Oct. 22, 2005
Former Notre Dame standout pitcher and current Houston Astros closer Brad Lidge is set to become the 14th former Notre Dame player to compete in the World Series. Lidge – considered by many to be the top closer in the game – was a major force in Houston’s turnaround from its 15-30 start to the season and the hard-throwing righthander then saved the Astros’ first three wins in the National League Championship Series versus St. Louis.
Lidge is just one of 20 players on Houston’s current 25-man roster who are products of college baseball. The remaining five players are foreign, with no current Astros players entering pro ball directly out of high school.
Lidge recently passed along a message thanking all Notre Dame fans for their support – and he will have one of his biggest supporters on hand for game-2 on Sunday, as Notre Dame head baseball coach Paul Mainieri will be in attendance to see his first former Irish player appear on baseball’s biggest stage.
Following his senior season at Cherry Creek (Colo.) High School, Lidge was just a 42nd-round draft pick in 1995 (of the San Francisco Giants) and instead opted to play for Notre Dame. It was a wise decision – as the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder developed under the careful tutoring of the Irish coaching staff, earning 1998 BIG EAST Conference pitcher-of-the-year honors while emerging as a top pro prospect. He went on to be Houston’s first-round pick in the 1998 draft, selected 17th overall to match catcher Ken Plesha as the highest-drafted players in Notre Dame history (Plesha ironically was the first-round pick of the White Sox, in ’65).
Nicknamed “Lights Out” by his Astros teammates due to his high-90s fastball and devastating slider, Lidge finished the 2005 regular season with 42 saves in 46 chances, ranking third on the NL saves list. His other ’05 regular-season stats included a 2.29 ERA, 4-4 record, 103 strikeouts, just 23 walks and 58 hits allowed in 70 appearances (70.2 innings pitched). He held opposing hitters to a .223 combined batting average (5 home runs), a .323 slugging pct. and .293 on-base pct., with 54 groundball outs, just 3 hit batters and 8 wild pitches. Lidge averaged 13.1 Ks, 2.9 BB and 7.4 hits allowed per 9 IP in the ’05 regular season, also averaging just 1.15 walks+hits per 9 IP (“WHIP”) while racking up a 4.5 K-to-walk ratio.
The 2005 postseason has seen Lidge convert 3-of-4 save chances, with 12 Ks, 6 BB and 8 hits allowed in 9.0 pressure-packed innings (in 7 GP).
Lidge’s more noteworthy teammates who also are products of college baseball include: Roger Clemens (Texas), USC products Morgan Ensberg and Jason Lane, Lance Berkman (Rice), Chris Burke (Tennessee), Brad Ausmus (Dartmouth), Row Oswalt (Holmes J.C.), Andy Pettitte (San Jacinto J.C.), Jeff Bagwell (Hartford), Craig Biggio (Seton Hall), Adam Everett (South Carolina) and Mike Lamb (Cal State Fullerton).
Others on the Astros who played college ball include: Brandon Backe (Galveston J.C.), Mike Gallo (Long Beach State), Chad Qualls (Nevada-Reno), Russ Springer (LSU), Dan Wheeler (Central Arizona), Eric Bruntlett (Stanford) and Orlando Palmiero (Miami, Fla.).
Lidge will be hoping to become the sixth former Notre Dame player to play for a World Series winner, joining pitcher Ed Reulbach (1907 and 1908 Chicago Cubs), pinch-hitter Jean Dubuc (1916 Boston Red Sox), pinch-hitter John McHale (1945 Detroit Tigers), pitcher Ron Reed (1980 Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 over Kansas City) and infielder Craig Counsell (1997 Florida Marlins and 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks).
The college baseball connection in Major League Baseball has been steadily growing – a trend generally ignored by the national media – as a sampling of the four teams in the 2004 league championship series (Houston, St. Louis, Boston and the N.Y. Yankees) revealed that 60 of the 100 players on those rosters were college products, 25 were foreign players and only 15 entered pro ball directly from high school (a 4-to-1 ratio of college to high school entrants).
The current White Sox team has a heavy international flair – with nine foreign players – but the 25-man roster also includes nine former college players, most notably Dustin Hermanson (Kent State) and Aaron Rowand (Cal State Fullerton). Other college products on the team opposing the Astros in the World Series include: Neal Cotts (Illinois State), Chris Widger (George Mason), Geoff Blum (California), Willie Harris (Kennesaw State), Jermaine Dye (Columnes River J.C.) and a pair of Jefferson J.C. alums in Mark Buehrle and Cliff Politte.
Lidge’s career stats in four seasons with the Astros include a 2.71 ERA and 72 saves in 85 chances, with 369 Ks, 104 walks and 187 hits allowed in 259.0 IP/234 GP(.203 opp. avg., .293 OB, .316 slug., 17-12 record, 16 HB, 15 WP, 177 GO, 1.17 WHIP, 9-inn. avg. of 12.8 Ks, 3.6 BB, 6.5 H, with 3.1 K/BB ratio).