JOHN GRABOW

11/4/78; '97 3rd; San Gabriel, CA (HS)
L/L; 6-2, 190

Level	W-L-Sv	G	GS	IP	H	BB	K	ERA
1997 R	2-7-0	11	8	45.1	57	14	28	4.57
1998 A	6-3-0	17	16	71.2	84	34	67	5.78
1999 A	9-10-0	26	26	156.1	152	32	164	3.80
2000 AA	8-7-0	24	24	145.1	145	65	109	4.33
2001 AA	2-5-0	10	10	50.2	30	39	42	3.38
2001 A+	1-3-0	7	7	36.2	42	26	35	6.38
2001 R	0-1-0	6	6	12.0	11	4	9	3.75
2002 AA	8-13-0	28	27	146.1	181	47	97	5.47
2003 NL	0-0-0	5	0	5.0	6	0	9	3.60
2003 AAA	0-2-0	17	0	24.2	31	7	26	4.24
2003 AA	6-1-1	24	9	83.0	87	19	73	3.36
2004 NL	2-5-1	68	0	61.2	81	28	64	5.11

Level	W-L-Sv	G	GS	IP	H	BB	K	ERA	OAVG	OOBP	OSLG
2005 NL	2-3-0	63	0	52.0	46	25	42	4.85	.238	.332	.378

Grabow survived injuries, control problems and removal from the roster to reach the majors in 2004 and now is considered a mainstay in the team's bullpen. Following a strong season at Hickory in 1999, he jumped to AA, where he had a fair 2000 season, after which he was placed on the 40-man roster. He got hurt in 2001, then suffered from severe control problems when he got back. He was still struggling in 2002, although he started pitching better late in the year, but the Pirates still removed him from the 40-man roster. He was not claimed off waivers and accepted reassignment. He continued to struggle as a starter in 2003 until John Van Benschoten was promoted to Altoona. At that point, Grabow moved to the bullpen and made the transition very well—his high hit total was the result of the time he spent in the rotation. The Pirates promoted him to AAA late in the season and he struggled there, but still had a high K rate. The team must have liked what they saw, because after the AAA playoffs they added Grabow to the 40-man roster once again and called him up. He got hit hard in his first game but pitched very well in four appearances after that.

Grabow went into 2004 considered a long shot to make the team, but Mark Guthrie and Joe Beimel both had awful springs and Grabow pitched well, so he made the cut. Not surprisingly for a guy largely skipping AAA, he struggled quite a bit. After pitching well in April, he allowed a very large number of baserunners, the result of both too many walks and a .323 opponents' BA. His potential was evident, however, from the fact that he still fanned over a batter an inning. Grabow has a good arm—he throws in the low 90s with an excellent change. People in MLB have stated that, with Grabow and Mike Gonzalez, the Pirates have two of the game's best LH relievers. His stuff is good enough that the Pirates don't view him as a LOOGY. He did not have a platoon split in 2004, although RH and LH batters obviously both hit him hard. His problems occur primarily when he falls behind in the count.

In 2005, Grabow had a very good first half, posting a 3.04 ERA before the All-Star break. Afterward, his ERA was 6.35. The difference was gopher balls: he allowed none before and six after. He may have grown tired, as he especially had problems in late September after a period of being used very heavily starting in mid-August. Much of this had to do with the collapse of the starting pitchers around that time, but some also had to do with interim manager Pete Mackanin's penchant for frantically changing relievers. At one point, Grabow appeared in 11 of 17 games. Possibly as a result, he allowed 8 ER in his final 2.2 IP of the season. He was effective throughout the year, however, in keeping inherited runners from scoring. In fact, he tied for the best record in the majors, allowing only 4 of 37 inherited runners to cross the plate. His K rate did drop from 2004, but it remained good and he cut his opponents' BA from .323 to .238. He also was a little more effective against RH batters than LH, holding the former to a .696 OPS as compared to .724 against lefties. This makes him much more useful than the standard LOOGY. His primary need at this point is to improve his control. With Gonzalez likely to be the closer, he'll probably be the primary LHP out of the bullpen in 2006.

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