando, Florida...

's spot in the starting rotation. Estrada has become the long reliever and the backup starter for the Brewers pitching rotation.

2011 was Estrada's most successful season in the major leagues. Between being the long reliever and backup starter (starting in a total of seven games), Estrada pitched in 92.2 innings, posted a 4.08 ERA, and struck out 88 batters for an impressive 8.5 K/9. It was by far Estrada's most productive stint in the majors. From 2008 to 2010, Estrada only pitched in a total of 31.1 innings, and never posted an ERA below 6.00.

External links

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