Clayton Mortensen #59

Married to Janna...The couple has a son, Miles. Attended Gonzaga University and was voted the West Coast Conference's Pitcher of the Year after going 9-2 with a 3.92 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 119.1 innings as a senior in 2007...Completed West Coast Conference play with a 1.60 ERA and perfect 6-0 record...Was named Louisville Slugger 3rd Team All-America by Collegiate Baseball in 2007...Is the highest June draft pick in the history of Gonzaga's baseball program. Played at Treasure Valley (OR) Community College from 2004-2005 before transferring to Gonzaga. Graduated from Madison High School in Rexburg, ID.

2012

Set a career-high with 26 appearances over 6 major league stints with the Red Sox... Also posted single-season career-bests in ERA (3.21), WHIP (1.21), and strikeouts (41). Was his 1st season in the Red Sox organization as well as his 1st career season appearing exclusively in relief. Held opponents to a .212 AVG (32-for-151), including a .179 mark to left-handed batters (12-for-67)...His .243 batting average on balls in play was 10th-lowest among AL relievers with at least 40.0 innings. Did not allow a run in 15 of 26 outings and gave up a season-high 2 runs just 4 times...Went at least 2.0 innings on 12 occasions and threw at least 3.0 frames 6 times. Had an ERA under 2.00 from his 5/2 debut through 8/21...Gave up runs in his last 5 outings of the season beginning 9/18 (7 ER/7.1 IP) to increase his ERA from 2.08 to 3.21...ERA did not reach 3.00 until allowing 2 runs in 2.0 innings in the last game of the year on 10/3 at NYY. Finished the year with 41 K's in 42.0 IP, including 22 strikeouts over his last 13.2 innings beginning on 8/17... Fanned at least 1 batter in a career-high 6 straight outings from 8/25-9/22 (11 K/5.1 IP). Tied for the big league lead with 4 relief appearances with at least 4 K's, including his 1st 2 outings with BOS. Recalled on 5/2 and made Red Sox debut that night vs. OAK, fanning a career relief-high 6 batters in 3.0 scoreless innings...Retired 9 straight batters following a lead-off single to Cliff Pennington in the 7th inning and tallied 2 K's in each of his 3.0 innings...Became the 1st pitcher with as many as 6 strikeouts out of the bullpen in his 1st game with the Red Sox since Diego Segui on 4/5/74 at MIL (7 K's in 3.2 IP). With 5 K's over 3.1 relief innings in his 2nd outing for the Sox on 5/5 vs. BAL, became 2nd pitcher since 1916 to fan at least 5 batters out of the pen in each of his 1st 2 appearances for the Sox, joining Bill Lee in 1969 (6/25 and 6/29). Had 12 K's, no walks, and a 0.96 ERA (1 ER/9.1 IP) in 3 games over his 1st stint with the Red Sox prior to being optioned to Pawtucket after the game on 5/9. Recalled for 2nd ML stint of the year from 6/16-7/3 and made 5 appearances...Returned on 7/7 as the 26th man for the doubleheader vs. NYY, tossing 0.1 scoreless innings in Game 2. Recalled for 1 day on 7/31 and tossed 2.2 scoreless frames vs. DET for his only win of the year in a rainshortened 6-inning game...Was his 1st career relief victory and his 1st win overall since 6/6/11 at SD while with COL...Did not allow an inherited runner to score after entering with 2 out and the bases loaded in the 3rd inning. In 5th ML stint from 8/8-28, made 9 appearances during the month of August...Was optioned to Double-A Portland after the game on 8/28 and returned for the remainder of the season on 9/4. Picked up only hold of the season on 9/14 with no runs in 0.2 innings at TOR. In 24 games with the Triple-A PawSox, went 5-3 with 2 saves, a 1.91 ERA (8 ER/37.2 IP), 36 K's, and a .160 opponent AVG (21-for-131)...Led the club (min. 25.0 IP) in ERA and opponent AVG...Paced Pawtucket relievers (min. 25.0 IP) with a 0.96 WHIP.

