Andy Sonnanstine #21

Andy joins the Cubs after amassing a 28-31 record with a 5.26 ERA (316 ER/540.1 IP) and 343 strikeouts in 132 games (80 starts) with the Tampa Bay Rays (2007-11)...Posted a 4.40 ERA (42 ER/86.0 IP) in 52 major league relief outings compared to a 5.43 ERA (274 ER/454.1 IP) in 80 career starts...Has issued just 136 free passes in 540.1 major league innings, an average of 2.3 walks per 9.0 innings pitched...Made 71-straight starts before pitching primarily in relief in 2010 and 2011 (56 appearances, eight starts)...made just four major league relief appearances (in 2009) before transitioning to the 'pen in 2010...Saw post-season action with Tampa in 2008...went 2-1 with a 4.24 ERA (8 ER/17.0 IP), eight strikeouts, five walks and a .217 average against in three starts (one in each round of the playoffs)...In 104 minor league outings (93 starts), owns a 48-27 record with a 2.95 ERA (200 ER/609.2 IP), 538 strikeouts and 100 walks...Named Tampa Bay's Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2006...was also named the Southern League's top right-handed pitcher and was awarded Best Control in the Southern League and Rays organization by Baseball America...Was selected by Tampa Bay in the 13th round of the 2004 draft...Attended Kent State University in Ohio...set single-season school records in wins (11), innings pitched (125.0) and strikeouts (117) in 2004 as he led the Golden Flashes to the MAC Tournament title.

2011

Andy made the Rays Opening Day roster for the fourth time in his career and split the season between Triple-A Durham and Tampa Bay...went 0-2 with a 5.55 ERA (22 ER/35.2 IP), 12 strikeouts and 12 walks in 15 games (four starts) with the Rays...Posted a 3.12 ERA (6 ER/17.1 IP) in 11 relief appearances with Tampa Bay compared to a 0-2 mark with a 7.85 ERA (16 ER/18.1 IP) in four starts...Tossed at least 2.0 innings of relief 15 times, tied for fourth-most in the majors, and had six outings of at least 3.0 frames of relief, tied for third-most in the bigs...Had a 3.86 ERA (3 ER/7.0 IP) in three games (one start) against the National League...Threw a career-high 5.1 innings of relief (3 H, 1 ER) in the Rays 6-1 setback at the White Sox April 10...it was the longest relief appearance by a Ray since David Price also tossed 5.1 frames in his major league debut, September 14, 2008 at the Yankees...Joined Tampa Bay's rotation, May 10-20, in place of injured Jeff Niemann...went 0-1 with a 6.08 ERA (9 ER/13.1 IP) in three starts in that span...Optioned to Durham, July 9, and remained at the Triple-A level until his September 2 recall...went 3-6 with a 4.82 ERA (30 ER/56.0 IP), 35 strikeouts and 15 walks in 10 appearances, all but one as a starter for Durham...Went 1-2 with a 3.24 ERA (9 ER/25.0 IP) in four games (three starts) in July with the Bulls.

2010

Spent the majority of the season in the Rays bullpen ... made 37 relief appearances and 4 starts ... began the year with only 4 relief apps in his big league career, all coming in 2009 after Wade Davis joined the rotation on Sep 6. ... Led the Rays bullpen with 63 relief innings, despite going more than a month between relief apps at one point (July 18 at NYY, Aug 24 at LAA) ... made 15 relief apps of at least 2 innings (tied for 4th most in the majors) and 6 outings of at least 3 innings (tied for 3rd). ... Made 3 starts, all in August, when Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis were placed on the DL ... went 1-1 with a 4.02 ERA (15.2-IP, 7-ER) and held opponents to a .190 avg. (11-for-58). ... First start was Aug 8 at TOR, a 1-0 loss to Brandon Morrow who had a no-hitter through 8.2 innings and struck out 17 in a 1-hit shutout ... allowed 1 R/ER on 3 hits over 5.1 innings ... followed that with a 7-3 win over Brian Matusz on Aug 14 vs. BAL. ... On Aug 1 was placed on the 15-day DL with a left hamstring strain, retroactive to July 23 ... was sent on a rehab assignment to Class- A Charlotte on Aug 5 and recalled Aug 8 ... was optioned to Short-A Hudson Valley (not to report) on Aug 31 to make room for Brad Hawpe ... was recalled on Sep 6 when Hudson Valley's season ended. ... All 3 of his wins came at home. ... On June 18 at FLA, earned his first major league save when he retired three batters with the tying run on third base ... the last pitcher to do that was DET Fernando Rodney on Sep 2, 2003 vs. CLE ... the previous night, threw 55 pitches and pitched 4.2 scoreless innings against the Marlins ... the last major leaguer to earn a save the day after he threw at least 50 pitches in a game was NYY Ramiro Mendoza, on April 19, 2001 vs. TOR one day after throwing 51 pitches. ... In spring training competed with Wade Davis for the final starting spot before landing a role in the bullpen. ... Owns a career .318 avg. (7-for-22; 0-for-1 in 2010) as a hitter with 2 RBI, 1 2B, 6 R, 3 BB and a .400 OBP ... this is the highest career average of any active AL pitcher (min. 20 AB) and 2nd highest in the majors behind CIN Mike Leake (.333) ... is a career .348 (8-for-23) hitter including postseason.

