Chad Orvella #54

Was primarily a shortstop through his college career...Pitched less than 40 innings combined in high school and college...Batted .326 in 59 games as a junior in 2002 and .314 in 62 games as a senior in 2003 at North Carolina State...Helped the Wolfpack to a 45-18 record in 2003, a number 12 national ranking and their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Super Regional Tournament...His only mound work came as a senior... Appeared in 10 games as a relief pitcher working just 13.1 innings... He was 2-3 with 2 saves in 10 appearances for the Wolfpack and pitched to an 8.10 ERA (IP-13.1, H-18, R-17, ER-12, SO-18) in front of closer Joey Devine...Pitched only a couple of innings as a senior at Eastlake (Sammamish, WA) High School and 20-some innings at Columbia Basin College (Spokane, WA) ...Led Columbia Basin to the 2001 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges conference title.

2007

Twenty-six year-old was up with the Rays from May 8-June 10 and went 0-2 with a 14.63 ERA in 10 appearances, allowing 16 runs over 8.0 innings pitched ... Surrendered runs in 8 of 10 outings, and each of his last 7 ... faced 56 total batters, 29 reached base safely ... Both his losses came in back-to-back outings May 22 vs. Seattle and May 25 at Chicago. Tossed a season-high 2.0 innings May 17 vs. Texas at Disney's Wide World of Sports Com- plex ... Pitched in 42 games for the Bulls, posting a 3-3 record, a 3.12 ERA and a team-best 20 saves (2nd in the organization behind Dale Thayer-21) ... Has pitched to a 6.93 ERA (50.2-IP, 39-ER) when rested two days or less in his major league career ... owns a 3.98 ERA (31.2-IP, 14-ER) when receiving 3 or more days off between outings ... Owns 268 K's in 201.2 minor league innings pitched holding opponents to a .182 batting average (133-730) ... was TB's Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2004 ... Has a career minor league strikeouts to walk ratio of 6:1 (268-SO, 45-BB) compared a 1.2:1 major league mark (66-SO, 53-BB).

2006

Righthander had a pair of tours with the Rays in his third full professional campaign...was up from April 18-June 4 and appeared in 16 games, going 1-4 with a 7.79 ERA and a .347 opp avg...was also up from Aug. 16 thru season's end and pitched in 7 games (0-1, 6.42 ERA, .345 opp avg.) before suffering a strained left oblique that sidelined him the final month...His 5 losses were 2nd among Rays relievers (Brian Meadows-6), despite just 22 appearances...Allowed runs in 10 of his 22 apps and had three more walks (20) than strikeouts (17)...entered the season with just 40 walks in 161 professional innings, while striking out 203...Was initially recalled from AAA Durham after Jason Hammel was optioned back to AAA in mid-April...six of his first seven appearances were against the Red Sox and Yankees...Had his best outing in his 3rd appearance, April 26 at Yankee Stadium, pitching a season-high 3.0 scoreless/hitless innings in picking up his lone win, 4-2 in 10 innings over Mariano Rivera... was also the winning pitcher the only other time the Rays defeated Mariano Rivera - Sep 6, 2005 at Yankee Stadium...Two outings later, April 30 vs. Boston, he surrendered back-to-back home runs (Mike Lowell, Wily Mo Pena), the first of two outings he would allow consecutive home runs...Pitched on consecutive days one time, May 3-4, for the second time in his career (also June 11-12, 2005)...blew the save in both games...His first four outings he surrendered just one earned run in 6.1 innings pitched...then had a 6-appearance stretch from April 30-May 14 in which he went 0-3 with 3 blown saves while pitching to a 15.20 ERA...all three losses were consecutive...hiked his ERA from 1.42 to 7.71...Returned for his 2nd stint to replace Chad Harville, who was designated for assignment...Four his first five outings upon returning were scoreless until his last outing, Sep 3 vs. Seattle when he did not record an out...charged with 4 runs, 3 earned, on 3 hits including back-to-back home runs to Ben Broussard and Rafael Betancourt...Righthanders batted .391 against him over his two stops (25-64)...was tougher on lefties, holding them to a .275 avg. (11-40)...Allowed 13 of 18 inherited runners to score (72.2%), highest pct. on the staff...first batters were 8-for-17 (.471) with 4 walks...Was among the team's final cuts in spring training despite surrendering 12 hits and 10 runs (9 earned) in 10.2 innings pitched over 9 appearances...Pitched in 27 games at Durham, posting a 4-0 record with a 1.86 ERA...struck out 55 and walked just 9 in 38.2 innings...held opponents to a .217 average, including a .160 mark against righthanders.

