Dylan Axelrod

Dylan Axelrod
Chicago White Sox — No. 39
Pitcher
Born: July 30, 1985 (1985-07-30) (age 26) Irvine, California
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 7, 2011 for the Chicago White Sox
Career statistics (through 2011)
Win-loss record	1-0
Earned run average	2.89
Strikeouts	19
Teams
Chicago White Sox (2011–present)

Dylan Axelrod (born July 30, 1985 in Irvine, California) is a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox.

Baseball career

Amateur career

He had a 13-1 record his senior year at Santa Barbara High School, where he was named team MVP. He was undrafted out of high school, and went on to Santa Barbara City College. He played there from 04-05, had a school record 117 strikeouts in 2004, and was named an Outstanding Pitcher. After two years at SBCC, he transferred to UC Irvine. He was used as a reliever with UC Irvine, and was second on the team in appearances with 28 and had a 3-3 record with a 4.59 ERA. He recorded 34 appearances, and went 6-4 with a 3.96 ERA. He was drafted in the 30th round, 927th overall, of the 2007 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres.^[1]

Professional career

Minor league career

Axelrod debuted with the Rookie-level Arizona League Padres, going 0-2 in 11 games as a reliever exclusively with a 5.40 ERA before earning a promotion to Single-A Fort Wayne, then the Wizards, where in 10 games out of the pen he had a 1.27 ERA. He started 2008 with High-A Lake Elsinore, going 2-1 as a reliever in 32 games with a 5.29 ERA before being demoted back to Fort Wayne, where he finished the year. He started 2009 with Lake Elsinore, but after 11 games with a 4.50 ERA, he was cut. He signed with Independent Windy City of the Frontier League, where, after he had a 2.21 ERA in 22 games with 6 saves, he drew attention of the South Siders, signing a deal on August 2, 2009. He played with Single-A Kannapolis where, after 2 games, was promoted to Winston-Salem, where he played 5 games. He started 2010 with Winston-Salem before being promoted to Double-A Birmingham, where he played 2 games before going back to Winston-Salem. He started 2011 with Birmingham, going 3-2 with a 3.34 ERA and was a Southern League All-Star before being promoted to Triple-A Charlotte, by then a full-time starter, going 6-1 with a 2.27 ERA in 15 starts before being promoted again.^[2]

Major league career

On September 5, 2011, Axelrod was promoted to Chicago. Tony Peña was transferred to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster. ^[3] He made his MLB debut on September 7th, 2011, pitching 2 scoreless innings in relief of starter John Danks in a game the White Sox lost 5-4 to the Minnesota Twins. Axelrod made his first Major League start a week later on September 14th vs. the first-place Detroit Tigers, who were on an 11-game win streak. He exited after six innings with a 5-2 lead, striking out eight Tigers. Unfortunately for Axelrod, the White Sox bullpen blew the lead in the 9th inning and he did not pick up the win. It was announced prior to his start that Axelrod would assume Jake Peavy's place in the White Sox rotation for the remainder of the 2011 season.

Axelrod started two more games for the 2011 season: September 20 against Cleveland, pitching 4.2 innings and allowing seven hits and four runs; but was back on form September 26 against Toronto, pitching six shutout innings, allowing three hits while striking out six, and recording his first major league win.

Axelrod is reported to rely on a "dirty slider" in addition to his fastball and changeup.

References

1. ^ UC Irvine Anteaters Bio
2. ^ BR Minors
3. ^ Van Schouwen, Daryl (2011-09-05). "Axelrod joins White Sox pitching staff". Chicago Sun-Times. http://blogs.suntimes.com/whitesox/2011/09/axelrod-joins-white-sox-pitchi.html. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Axelrod, Dylan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 30, 1985
Place of birth	Irvine, California
Date of death
Place of death