2009

Twenty-six-year-old fell to 6-9 with a 6.77 ERA after going 13-9, 4.38 in 2008...Opened the season as the Rays No. 4 starter in his 3rd major league season...went 6-7 with a 6.61 ERA in 15 starts before being optioned to Triple-A Durham on June 27 when Scott Kazmir came off the DL...at the time had the majors' highest ERA, earned runs allowed (60) and run support (8.16 R/9 IP)...ranked T-2nd in the AL in losses...his .305 opp avg. was 2nd highest in AL...had allowed 4th-most hits (103) and homers (15) in AL...Had a 2-month stay in Durham before rejoining Rays rotation Sep 1 after Kazmir was traded...Made 7 appearances, 3 starts for the Rays upon his return (0-2, 7.50 ERA, 18-IP, 15-ER)... moved to the bullpen when rookie Wade Davis was promoted, his first time pitching in relief since his pro debut in 2004 with Hudson Valley (Rookie) and Charleston (A)...Lasted fewer than 6 innings in 11 of his 18 starts and fewer than 5 on 6 occasions...Lost his first 3 decisions of the season before winning May 1 vs. BOS...snapped a personal 5-game losing streak by defeating Justin Masterson 6-2...was his first win since Aug 18, 2008 vs. LAA (11 starts without a win)...Yielded a career-high 8 runs on two occasions: May 27 at CLE in a 12-7 loss and Sep 7 at NYY (G2) in an 11-1 defeat...Held lefty hitters to a .275 (70-255) clip, compared to .367 (61-166) against righties...Went 5-1 with a 4.57 ERA (43.1-IP, 22-ER) in 9 home appearances (7 starts), compared to 1-8 with an 8.47 ERA (56.1-IP, 53-ER) in 13 road appearances (11 starts)...Three of his 19 HR allowed were to Ben Francisco... Francisco has homered each of his last 4 at-bats against Sonny and is 8-for-9 with 5 HR and 12 RBI in his career against him...On May 6, started the Rays first game ever at new Yankee Stadium and enjoyed his best start of the season in a no-decision...outpitched A.J. Burnett and took a 4-hit shutout into the 8th inning (7.1-IP, 6-H, 2-R/ER, 0-BB, 4-SO)...tied it that inning when Mark Teixeira hit a bases-loaded double off J.P. Howell... Rays won it, 4-3, in 10 on a Carlos Peña HR...On May 17 vs. CLE, was forced to bat in the 3-hole after a lineup mix-up, as Longoria was mistakenly listed at 3B instead of DH...went 1-for-3 at the plate with an RBI double...was the first pitcher to be in the starting lineup of an AL home game since CWS Ken Brett on Sep 23, 1976 vs. MIN...became first Rays pitcher ever to bat in an AL home game, and first pitcher ever to bat at Tropicana Field...Used as a pinch-hitter twice (May 23 at FLA and June 21 at NYM), becoming the 2nd Rays pitcher to do so (James Shields, June 28, 2008 at PIT)...pinch-ran and scored June 6 at NYY...Walked more than 3 batters once in 131 professional starts entering the season (4-BB, May 24, 2005 for Class-A Southwest Michigan at Peoria)...did it three times in 2009, all with the Rays: April 10 at BAL, May 1 vs. BOS and Sep 2 vs. BOS...Made 9 starts at Durham with 7 quality starts...Is a career .333 (7-21) hitter with 1 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB...is highest avg. of any active pitcher (min. 15 AB)...is a career .364 (8-22) hitter including postseason...Since 2007, ranks 11th among AL actives with a 2.06 BB/9 IP ratio...Opponents are 3-for-16 (18.8 percent) in SB attempts in his career, and 1-for-3 in '09.

