Jake Peavy

Jacob Edward Peavy (born May 31, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who is currently an on-air analyst for MLB Network.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants.

He batted and threw right-handed.

Jacob Edward Peavy was born on May 31, 1981, in Mobile, Alabama.

He became the youngest pitcher to win an ERA title since Dwight Gooden in 1985.

Peavy was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 15th round (472nd overall) of the 1999 MLB draft out of high school (St. Paul's Episcopal School).

He was named the high school player of the year in the state of Alabama.

Peavy declined an offer to pitch for Auburn University in order to accept the Padres' contract offer.

Peavy pitched for the Arizona League Padres and the Idaho Falls Braves in 1999 and the Fort Wayne Wizards in 2000.

In 2001, Peavy played with the Lake Elsinore Storm and the Mobile BayBears.

He split the 2002 season between the BayBears and the San Diego Padres.

Peavy was called up from Double-A to make his major league debut on June 22, 2002, against the New York Yankees at Qualcomm Stadium.

He lost the game, allowing one run on three hits in six innings while striking out four.

In total, Peavy had six wins and seven losses with a 4.52 earned run average (ERA) and 90 strikeouts.

The Padres won just 66 games and were in the cellar of the NL West.

In his sophomore season, Peavy started 32 games (194.2 IP), with a 4.11 earned run average, a 12–11 record, and 156 strikeouts.

The Padres finished last in their division again at a 64–98 record.

During his third year of major league experience in 2004, Peavy emerged as the Padres' ace starting pitcher and one of the best pitchers in baseball.

He compiled a 15–6 record, struck out 173 in 166 innings, and led Major League Baseball with a 2.27 ERA.

On September 17, 2004, Peavy allowed Barry Bonds' 700th career home run.

On March 5, 2005, he signed a four-year, $14.5 million contract and held a club option for 2009 extension with the Padres.

During the 2005 season, Peavy was selected for the National League All-Star team and ended the regular season leading the National League in strikeouts with 216 (in 203 innings).

He was second in the majors to Minnesota's Johan Santana who had 238 strikeouts.

In addition, he finished the season with a 13–7 record, 2.88 ERA, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of over 4:1 and WHIP of 1.044.

After the Padres won the National League West in 2005, Peavy missed the rest of the season with a broken rib, which he apparently suffered while celebrating.

Although Peavy would go only 11–14 with a 4.09 ERA, he still managed to finish second in the National League in strikeouts with 215, one shy of both his 2005 league-leading total and of the 2006 NL strikeout leader, Aaron Harang, who logged 32 more innings than Peavy.

In the playoffs, the Padres again faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round.

As the game one starter, Peavy had a much stronger outing than his 2005 playoff game, but the Padres again lost to the Cardinals.

Peavy was the captain of Team USA in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, held in San Diego.

He started the opening game for the U.S., a 2–0 win over Mexico, giving up just one hit and no runs over three innings.

He did not factor in the decision in the second-round game against Japan, as he gave up three runs in five innings in a game that the U.S. won, 4–3.

In 2006, Peavy got off to a rocky start, in part due to mechanical adjustments brought on by various off-season injuries.

While with the Padres, he won the 2007 NL Cy Young Award after recording the Pitching Triple Crown that year.

On July 1, 2007, for the second time in his career, Peavy was named to the 2007 NL All-Star Team.

On July 9, he was named as the starting pitcher for the NL.

On August 2, Peavy struck out Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Jeff DaVanon, for his 1000th career strikeout.

He was traded from the White Sox to the Red Sox in 2013, and helped them to a World Series title later that season.

A year later he was traded to the San Francisco Giants, with whom he won another title that season.

He is the second starting pitcher after Don Gullett to win two consecutive World Series championship titles with different teams, one in each league.

He is one of ten players in Major League history to have won back-to-back World Series championships titles on different teams (Joc Pederson, Ben Zobrist, Jack Morris, Bill Skowron, Clem Labine, Don Gullett, Allie Clark, Ryan Theriot, Will Smith).