Crain Joins the Minnesota Twins
8/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 4, 2004
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Former University of Houston shortstop/relief pitcher Jesse Crain was recently called up to the Major Leagues and joined the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. An award-winning letterwinner for the Cougars in 2002, Crain went 3-2 with a 2.49 ERA and 19 saves in 41 appearances with Triple-A Rochester. In 50.2 innings of work, he walked 17 while striking out 64 and earned a berth on the Triple-A All-Star Team. Crain became the 17th player in school history to reach the Major Leagues. In addition, he joined Ryan Wagner (Cincinnati Reds), Shane Nance (Arizona Diamondbacks), Woody Williams (St. Louis Cardinals) and Ben Weber (Anaheim Angels) as current Cougars on a Major League 40-man roster. "We've been looking for a way to get him up here," Twins general manager Terry Ryan said in a story on MLB.com. "He's ready so we'll bring him in." "It's very important getting another power arm up here for our bullpen," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said in the same story on MLB.com. "That's what Crain is." Crain is expected to provide some extra bullpen depth in the mid-late innings. Crain, who was the Twin's second round pick in 2002, became the first player in Conference USA history to be named to the All-Conference USA Team at two different positions (shortstop and reliever) that same season. In addition, he became the first Cougar and only the second player in league history to win the C-USA Hitter and Pitcher of the Week accolades in the same season. In 2002, he batted .309 with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs and joined Brett Cooley and Chris Snyder as the greatest home run hitting trio in UH history. In addition, he picked up 10 saves and struck out 46 in 38.1 innings of work as a reliever. His streak of 35.2 consecutive scoreless innings was the second longest in school history and only one inning away from the school record, held by Kyle Crowell in 1999.