2008

Twenty-five-year-old righthander earned a spot in the rotation during Spring Training and remained there all season, spending his first full year in the majors...set career highs in starts (32) and innings pitched (193.1). Averaged just 1.72 BB/9 innings, 6th-best in the AL...his 3.35 SO/BB ratio ranked 8th. Began the year 10-3, notching his 10th win on July 5 vs. KC and tying the club record for most wins before the All-Star break...was the 3rd-fastest Rays pitcher ever to win 10 games both by team game number and date...Rolando Arrojo won his 10th on June 27, 1998 (79th game) and Scott Kazmir won his on July 3, 2007 (83rd game)...at 10-3, his .769 winning pct. ranked 5th in the AL at the time. Became the first Rays pitcher to win 4 games in April, tying a club record for most wins in any month (later passed by Scott Kazmir's 5 wins in May)...became the quickest to 5 wins in club history when he beat Toronto on May 6 in the Rays 32nd game of the season (previous best was Kazmir in 2006, who got his 5th win in the team's 35th game). Rays were 20-12 in his starts...won matchups with CWS Mark Buehrle, TOR Dustin McGowan, TOR A.J. Burnett, LAA Ervin Santana, CHC Carlos Zambrano, KC Zack Greinke, LAA Jon Garland, OAK Justin Duchscherer, BOS Josh Beckett and BOS Daisuke Matsuzaka (twice). Recorded his 13th win of the year Aug 18 vs. LAA, improving to 13-6...was his 19th career victory coming in his 50th career start, tying Scott Kazmir and Victor Zambrano for most wins through his first 50 starts as a Ray...after winning that game, did not record a victory in his final 7 starts of the season...became the 3rd Ray to win 13 or more games in a season, joining Kazmir (2007) and Rolando Arrojo (14 in 1998)...was joined by James Shields and Edwin Jackson later in the year. Threw just 15.1 pitches per inning on the season, 7th fewest in the AL...at 22.3 percent, had the 7th-highest pct. of pitches put in play in the AL. Only 1 of 4 attempted base stealers against him were successful - the lowest rate of any qualifying AL pitcher. Since Aug 15, 2007 is 18-11...since then, only 8 AL pitchers have more wins. Hurled a complete-game, 3-hit shutout April 19 vs. CWS...was the first SHO and CG of his career...his line: 9.0-IP, 3-H, 0-R, 1-BB, 4-SO, 106-pit, 77-str...the 5-0 win over Mark Buehrle lasted just 2:02, the shortest game in Tropicana Field history...marked the 1st SHO by a Rays pitcher at the Trop since Scott Kazmir on July 3, 2006 vs. BOS...first CG SHO by a Rays pitcher since Edwin Jackson Aug 11, 2007 at TEX...faced just 29 batters, which at the time tied Joe Kennedy for the fewest ever by a Ray in a CG (min. 9 IP). Retired a club-record 17 consecutive batters Aug 7 at SEA (previous record of 16 set by Esteban Yan, July 26, 2000 at DET)...dueled with Felix Hernandez and a 1-0 shutout into the 8th until allowing a run with one out to tie game... M's won in the 9th 2-1 on a walk-off HR by Raul Ibanez off Dan Wheeler. In 2 starts against Boston in 2008, went 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA (14-IP, 7-H, 2-R, 0-ER)...by contrast, in 2007 Sonny went 1-1 with an 8.85 ERA in 4 starts against them...Sep 10 at Fenway, he allowed 1 unearned run, totaling 7.0-IP, 4-H, 0-BB, 7-SO...left game tied 1-1 with Josh Beckett...game lasted 14 innings and 5-plus hours as Rays won on Carlos Peña's 3-run HR over the Monster, giving the Rays their first series win at Fenway since 1999...his next start, Sep 16 vs. BOS, allowed 1 unearned run over 6.0 innings...left trailing 1-0, but Rays won 2-1 on a walk-off single by Dioner Navarro. Rays won 7 straight of his starts from June 1-July 5 (4-0, 3.15 ERA)...he also won 5 straight decisions (over 6 starts) from April 19- May 16 with a 2.98 ERA, a streak that matched the 3rd longest in club history. Tossed 50 straight innings without allowing a HR from May 21-July 10...the streak ended July 10 at CLE when he allowed 3 HR. Went 4-1 against the AL East on the season, with a 4.85 ERA (52-IP, 56-H, 28-ER). Issued 3 walks just once in the season, his final start Sep 26 at DET. In 131 pro starts, has walked more than 3 batters only once (BB-4, May 24, 2005 for Class- A SW Michigan at Peoria). Went 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA in 5 interleague starts (30.1-IP)...at the plate, went 2-for-5 with 2 walks and scored twice. POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE Went 2-1 in 3 postseason starts for the Rays in 2008...won his first 2 starts...drew the Game 4 assignment in each round of the playoffs, with each start coming on the road. Beat CWS Gavin Floyd in the clinching Game 4 of the ALDS...tossed 5.2 innings, allowing 3-H, 2-R/ER, 1-BB, 4-SO, and yielded solo homers to Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko... Rays won 6-2 to advance. Defeated BOS Tim Wakefield in Game 4 of the ALCS at Fenway Park...threw 7.1 innings in the 13-4 victory...allowed only 1 run through 6 innings, Kevin Cash's leadoff homer in the 3rd... after the HR, retired 12 straight batters. Suffered a 10-2 setback to PHI Joe Blanton in Game 4 of the World Series, lasting only 4 innings (6-H, 5-R, 3-ER) went 1-for-1 at the plate with a single.