2011

Had a 3.86 ERA (25 ER/58.1 IP) in 16 games (6 starts) over 2 stints with the Rockies in his only season in the organization...Also made 15 starts for Triple-A Colorado Springs. Recalled for the 1st time on 4/18 and threw 8.0 scoreless innings of relief over 2 games prior to a 4/29 option...Returned for a start on 5/7 at SF and stayed with the club until being optioned again on 7/4. Did not allow a run and yielded 2 hits in his 1st 3 relief appearances from 4/18-5/12 spanning 10.1 IP...Overall went 0-1 with a 3.42 ERA (9 ER/23.2 IP) in 10 ML relief outings and was 2-3 with a 4.15 ERA (16 ER/34.2 IP) in 6 starts. Pitched 6.0 innings of scoreless, 2-hit relief in his season debut for the Rockies on 4/18 vs. SF, the club's longest ever scoreless outing out of the bullpen...Was the longest relief appearance by a Colorado hurler overall since 2000 and matched the longest relief outing of the year in the Majors. Made 5 straight starts from 5/16-6/6 before joining the bullpen for his last 7 Big League games from 6/11-7/3. With Sky Sox, fanned at least 5 batters 4 times at Triple-A, including a season-high 9 K's on 8/25 vs. Tacoma (5.1 IP). Traded to Colorado for RHP Ethan Hollingsworth on 1/24, 5 days after being designated for assignment.

2010

Made one appearance with Oakland in 2010, posting a 4.50 ERA...was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento 7/3 and started that night at Cleveland...allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out a career-high seven in 6.0 innings, receiving a no decision in the A's 5-4, 10-inning loss...was optioned back to Sacramento July 5......Spent the balance of the season with the River Cats where he was 13-6 with a 4.25 ERA in 26 starts...the wins were a career-high, led the A's farm system and ranked second in the Pacific Coast League......Also led the A's farm system in innings pitched (165.1) and ranked eighth in the PCL in ERA......In addition to wins, he also had minor league bests in games started, innings pitched, hits (161), runs (91), earned runs (78), home runs (20) and strikeouts (112)...topped Sacramento in wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts......Allowed a .258 opponents batting average, which was fourth lowest among PCL starting pitchers...that included a .225 (69 for 306) mark against left-handed hitters, .290 (92 for 317) against right-handers... went 10-2 with a 3.57 ERA in 16 starts before the All-Star Break, 3-4 with a 5.46 ERA in 10 starts after the break......Compiled a 3.46 ERA over the first four innings of a game and had a 5.58 ERA from the fifth inning on...yielded a .254 batting average with the bases empty and .248 with runners in scoring position......Opponents were 3 for 9 (.333) with two grand slams and 19 RBI with the bases loaded...tied for the lead among PCL pitchers with 30 assists...opponents were successful in just 7 of 14 (50.0%) stolen base attempts......The River Cats were 16-10 (.615) in his starting assignments...tossed six or more innings in 19 of his 26 starts, allowed two runs or fewer eight times and walked two batters or fewer 17 times.

2009

Was acquired by the A's from St. Louis in the Matt Holliday trade and went 2-4 with a 7.81 ERA in six starts with Oakland...made his Major League debut in just his third professional season with a relief appearance for St. Louis earlier in the season (6.00 ERA)...was 2-4 with a 7.63 ERA in seven games, six starts, overall in his first season in the majors...yielded six home runs in 30.2 innings and struck out 13 while also walking 13...allowed a .328 opponents batting average, including .317 (19 for 60) by left-handed hitters and .338 (23 for 68) by right-handers...allowed four of his six home runs to lefties... had 10 walks and 7 strikeouts against lefties and 3 walks and 6 strikeouts against righties...opponents hit .406 with runners in scoring position and .452 when leading off an inning...the A's were 2-4 (.333) in his starting assignments...tossed at least six innings in just two of his six starts, allowed six runs or more three times and walked two batters or fewer three times.

2008

Began his first professional spring training in Major League camp, the first Cardinals pitcher to leap from the draft to big-league camp since Braden Looper in 1997...he became the fourth pitcher to do so since 1992 (also Allen Watson & Brian Barber)...split his second season in pro ball between Double- A and Triple-A...made 11 starts for Double-A Springfield in April and May before his promotion to Triple-A Memphis in June...earned Texas League Pitcher of the Week honors May 19-25...strung together four-straight wins in his starts from June 18 to July 3...was 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA in his five June starts for Memphis...was tough on right-handed batters (.179 at Memphis and .226 at Springfield), but struggled against left-handed hitters (.377 at Memphis and .310 at Springfield)...his 10 combined losses tied for the organizational lead...ranked as the organization's sixth-best prospect by Baseball America.

2007

Impressive in his initial professional season, he earned a promotion from short-season Batavia to Single-A Quad Cities...was selected in the supplemental 1st round as compensation for the loss of free-agent pitcher Jeff Suppan to the Brewers...his first professional win came June 30 against Mahoning Valley, allowing no runs on one hit in 5.0 innings pitched...allowed just four earned runs in 24.1 innings (1.48 ERA) spanning six August starts for Quad Cities, though he did not post a win...rated as the seventh best Cardinals prospect by Baseball America.