Athletes - Erik Bedard

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	Athletes - Erik Bedard

Erik Joseph Bedard (born March 6, 1979 in the Ottawa suburb of Navan, Ontario, Canada) is a Major League Baseball pitcher.

A Franco-Ontarian, after finishing high school Bedard went to Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut.

A left-handed starting pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, Bedard is entering his third season with the Major League ballclub. After posting dominating numbers when he was at the Double A level, he quickly gained recognition as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. However, an elbow ligament injury forced him to the operating table, and set his development back 18 months. After spending most of 2003 in rehab, he received an invitation to the big-league spring training camp the next year. He made the most of his opportunity, beating out other pitchers such as Rodrigo López for the final spot in the starting rotation. His 2004 campaign was marked with inconsistency. He posted a mediocre 4.59 ERA in 137 1/3 innings of work. Furthermore, though his strikeout numbers were encouraging (7.93 K/9), he walked far too many batters (71 BB allowed), and drove up pitch counts (19.5 pitches/inning), forcing him to frequently make early exits from ballgames. In addition, there was grumbling from many scouts and observers that Bedard lacked command of that third pitch which is necessary for sustained success.

Under the tutelage of pitching coach Ray Miller, Bedard has refined his control of the change-up, to go along with his 91-93 mph fastball and wicked-breaking slurve. However, although he began the 2005 season spectacularly, his development was derailed by a sprained knee that forced him to spend two months on the disabled list. Upon his return, his control was clearly off, and, as a result, his overall performance suffered. He posted a 2.08 ERA before his DL stint; 5.44 after.

Bedard is under contract with the Orioles for the 2006 season.

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Athletes - Erik Bedard

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