Unheralded Pitcher Turns Into Huge Find

The transaction drew little notice in the waning days of spring training -- a few words on television and radio, a line or two in the newspaper, a mere blip on the Internet.

Fine-tuning their roster, the Atlanta Braves traded a utility infielder to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for an outfielder-turned-pitcher whose career numbers -- 11 wins, 26 losses, a 5.17 ERA -- provided scant hope of him being anything more than the 10th or 11th guy on the staff.

Well, just imagine where the Braves would be without Jorge Sosa.

The 27-year-old right-hander, who had all the credentials for the dreaded journeyman tag, instead has been a godsend for Atlanta’s injury plagued rotation. He’s got as many wins as Tim Hudson and went into the next-to-last weekend of the regular season just one behind All-Star John Smoltz.

With Mike Hampton out until 2007, John Thomson still struggling to come back from a damaged finger and Horacio Ramirez enduring an up-and-down season, Sosa has emerged as one of the Braves’ most dependable starters.

“He’s got 13 wins,” Chipper Jones said. “That’s a difference maker with the amount of injuries we’ve had to our pitching staff this year. We were able to dip down in the bullpen and have him start -- good start after good start, five, six, seven innings every time out, giving us a chance to win.”

The lanky Sosa took a long, winding path to the big leagues.

A native of the Dominican Republic, he began as an outfielder in the Colorado organization at age 17. Five years later, Sosa was drafted away by Seattle, which noticed his strong arm and converted him to a pitcher. A year later, with that process off to a promising start, he was picked again in the minor league draft by Milwaukee.

But the Brewers put Sosa on waivers the following spring, and he was claimed by the lowly Devil Rays.

For the next three seasons, Sosa bounced between Tampa Bay and the minors, showing glimpses of his potential but never much consistency.

This past spring, the Braves approached the start of the season worrying about the depth in their bullpen. General manager John Schuerholz had gotten good reports on Sosa from one of his scouts, former major league manager Jim Fregosi, and called up the Devil Rays offering utility infielder Nick Green.

“Nobody had any expectations except that he could be on our pitching staff and help us win,” Schuerholz said. “And that’s what I go on.”