Former Rockies Pitcher Oswalt Retiring After 13 Seasons In Majors
DENVER (AP) - Right-hander Roy Oswalt retired from baseball on Tuesday after 13 major league seasons that had him criss-crossing the country with time in the American and National Leagues.
Oswalt's agent, Bob Garber, confirmed Oswalt's retirement and said the pitcher would come to work for his agency.
Oswalt, 36, had a 163-102 career record with a 3.36 ERA. His best season came with Houston in 2004, when he went 20-10 with a 3.49 ERA. The durable starter - a three-time All-Star and 2006 NL championship series MVP - went over 200 innings seven times in his career but dealt with injuries in recent years.
He was 0-6 with an 8.63 ERA in nine outings and six starts for Colorado last year. He signed a minor league deal with the Rockies in May 2013 and missed time with a strained left hamstring.
Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington was thrilled to acquire Oswalt in the middle of the 2012 season, when he went 4-3 with a 5.80 ERA in 17 appearances with nine starts.
He joined the Rangers on June 22, 2012, but didn't know if the team just planned to trade him away. Washington often said Oswalt "has been a pro" in handling a tough, unclear situation that called for him to be used primarily out of the bullpen.
That was after Oswalt spent two stints on the disabled list during 2011 with Philadelphia because of lower back inflammation. He went 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA in 23 starts for the Phillies that year, and his 139 innings pitched were his fewest since 2003. He didn't go more than 59 innings in his last two years.
A 23rd-round pick by Houston in the 1996 amateur draft, Oswalt pitched his first nine-plus seasons for the Astros (2001-10) and then played for Philadelphia (2010-11), Texas (2012) and the Rockies last year.
- By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Baseball Writer
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