Wednesday, April 16, 2008

#65 - Kelly Wunsch

There is no player for number 64, so on to number 65.

Kelly Wunsch is the greatest White Sox player to wear number 65. He pitched on the White Sox from 2000 until 2004. Wunsch has only one save in his career. That was with the White Sox in 2000, his rookie year. He also led the league in appearances with 83 in 2000.

After that, the White Sox figured out exactly where to put Kelly. He was a sidearm/submarine specialty pitcher. He would come in and get a one to three batters and make a quick exit.

His success comes from the number of hits allowed. While there is no perfect pitcher, Kelly has never allowed more hits than innings pitched. His strikeout totals never surpassed his walk total. He was the perfect pitcher for delicate situations.

His funky delivery style would fool hitters. Some of the best players of the game looked foolish when Wunsch was on the mound. Among his accomplishments is a 0.00 ERA in the 2000 postseason. The Sox would be swept by the Mariners, but Kelly was in every game. He allowed only 2 hits with no walks, but took the loss in the last game.

Kelly's unique delivery caused later injury problems. I always felt good when Kelly would come into the game. I knew there was an excellent chance of a White Sox winner.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From Kelly: Thanks so much to whoever wrote this! Really nice words!

Steve Gierman said...

To Kelly: You're welcome! I have very fond memories of you in a White Sox uniform! :-)

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