Josh Towers
Joshua Eric Towers (born February 26, 1977) is a former right-handed professional baseball pitcher. Towers stands at tall, and weighs . Professional career Baltimore Orioles Towers was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 15th round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft. In , Towers made his major league debut, compiling eight wins and ten losses while posting an ERA of 4.49 in 140.1 innings. Towers started with three straight losses along with two no-decisions in his first five games, giving up eleven home runs during that span. He would finish the year in the Orioles minor-league system. Toronto Blue Jays Towers signed with the Blue Jays as a minor league free agent for the season. Joining the team midway through the season, he would go on to have a very successful run, appearing in 14 games (eight starts). He would finish the year 8–1 with a 4.48 ERA. Unusually, while with the Blue Jays Towers was assigned the uniform number 7. This made him the only pitcher in the major leagues with a single-digit uniform number at that time, and the also first pitcher in Blue Jays history whose uniform number contained but a single digit. Though several dozen pitchers had worn a single digit uniform number for a span of several games, Towers was the first to wear it regularly over the course of several seasons since pitcher Ben Chapman (a converted outfielder) wore number 5 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944-45. In , Towers became the Blue Jays' fifth starter, going a mediocre 9–9 with a 5.11 ERA in 21 games started. In , after ace Roy Halladay's leg was broken by a line drive, Towers was arguably Toronto's most dependable pitcher. Stepping up when the Blue Jays starting rotation seemed impossibly thin , he would finish the season with 13 wins, tied for the club lead (along with rookie Gustavo Chacín), Towers set career bests with a 3.71 ERA, 33 games started, and 208.2 innings pitched. Having been signed to a two-year, $5.2 million contract during the off-season as a reward for his impressive 2005 year, Towers started the new season 0–7, with an ERA of 10.09 in his first seven starts. On May 14, Towers pitched a good game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, throwing eight innings and allowing just two earned runs, leading the Jays to an 8–3 victory. It was his first victory of , but it would not translate into renewed confidence. Towers would go on to lose his eighth game of the season against the Colorado Rockies. The next game was another one against the Devil Rays, but he would leave the game after just innings completed, giving up four earned runs. On May 24, the Blue Jays demoted Towers to the Syracuse Chiefs. Towers would be recalled from Triple-A on June 20, but his struggles continued, and he was once again demoted to Syracuse on June 27. Following his poor 2006 season, Towers decided to train with teammate