Scott Edward Kazmir (born January 24, 1984 in Houston, Texas) is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Kazmir was drafted in 2004 by the New York Mets. While playing for the double-A Binghamton Mets, he was traded to the Devil Rays along with Jose Diaz on July 30, 2004 for Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato . He made his major-league debut on August 23, 2004, pitching five shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners.
As was the case two years before with Jeremy Bonderman of the Detroit Tigers, Kazmir was traded to a losing team with a need to quickly develop young pitching. He started 2004 with the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, and after his trade to the Devil Rays, he received only a few starts at Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham. However, he was essentially expected to anchor a young Devil Rays pitching staff from the time he arrived in Tampa Bay. He had a 2-3 record and an ERA of 5.67 in 8 appearances (7 starts) in 2004, but he was clearly making strides in his development; he struck out 11.07 batters per nine innings.
After Kazmir had an impressive showing in spring training in 2005, Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella named him the team's No. 2 starter.
Awards and accomplishments
- Baseball America High School Player of the Year, 2002
- Set a single-season record for high school pitchers in Texas with 175 strikeouts (breaking the previous record of 172, set by Josh Beckett)
- Member of the United States Junior Olympic baseball team in 2001; they won the silver medal
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