Jake Buchanan

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Jake Thomas Buchanan

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Jake Buchanan saw action in four big league seasons.

Buchanan was 14-1 with a 0.39 ERA and 146 strikeouts as a high school senior, earning All-State honors; he tied for second in the state of North Carolina in wins, was 4th in ERA and 7th in strikeouts. He was 3-2 with 3 saves and a 3.28 ERA for NC State in 2008 but fell to 2-6, 6.54 in 2009. In 2010, he had an 8-6, 3.86 record, tying for 9th in the ACC in wins. He was taken by the Astros in the 8th round of the 2010 amateur draft, signed by scout J.D. Alleva for $120,000.

Jake displayed great control throughout his career. In his first season, he surrendered only 11 walks in 61 innings while going 4-5 with a 4.28 ERA for the Tri-City ValleyCats. He was not the only control specialist on the staff as Bobby Doran and Carlos Quevedo had even lower walk rates. The next year, 2011, he allowed only 36 walks in 165 2/3 frames and was named a MiLB.com Organization All-Star. He was 5-10 with a 3.91 ERA for the Lancaster JetHawks and allowed one run in 7 innings for the Corpus Christi Hooks. He was 8th in the hitter-friendly California League in ERA (between Dan Straily and Murphy Smith) and tied Ruben Alaniz for 8th in the Astros chain in losses. Baseball America listed him Houston's #13 prospect and having the best control in their chain. Though he struggled in 2012 (his ERA was 5.25) his control was still good as he gave up 38 walks in 142 1/3 innings. He was 5-9 with a 4.96 ERA for the Hooks and gave up 17 hits and 10 runs in 8 innings for the Oklahoma City RedHawks (0-1). He tied Sonny Gray for 9th in the Texas League in losses, tied Smith for 4th in hits allowed, tied Gary Daley for 4th in runs allowed (85) and tied Hayden Beard for 4th in earned runs (74). He tied Paul Clemens and Brett Oberholtzer for the most losses in the Astros system, was second to Clemens in runs and earned runs and edged Clemens and Oberholtzer for most hits surrendered. In 2013, he put it all together and went 12-7 with a 2.96 ERA and only 22 walks in 158 1/3 innings for the Hooks and Triple A Oklahoma City. In Triple A, he was 5-5 with a 3.89 ERA in 12 starts. He had been 7-2 with a save and a 2.09 ERA in Double A. He had the third-lowest walk rate among Double A and Triple A hurlers with 100+ innings. He finished the year second among Astros minor leaguers in wins (two behind David Martinez) and ERA among hurlers with 100+ innings (again behind Martinez).

He began 2014 with Oklahoma City and made his major league debut on June 21, 2014 in a start against the Tampa Bay Rays, surrendering 5 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings at Tropicana Field to take the pitcher loss. He made 17 appearances that season, a personal best in the bigs, with a 4.58 ERA in 35 1/3 innings. He saw action in 5 games in 2015, with a 2.00 ERA, when he was designated for assignment on September 1 to make room for LOOGY Joe Thatcher. He was released at the end of 2016 spring training and caught on with the Chicago Cubs, making 2 appearances in the bigs. The Cincinnati Reds claimed him on waivers in the spring of 2017. On May 29, 2017, he was brought into a game against the Toronto Blue Jays in the 5th inning, replacing reliever Robert Stephenson who had given up 10 hits in 2 innings. Jake also gave up 10 hits, in 3 1/3 innings, as the Cincinnati Reds lost a 17-2 beatdown. It was the first time since July 6, 1929 that two relievers each surrendered 10 or more hits in a game: Luther Roy and June Greene of the Philadelphia Phillies were victimized by the St. Louis Cardinals that day. Jake hung around until the middle of June before being released. He spent the remainder of 2017 and all of 2018 in the Arizona Diamondbacks chain, then 2019 within the minor league confines of the Oakland A's and Washington Nationals systems.

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