Jason Grilli

Jason Michael Grilli (born November 11, 1976) is an Italian American professional baseball pitcher who plays for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). Taken as the fourth overall selection of the 1997 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants, Grilli was one of the top starting pitcher prospects in all of the minor leagues, ranked 54th in 1998 and 44th in 1999. The Giants traded him to the Florida Marlins in 1999, for whom he debuted on May 11, 2000.

However, it was not until 2011 that Grilli's career took off as a relief pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates. That year, he carried a 2.48 earned run average (ERA) and 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings (K/9) rate in 32 innings pitched (IP), and further improved in 2012, when his strikeout rate climbed to 13.8. In 2013, Grilli made his first All-Star team and became Pittsburgh’s closer at the age of 36. From 2011–14, he compiled a 3.09 ERA with 11.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 34.2 percent ground-ball rate in 195 ¹⁄₃ IP. He has also pitched for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.