2005

Rookie pitched 37 times after being selected May 30 from AA Montgomery... was his 2nd full season as a pro...Tossed 75.0 innings between Double-A and the Rays...had just 86.0 professional innings total entering this season...Ranked 10th among AL rookies in appearances...Finished tied with the 7th most strikeouts among AL rookie relievers with 43...his 7.7 K's per 9 innings ranked 6th...His 3.60 ERA was 2nd best among Rays relievers to Danys Baez's 2.86...pitched to a 2.35 ERA after the break after working to a 5.59 ERA his first 6 weeks in the big leagues...Rays won 17 of the last 22 games he appeared...His 14 holds were 2nd on the staff to Joe Borowski's 19...Was tough on left-handed hitters, holding them to a .218 avg...righties batted .265...First 2 big league outings were scoreless...made his major league debut May 31 at Oakland tossing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief (0-H, 0-BB, 1-SO)...struck out the 1st batter he faced (Scutaro)...followed with 1.0 shutout inning June 3 at Seattle (1-K, 2-BB), a mere 12 miles from his hometown of Renton, WA...Pitched on back-to-back days for the first time in his career on June 11-12 at Pittsburgh...that 2nd game he posted his first major league save as Rays won 7-5 in 13 innings to snap a 7-game losing skid...Fanned a career-high 5 over a career-high 3.2 IP July 10 vs. Detroit...matched his strikeout high Aug. 13 at Cleveland...Threw 2.0 scoreless innings July 17 at Toronto and got his first big league win, 5-4...Took the loss Aug. 4 at Texas...retired first two batters before allowing a Phil Nevin solo home run and a Hank Blalock 2-run HR two batters later...was the first time in his career (minors and majors) he was touched for 2 homers in a single outing...Last three decisions came against the Yankees...won Aug. 16 at home and Sep 6 at Yankee Stadium then suffered the 6-5 loss Sep 14 at Tropicana Field...Pitched well against New York and Boston (13.0-IP, 4-ER), holding them to a .136 avg. (9-44)...Had a string of 9 scoreless outings from Aug. 13-Sep 8, covering 13 IP, his best stretch of the season...Did not pitch the final two weeks of the season sidelined with a tired arm...Had walked only 17 batters in 111 minor league innings before recall, but walked 23 in 50 IP with Rays...Recorded 9 saves and pitched to a 0.36 ERA with Montgomery allowing just 1 run in 25.0 innings pitched over 16 games...in fact, has allowed just that one run in 32.0 career innings at Double-A.

2004

Tampa Bay's Minor League Pitcher of the Year appeared in 45 games making stops in Charleston (A), Bakersfield (A), Montgomery (AA) and Durham (AAA)...Was a combined 1-1 with a 1.71 ERA converting 12 of 13 save opportunities...His ERA never reached higher than the 1.92 mark he hit on Aug. 3...Led all minor league relievers with 116 strikeouts over 73.2 innings while walking just 10...His 14.17 strikeouts/9 IP ratio was the 6th highest in all of minor league baseball...Recorded at least one strikeout in all but four appearances and struck out more batters than he allowed hits in 36 games, never throwing more than 3.0 innings...Held opponents to a .159 batting average (42-for-264)...Opposing hitters managed just a .100 (4-for-40) BA in the month of August...Allowed the first run of his career Apr. 17 at Ashville in his third appearance of the season ending his scoreless streak at 18.0 innings to start his professional career (threw 12.1 scoreless innings at Hudson Valley in 2003)...Finished the season with Triple-A Durham...Allowed 1 run, via solo HR, over his 2 appearances with the Bulls...In fact, 7 of the 17 runs he allowed all year came via the home run...Threw 7.0 shutout, no-hit innings in six games with Double-A Montgomery where he fanned 14 of the 22 batters he faced, notching four saves...Incurred his only professional loss July 13 with Bakersfield (A) after giving up a career-high 3 earned runs against High Desert (Brewers)...Was 0-1, 4 saves with the Blaze (3.06 ERA, 24 K, 4 BB)... Began the season with Single-A Charleston where he was 1-0 with 4 saves and a 1.33 ERA (IP- 47.1, ER-7)...Allowed just 4 ER over his final 25.0 IP (14 G) before being promoted...Fanned a career-most 7 batters in 2.2 IP June 5 vs. Rome (Braves)...Selected as a SAL midseason All-Star...Earned the save in the game with a perfect 9th inning...Named the organization's pitcher of the month for May after working to a 0.60 ERA (1-ER, 15.0-IP)...Did not allow a run May 10-29 (6-G, 11.0-IP).

2003

Played in 10 games with Hudson Valley (A) in 2003 before his season ended prematurely due to a partially torn meniscus in his left knee...Did not allow a run in 12.1 innings of work...Struck out 15 batters while walking just 1 and held opponents to a .140 average (6-for-43)...Led the Renegades with 8 saves...Never allowed more than 1 hit in any appearance.