Francais | English | Espanõl

Robb Nen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Image:Robbnen001.jpg
Robb Nen
Robert Allan "Robb" Nen (born November 28, 1969 in San Pedro, California) was a former right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball, more specifically a closer. He is the son of former major league first baseman Dick Nen.

Nen is best known for his years with the San Francisco Giants (1998-2002). He also played with the Texas Rangers (1993) and Florida Marlins (1993-97); in 1997, he won a World Series championship with the Marlins. After the 2002 season, Nen injured his throwing arm and has not played since.

Nen was known for an unusual delivery in which he tapped his toe on the ground before releasing the ball. His signature pitch, a slider, was nicknamed "The Terminator." It looked like a fastball until it broke straight down at the plate at a velocity of up to 92 mph. In addition to the slider, Nen had a fastball that reached the upper 90's. A splitter rounded up Nen's pitching arsenal.

Robb Nen has 314 career saves with the Florida Marlins (1993-1997; 108 saves) and the San Francisco Giants (1998-2002; 206 saves). His is 14th overall in career saves in the Major Leagues.

Robb Nen wore #31 as his jersey number throughout his entire career.

Contents

[edit] High School

Attended Los Alamitos High School with future Giants teammate J.T. Snow. Nen played high school baseball (mostly third base, with some pitching). He would skip college and go directly to the minor leagues.

[edit] Major League Career

Robb Nen was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 32nd round in 1987 as a starting pitcher. He was called up in 1993 as a starter. The start of his Major League career was hindered by many trips to the disabled list, along with subpar results on the mound, sporting a 6.35 ERA his first, and only, season with the Rangers.

On July 17, 1993 Nen (along with Kurt Miller) was traded to the Florida Marlins for Cris Carpenter. Nen had one more start that year under his new team, but ended the season with a 7.02 ERA. The next year, to combat Nen's frequent trips to the DL, the Florida Marlins regulated Nen to the bullpen, where he flourished as the new closer for the 1994 Florida Marlins. That year, Nen posted 15 saves with a 2.95 ERA. Nen would continue to be a dominating closer for the Florida Marlins, racking up a total of 108 saves and establishing as one of the elite closers of the 90's.

In an odd move (which has since happened again when the Florida Marlins won the World Series in 2003), the Florida Marlins held a 'firesale': trading off most of their high-calibre players, in favor of gaining prospects and utilizing many of their minor league players all while keeping their team payroll low. On November 18, 1997, Nen was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Mike Villano, Joe Fontenot and Mick Pageler. Nen was expected to fill in the closer role, a role recently vacated by Rod Beck, who left via free agency to the Chicago Cubs. If Beck had set the bar high for a San Fransisco closer (199 saves in his 7 year tenure with the Giants), Nen would raise the bar. His first year yielded 40 saves with a 1.52 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 88.7 IP. As a Giant, Nen would attend three Major League Baseball All-Star Games (1998, 1999, 2002) and finished 4th in voting for the 2000 National League Cy Young Award, and 12th in the National League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) (which went to then-teammate Jeff Kent), both high honors for a closer.

Robb Nen's career hit its climax in the 2002 World Series. The San Francisco Giants, the National League Wild Card team and the Los Angeles Angels(then called the 'Anaheim Angels'), the American League Wild Card team played a 7 game series where Nen acquired two saves. In the critical sixth game, the Giants were up 5-0, Russ Ortiz pitched beautifully, and San Francisco seemed poised to win the critical 4th win, leading to a World Series victory for the Giants. Ortiz was pulled for Felix Rodriguez who gave up a home run to Scott Spezio. The Giants ended up losing 5-6 in a heartbreaker that turned the tide of the series for Anaheim and would also be Nen's final game. The Angels would continue to defeat the Giants in Game 7 and take home a World Series Championship to Anaheim.

The next two years, Nen spent time rehabing from three surgeries for a torn rotator cuff that he aggravated during the middle of the 2002 season. The tear went through 40 to 75 percent of his right shoulder. When his contract with the Giants ended after the 2004 season, Nen filed for free agency but was not picked up by any team.

On February 20, 2005, Robb Nen announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. He is currently the all-time saves leader for the San Francisco Giants with 206 saves.

[edit] "Smoke on the Water"

When the San Francisco Giants moved from Candlestick Park (also known as 3Com Park and Monster Park) to the oceanside Pac Bell Park (Now known as AT&T Park), the Giants used the song Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple, as Nen's entrance music. Though not chosen by Nen, the song was selected to highlight Nen's throwing speed. He would throw so fast, occasionally reaching the upper 90's that the ball would leave a 'trail of smoke' that dissipated over the waters of the San Francisco Bay.

[edit] Honoring Nen

On July 9, 2005, the San Francisco Giants honored their closer in a sunny game against the St. Louis Cardinals. In a ceremony before the game, the Giants honored Nen with a plaque commemorating his 300th career save on August 6, 2002. The plaque is located behind the right-field wall of AT&T park, right by the water.

[edit] Quotes

On his father: Dick Nen "He told me, it must have been a thousand times, let everything you do show your respect for the game. Don't cheat yourself, and don't cheat your teammates."

On his unusual delivery "There was some problem about my toe pointing down when I was coming up, and when I tried to correct it, I just literally stumbled into the tap thing. It was an accident. But when I did it, it felt right to me, and I could throw real hard that way so I stuck with it."

On being a closer "You had to believe to close. You had to know you were going to get people out every night, know that you were going to get their best guys out, every night."

[edit] Salaries

Year Team Salary (US$)
1990 Texas Rangers $100,000
1993 Texas Rangers $109,000
1994 Florida Marlins $130,000
1995 Florida Marlins $180,000
1996 Florida Marlins $340,000
1997 Florida Marlins $3,080,000
1998 San Francisco Giants $4,090,000
1999 San Francisco Giants $5,150,000
2000 San Francisco Giants $5,500,000
2001* San Francisco Giants $6,600,000
2002 San Francisco Giants $8,300,000
2003 San Francisco Giants $8,750,000
2004 San Francisco Giants $9,150,000
    • Signed a contract extension in 2001 for 4 more years with the San Francisco Giants worth $32.5 million. At this time, he was the highest paid closer in Major League Baseball history.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Robb_Nen"
Personal tools