After three years playing in the minors, former Auburn Baseball Player Evan Crawford has made his big league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays. Evan was called up last Friday and made his debut on Sunday.
He came out of the bullpen in the ninth to pitch a scoreless inning and help the Jays take an 8-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles. He also rang up his first MLB strike out, sitting down third baseman Wilson Betemit.
The left hander started 27 games at Auburn but he had his best year after being moved to the Tigers' bullpen. In 2008 he pitched 44 2/3 innings in 29 appearances, striking out 42, and held opposing batters to a 2.44 batting average. He finished the year 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA.
He was understandably excited to be able to fulfill a life long dream. "Just getting to come out on the field is a euphoric feeling," said Crawford. "It's one of those things that you've always looked forward to, and you're not sure if it's real when it happens, but it was awesome."
Evan is the first Auburn baseball player to make it to the big show since 2010 when Josh Donaldson was called up by the Oakland Athletics. He now is the fifth former Tiger to be actively playing in the majors. The other four are Tim Hudson (Atlanta Braves), David Ross (Atlanta Braves) Clete Thomas (Minnesota Twins) and Donaldson with the A's.
Congratulation Evan and War Eagle!