Tom Kramer | |
---|---|
Pitcher | |
Born: Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. | January 9, 1968|
Batted: Switch Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
September 12, 1991, for the Cleveland Indians | |
Last MLB appearance | |
September 21, 1993, for the Cleveland Indians | |
MLB statistics | |
Win–loss record | 7–3 |
Earned run average | 4.51 |
Strikeouts | 75 |
Teams | |
Thomas Joseph Kramer (born January 9, 1968) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Cleveland Indians during the 1991 and 1993 seasons.[1]
Kramer was drafted by the Indians in the fifth round of the 1987 amateur draft, and signed by the team on June 10, 1987.[2] He worked his way up from the Indians' then-Rookie League affiliate, the Burlington Indians, to their AAA affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, over a period of four seasons from 1987 to 1991; in this time span, he amassed a record of 52 wins and 31 losses in 704.6 innings pitched.[3]
Kramer made his major league pitching debut for the Cleveland Indians on September 12, 1991;[2] in four games of relief pitching for the Indians, he gave up nine earned runs in 4.2 innings pitched for an earned run average of 17.36.[2] Following the conclusion of the 1991 season, he was called back down to the Sky Sox, where he pitched a full season in 1992 and compiled a record of 8 wins and 3 losses with an earned run average of 4.86 in 76.0 innings pitched.[3]
Kramer was called up to the Indians for the 1993 season; after mostly pitching in relief until mid-May, he won his first game as a major league pitcher on May 24, throwing a complete game one-hitter against the Texas Rangers.[4] This would largely prove to end up being Kramer's one large success in a short major league playing career; despite finishing the season with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses and an earned run average of 4.02, he was assigned to the Charlotte Knights for the beginning of the 1994 season, compiling a record of 1 win and 3 losses with an earned run average of 4.74 in 19.0 innings pitched.[3]
Midway through the 1994 season, Kramer was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for fellow minor leaguer John Hrusovsky.[2] He would pitch the rest of that season for their then-AAA affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians, where he compiled a record of five wins and four losses with a 4.47 earned run average in 102.2 innings pitched.[3]
Despite starting the 1995 season with a record of twelve wins and one loss and a 3.33 earned run average in 127.0 innings pitched for the Reds' then-AA affiliate, the Chattanooga Lookouts, Kramer was traded to the Detroit Tigers midway through the season, finishing out the season pitching for then-AAA affiliate Toledo.[3]
Kramer spent the next three seasons after 1995 pitching for the Colorado Rockies, spending his time exclusively with AAA-affiliated Colorado Springs;[3] this was a return of sorts for Kramer, as he had pitched for them a few seasons earlier, albeit as an Indians affiliate. After three years of lackluster numbers, he retired from baseball as a minor leaguer at the conclusion of the 1998 season, having never made it back to the major leagues since his 1993 rookie debut for Cleveland.^