Baseball in Fort Wayne

The first former Fort Wayne alumnus to make his MLB debut in 2010 is Jon Link, who was traded from the Chicago White Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of the Juan Pierre deal during the offseason. Overall, he is the 88th former Fort Wayne-er to make his MLB debut.

With Cincinnati leading he Dodgers 9-5, Link entered the game in relief of Ramon Ortiz (who was relieving starter Chad Billingsley). Fortunately, Link was able to stop the bleeding with a one-two-three inning; getting batters Hernandez and Cairo to groung out before coaxing Stubbs to fly out to right center.

He returned for the eight inning, where he got Cabrera to ground out to third before walking Joey Votto who was promptly caught stealing. Then Brandon Phillips popped out to end the inning. Link was lifted in the bottom half of the eight for a pinch hitter.

I have not blogged about Jon Link much over the years, but I have been following his career since starting this “project.” Last year, I noted that he was one that might debut in 2009. I was wrong, but it didn’t take long in 2010.

With the Wizards in 2006, Link appeared in 53 games with a 4.91 EAR while striking out 57 over 62.1 innings pitched to go with a 5-5 record.

Link was 1-2 with a 3.99 ERA and 13 saves in 48 games at Triple-A Charlotte in 2009. He was acquired by the Sox in 2007 season in a trade with San Diego for Rob Mackowiak.

Interesting side-note: Link is the first former WizCap to debut with the Dodgers. If I have counted right, that makes 19 different teams that one has debuted with.