2007

Was 5th among AL rookies in starts (22) and innings pitched (130.2) and 4th in strikeouts (97) ... his 130.2 innings ranked 4th in club history among rookies behind Rolando Arrojo (202.0 in 1998), Scott Kazmir (186.0 in 2005) and Ryan Rupe (142.1 in 1999) ... his 97 strikeouts were tied with Rupe for 4th most ... Led all major league rookies (min 100 IP) with a strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 3.73 and a walks-per-9 innings mark of 1.79 ... in the last 10 years, only five rookies had a better strikeouts-to-walks ratio and only 3 have had a better walks-per-9 innings average ... walked two or less in 20 of 22 starts ... walked only 7 batters in his first 58.2 big league innings ... After starting the season 1-8 in his first 13 starts, was 5-2 in his last 9 starts and 4-1 with a 4.31 ERA (IP-39.2, ER-19) over his last 7 ... won 3 straight starts, Aug 26-Sep 5 over Oakland, New York and Baltimore while pitching to a 2.37 ERA (IP-45, ER-19) ... Began the season at AAA Durham before he was recalled by the Rays on June 2 ... was leading the Bulls in wins (4), innings (71.0, tops in the International League), strikeouts (66, 2nd in the IL) and had walked only 13 ... 13 of his 22 starts came against the following: Fausto Carmona (19-8), Chien Ming Wang (19-7), Kelvim Escobar (18-7), Tim Wakefield (17-12), Roy Halladay (16-7), Daisuke Matsuzaka (15-12), Dan Haren (15-9), Erik Bedard (13-5), Dustin McGowan (12-10) and Mark Buehrle (10-9) ... Made his Major League debut on June 5 at Toronto in a wild game ... left after 7 with a 10-6 lead over Roy Halladay, but the Rays lost 12-11 when Toronto scored six in the bottom of the ninth ... His line: IP-7, H-8, R-6, ER-6, BB-0, SO-5) ... In his second major league start, he beat Florida at Dolphin Stadium on June 10, 9-4 (IP-7, H-7, R-2, ER-2, BB-0, SO-10) ... fanned a club record seven consecutive batters ... he and Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie were the only two Major League rookies to have 10+ strikeout, no walk games in 2007 ... they were the first AL rookies to do that since Oakland's Tim Hudson in 1999 ... In addition to earning his first major league win that game, he became the 2nd Rays pitcher to hit safely in his first two major league at-bats ... had singles off Rick VandenHurk ... joined Mickey Callaway (1999) as the only other Ray pitcher to do it ... Joined Toronto Blue Jay and former Rays bat boy Jesse Litsch as the only two visiting rookies to win at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park ... defeated fellow rookie Daisuke Matsuzaka, 6-5, on Aug 15 at Fenway (IP-6.2, H-4, R-3, ER-3, BB-2, SO-3) ... took a two-hit shutout into the 7th ... three starts later he defeated another rookie Phil Hughes, 9-1, at Yankee Stadium on Aug 31 ... his line: IP-8.0, H-2, R-1, ER-0, BB-0, SO-5) ... faced 27 batters and retired 24 including the last 14 ... In 96 pro starts, has walked more than 3 batters only once (BB-4, May 24, 2005 for SW Michigan at Peoria, Class A).

2006

Named Tampa Bay's Minor League Pitcher of the Year after posting a 15-8 ledger with four complete games, a 2.67 ERA (55 ER/185.2 IP), 153 strikeouts and 34 walks in 28 starts with Double-A Montgomery...His 15 wins set a Rays minor league single-season record...won nine-straight starts, June 30-July 30, with a 1.15 ERA in that span...His 185.2 innings pitched ranked second among all minor league pitchers and the second-highest total ever by a Rays minor leaguer...Won both of his post-season starts for the Southern League Champion Biscuits, going 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA (4 ER/14.0 IP) and 15 strikeouts.

2005

Combined to go 14-5 with a 2.99 ERA (60 ER/180.2 IP), 178 strikeouts and 18 walks in 28 starts with Single-A Southwest Michigan and Single-A Visalia.

2004

In his first professional season, went 5-1 with a 0.78 ERA (5 ER/57.2 IP) in 17 games (seven starts) with Single-A Hudson Valley and Single-A Charleston (SC).