Cleveland Indians Sign John Halama, Will Start for Buffalo Bisons Right Away

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com –  The Cleveland Indians today announced that they have signed LHP John Halama to a minor league contract. He will report to the Buffalo Bisons in Pawtucket and is expected to start on Sunday for the Herd against the Red Sox (1:05 p.m.).

            Halama, 36, has spent the entire 2008 season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the Independent Atlantic League. In 8 games, he was 4-1 with a 1.88ERA (56.2IP, 47H, 13H, 12ER, 8BB, 48K).

Halama was originally selected by the Houston Astros in the 23rd round (640th overall) of the 1994 amateur draft. He played nine seasons at the Major League level with Houston, Seattle, Oakland, Tampa Bay, Boston, Washington and Baltimore. In 26 2 games and 119 starts at the big league level Halama is 56-48 with a 4.65ERA (911.0IP, 492K). 

His best season came in 2000 as he went 14-9 with a 5.08ERA in 30 starts with the Mariners. That year, he also started two games against the New York Yankees in the ALCS and went 0-0 with a 2.89ERA.

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Halama spent only two full seasons at the Triple-A level before making his Major League debut with six games for Houston in 1998. In 1997, he went 13-3 for New Orleans in the same American Association the Bisons played in. A year later, Halama was 12-3 for New Orleans in the Pacific Coast League and pitched a complete-game four-hitter against Buffalo in Game 1 of the 1998 Triple-A World Series at Las Vegas (New Orleans’ 7-2 win).

Halama was a Triple-A All-Star during both the 1997 and 1998 season. On July 7, 2001, he pitched the first ever perfect game in the Pacific Coast League with a 6-0 win over Calgary.

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