Andy Van Hekken
Andrew William Van Hekken (born July 31, 1979) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent.
| Andy Van Hekken | ||||||||||||||
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| Free agent | ||||||||||||||
| Starting pitcher | ||||||||||||||
| Born: July 31, 1979 Holland, Michigan | ||||||||||||||
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| Professional debut | ||||||||||||||
| MLB: September 3, 2002, for the Detroit Tigers | ||||||||||||||
| CPBL: August 21, 2007, for the Macoto Cobras | ||||||||||||||
| KBO: April 13, 2012, for the Nexen Heroes | ||||||||||||||
| NPB: March 27, 2016, for the Saitama Seibu Lions | ||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics (through 2002) | ||||||||||||||
| Win–loss record | 1–3 | |||||||||||||
| Earned run average | 3.00 | |||||||||||||
| Strikeouts | 5 | |||||||||||||
| KBO statistics (through 2017) | ||||||||||||||
| Win-Loss | 73-42 | |||||||||||||
| Earned run average | 3.56 | |||||||||||||
| Strikeouts | 860 | |||||||||||||
| Teams | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | ||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Early years
He attended Lakeview Elementary School and later Holland High School in Michigan.
Professional career
Van Hekken was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the third round of the 1998 MLB draft.
In 1999, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers along with Jerry Amador for Brian Hunter. He made his Major League debut in September 2002. In his first Major League appearance, he threw a complete game shutout for a victory against the Cleveland Indians. As of March 2017, he was the last Major League pitcher to pitch a complete game shutout in his debut.[1] In 5 starts for the Tigers, he sported an ERA of 3.00 in 30 innings pitched, he had the same amount of strikeouts (5) as starts (5). He finished with a 1.5 K/9. He would never be called up to the Majors again in his career.
After becoming a free agent in 2004, Van Hekken has bounced around multiple organizations. From 2005 to 2011 he has pitched for Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals and the Houston Astros. With Houston, he remained with them from 2008 to 2011, pitching no higher than Triple-A.
Van Hekken signed a one-year contract for the 2014 season with the Nexen Heroes for his second season with the team in the Korea Baseball Organization.[2] In 2016, he signed with the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball. He was released on July 15. Van Hekken returned to the Nexen Heroes for the remainder of the 2016 season and the 2017 season. He became a free agent following the 2017 season.
On April 17, 2018, Van Hekken signed with the New Britain Bees of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He left the team on August 14, 2018, to sign with the Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. Van Hekken became a free agent following the 2018 season.
References
- Morosi, Jon Paul (March 30, 2017). "Andy Van Hekken still pitching at age 37". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- Andy Van Hekken relishes summer of 2000 with West Michigan Whitecaps, joining team's Hall of Fame – News Holland Sentinel Holland, Michigan
External links
- Career statistics and player information from ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Career statistics and player information from Korea Baseball Organization