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Julian Edward Gaillard (born August 13, 1970, in Camden, New Jersey) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. Though relatively unknown in the major leagues, he was highly successful in the Japanese Central League, making a total of 120 saves during his five-season stay. He is noted as one of the premier closers of the Chunichi Dragons. ==Biography== Gaillard was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1993 after graduating from Florida Southern College. He was promoted to the majors for the first time in , and went to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in , and the Cincinnati Reds in . Gaillard joined the Chunichi Dragons in the Japanese Central League at the beginning of 2000. He took over the closing job that Korean pitcher Sun Dong-Yeol had left open after retiring, and led the league with 35 saves, appearing in the All-Star Game. However, he allowed the game-tying grand slam and walk-off home run back-to-back to the Yomiuri Giants, a first place team that was one win away from winning the league. He led the league in saves again in , posting a 1.52 ERA. In April , he recorded his 100th save in only his 148th appearance, the fastest in the history of Japanese baseball. However, the Dragons began to use Akinori Otsuka as their closer, and he was put on waivers after complaining to the team about his lack of appearances. He was picked up by the Yokohama BayStars, but was demoted to relief duty after Kazuhiro Sasaki returned as the team's closer in . He also sustained an injury to his pitching arm, and returned to the U.S. in June, 2004 for surgery. He signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies in , and with the Florida Marlins in , but did not play in the majors. His final stats in Japan were a 2.90 ERA and 120 saves. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eddie Gaillard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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