Ángel Guzmán

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Ángel Moisés Guzmán (born December 14, 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a starting pitcher in major league baseball who plays for the Chicago Cubs. Listed at 6-3 (190 cm), 195 pounds (88 kg), Guzmán bats and throws right handed. He is the brother of Daniel Guzmán. He made his major-league debut on April 26, 2006.

Guzmán began his professional career at age 18. That year, he went 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA for La Pradera in the Venezuelan Summer League. In 2001, he led a strong staff for the Boise Cubs, going 9-1 with a 2.23 ERA, 19 walks and 63 strikeouts in 77 innings pitched. He was second in the Northwest League in ERA, trailing Jesse Foppert, and he led the league in wins. He made the league All-Star team as the righty starter; the lefty was Dontrelle Willis, a teammate. He was rated the #4 prospect in the league according to Baseball America, two spots ahead of Willis.

Guzmán had two dominating stints in the Chicago Cubs chain in 2002, going 5-2 with a 1.89 ERA for the Lansing Lugnuts and 6-2, 2.39 with the Daytona Cubs. He was the #13 prospect in the Midwest League and #11 in the Florida State League according to Baseball America. In 2003, he went 3-3 with a 2.81 ERA for the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, striking out 87 and walking 26 in 90 innings of work. He was rated the ninth-best prospect in the Southern League and picked to perform in the Futures Game but was unable to do so when he injured his right shoulder, cutting his year short. The 2004 season was basically a lost one — he had a 5.60 ERA and 0-3 record for West Tenn and 3-1, 4.20 for Daytona in a total of 11 starts. The next year saw even less usage as he threw in four games for the AZL Cubs (with 17 strikeouts and one walk in 12 innings pitched) and two for the Peoria Chiefs.

Guzmán finally made it to AAA, with the 2006 Iowa Cubs, three years after his AA debut. He was 4-4 with a 4.04 ERA. He also made 15 appearances in the majors in 2006 (10 of them starts) for the Cubs, going 0-6 with a 7.39 ERA, but with more than a strikeout per inning.

[edit] Sources

This article is derived from the article of the same name in the Baseball Reference Bullpen, accessed October 16, 2006. It is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
2001-2006 Baseball Almanacs
Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database