Mike Maroth Profession: Major League Baseball Pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays

Mike Maroth is Major League Baseball pitcher, presently in the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He spent the majority of his pro career playing with the Detroit Tigers.

From 2002 to early 2007, he played for the Detroit Tigers until he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later June 22, 2007.

After attending the University of Central Florida, the left-handed starting pitcher made his Major League debut in the 2002 season. Originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox, Maroth was acquired by Detroit in 1999 in exchange for pitcher Bryce Florie.

A 3rd round pick in the 1998 draft, Maroth spent his first two years of professional baseball playing for the Single-A Sarasota Red Sox in the Boston Red Sox organization. After leading Sarasota's starting pitchers with 11 wins in 1999, he was traded to the Tigers organization and worked his way up from Single-A Lakeland to AAA Mud Hens by 2001. Though often inconsistent, Maroth nonetheless outperformed all other Mud Hens pitchers in that year, with a 4.65 ERA. At the time of his promotion to the Major League and the Tigers, he was also tied for second place in wins for the entire International League. Maroth was made a starter for the Tigers on June 8th of 2002.

Maroth had a decent 2004 campaign, going 11-13 with a 4.31 ERA and 108 strikeouts. 2004 also saw Maroth pitch a one-hit complete game shutout against a surging New York Yankees team that September. In light of the Tigers' continually struggling offense, Maroth's 2005 performance was similarly solid, as he managed to rack up 14 wins from 28 starts - the second best record on the team, and just one loss behind their young ace, Jeremy Bonderman.

In 2006, Maroth assumed the #3 role in the starter rotation, behind the veteran Kenny Rogers and Bonderman, and ahead of rookie Justin Verlander and Nate Robertson. Maroth credits Rogers with suggested changes to his pitching strategy, and those adjustments helped him earn the best ERA of any of the Tigers' starting pitchers until Maroth was put on the Disabled List in early May with bone chips in his left elbow. The bone chips were surgically removed, and after taking approximately two months to heal from the surgery, his injury should not jeopardize the possibility of Maroth's return during the 2006 season. Maroth was replaced in the rotation after his injury with rookie Zach Miner. As of around the All-Star Break (mid-July), he has been pitching simulated games without any problems, and he and the Tigers' management expects he'll be back in the line-up in early-to-mid August 2006. During the last week of the regular season, it was announced that Maroth would not be in the line-up during the post season (at least during the first round).

When he was traded to the Cardinals in June 2007, Maroth dazzled in his NL debut. On national television (ESPN2), he went 7.1 innings vs. the New York Mets June 25, giving up only one run on two hits. Even though he did not get a decision, Maroth was able to make an immediate impact with the Cardinals, who at the time were in desperate need of starting pitching.