Advertisement
Sports

Salkeld Tries to Control Destiny in Triple-A Ball

By STEVE HENSON
Share

Time is running out for Roger Salkeld (Saugus High), the third player selected in the 1989 draft. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-handed pitcher reached triple-A in 1991 and was called up by the Seattle Mariners--the team that drafted him--in 1993.

Much of that promise has faded, however. Salkeld’s only full major league season came in 1996 when he was 8-5 with a 5.20 earned-run average for the Cincinnati Reds after being traded by Seattle for veteran right-hander Tim Belcher.

Since then he has toiled in triple-A, going 4-8 with a 6.75 ERA last season at Indianapolis.

Advertisement

Salkeld, 27, was granted free agency after last season and signed with the Houston Astros. He has continued to struggle, however, going 2-4 with a 5.94 ERA this year.

Control has been a problem. He has walked 40 and struck out 53 in 47 innings this season, and in 183 big league innings has walked 103 while striking out 141.

More to Read

Sports
Steve Henson

Steve Henson is a reporter with the Fast Break sports team at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as an assistant editor and reporter in the Sports department. Henson was a leader in digital-only newsrooms from 2007-19 as a senior editor and columnist at Yahoo Sports and as senior editor at the USA Today Sports Media Group. This is his second stint at The Times, having covered the Dodgers and UCLA as well as doing enterprise, investigative and features writing from 1985-2007. Henson was awarded first place in sports features in 2021 by the L.A. Press Club and has been honored several times by the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and also by the California News Publishers Assn., the Football Writers Assn. of America and U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Advertisement