Sabathia

His contract with the Yankees is the richest contract for a pitcher in the history of baseball.
Sabathia played the first seven plus seasons of his career with the Cleveland Indians where he won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award, and played the second half of the 2008 MLB season with the Milwaukee Brewers, leading them to the NL Wild Card.


High school career
Sabathia attended Vallejo High School, where he lettered in baseball, basketball, and football. In baseball, he compiled a mark of 6–0 with an 0.77 ERA (46.2 IP, 14 H, 82 K) during his senior season.

Coming out of the draft he was the top high school prospect in Northern California according to Baseball America.
In football, he was an all-conference tight end. He received scholarship offers to play college football, including one from USC, and actually signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Hawaiʻi.
Professional career
Cleveland Indians
Early career
Sabathia was drafted in the first round (20th overall) by the Indians in the 1998 MLB Draft.

He signed for a $1.3 million bonus.
In 2000, he was selected for the 28-man United States Olympic Team roster. Sabathia led the league in hits per 9 innings pitched (7.44), was third in the league in win–loss percentage (17–5, .773), fourth in strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (8.53), sixth in wins, and seventh in strikeouts (171).

He finished second in the AL voting for Rookie of the Year, behind only Ichiro Suzuki. For his performance, Sabathia was rewarded with a four-year contract, with a club option for 2006, on February 11, 2002.In the 2002 season, he was tenth in the AL in strikeouts, with 149.
2003–04
In 2003, he had the tenth-best ERA in the AL (3.60). He was also named to the American League All-Star team for the first time, with a repeat appearance in 2004.
2005–06
The Indians picked up their $7 million club option for 2006 on April 27, 2005 and Sabathia signed a two-year, $17.75 million deal.

This marked his fifth straight season of double digit wins to open a career. He also hit his first career home run as a batter in interleague play off of Elizardo Ramirez in May.

He also led the AL in shutouts (2), was third in ERA (3.22), sixth in strikeouts per 9 IP (8.03) and eighth in strikeouts (172). He became the first left-handed pitcher to start his career with six consecutive seasons of double digit wins.
2007–08


Sabathia with the Indians on May 6, 2007.

Sabathia collected his 1,000th career strikeout on May 21, fanning the player who beat him out for Rookie of the Year honors: Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners.

He was also named to the American League All-Star team for the third time. On September 28, he became the youngest pitcher (27 years, 69 days) to record 100 career wins since Greg Maddux in 1993.On October 23, Sabathia won the Players Choice Award for Outstanding AL Pitcher. His pitching performance led the Cleveland Indians to their first American League Central Division Championship since 2001, his rookie season. For his performance, he was awarded the 2007 American League Cy Young Award joining Gaylord Perry as the only two Cleveland Indians pitchers to ever win the award.

(Cliff Lee became the third the following season.) Sabathia also won the coveted Warren Spahn Award given to the best left-handed pitcher in the Majors. Despite his strong regular season, Sabathia did not perform well against the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. In two starts, he went 0–2 with a 10.45 ERA.
Sabathia began the 2008 season with a 6–8 record and a 3.83 ERA in 18 starts.

He was leading the American League in strikeouts (123) and strikeouts per 9.0 innings (9.0) while ranking second in innings pitched (122.1) and tied for second in complete games (3). However, with the Indians out of playoff contention, and with Sabathia an impending free agent, the Indians sought to trade Sabathia.
Milwaukee Brewers
2008
On July 7, 2008, Sabathia was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Matt LaPorta, pitchers Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson, and Michael Brantley. During his press conference, Sabathia made it known to the assembled members of the media that he would prefer his name to be spelled "CC" rather than "C.C." He recorded his first win with the Brewers on July 8, 2008 against the Colorado Rockies.

Sabathia pitched three complete games in his first four starts with the Brewers, winning all four.
On July 30, 2008, Sabathia took out a large $12,870 ad in the sports section of Cleveland's daily newspaper, The Plain Dealer. The ad, signed by Sabathia, his wife Amber, and his family read:

Thank you for 10 great years ...The one hit for the Pirates came off of a check swing by Andy LaRoche in the fifth inning that rolled fair and was bobbled by Sabathia on an attempted bare-handed pickup. The team sent in an appeal to Major League Baseball to try to get the hit ruled as an error, but were unsuccessful. Sabathia struck out eleven in the Brewers' 7–0 win over the Pirates, making Sabathia's ninth complete game in the 2008 season.

28, 2008, Sabathia pitched a 4-hitter against the Cubs to win 3–1 in the final game of the season, sending the Brewers to their first playoffs for the first time as a National League club and the first time since losing to the St. It was Sabathia's 10th complete game of the year, the most complete games by any pitcher in a single season since Randy Johnson threw 12 in 1999.

The Brewers were heavily favored to win behind Sabathia, but Sabathia faltered, surrendering 5 runs in 2.3 innings, including a walk to the pitcher Brett Myers and a grand slam to Shane Victorino.
Sabathia was sixth in the voting for the 2008 NL MVP award, behind Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Ryan Braun, Manny Ramirez, and Lance Berkman.
New York Yankees
2009
On December 18, 2008, Sabathia signed a seven-year, $161 million contract with the New York Yankees. It is the largest contract for a pitcher in MLB history. On March 26, 2009, manager Joe Girardi announced that Sabathia would be the Opening Day starter and the starter for the home opener at the new Yankee Stadium.

He also struck out 24 batters. In the 2007 ALCS he beaned 3 batters.
Pitching
Sabathia has three plus pitches: fastball, breaking ball and changeup. He also exhibits good command of his pitches, posting a 5.65 K/BB ratio in 2007.
Batting
In interleague play as a player in the American League, Sabathia had a career batting average of .300 with three home runs and seven RBIs in 40 ABs, including a 440-foot home run on June 21, 2008, off Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park.On July 13, 2008, in his second game with the Brewers, Sabathia hit his second home run of the season off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey, becoming the third pitcher in history to homer in both leagues in the same season and the first since Earl Wilson did it in 1970 with Detroit and San Diego.
Stance on black players in MLB
On March 14, 2007, Sabathia addressed ESPN, criticizing Major League Baseball for not doing extra to make sure there is an adequate African American presence in the game and that it was an on-going crisis. Sabathia has urged Bud Selig to help endorse Little League Baseball in urban areas in an effort similar to that implemented by National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern.
Personal
Sabathia and his wife, Amber, have one son, Carsten Charles III (9/15/03) and two daughters; Jaeden Arie (9/20/05) and Cyia Cathleen (10/11/08). The family resides in Fairfield, CA outside his hometown of Vallejo, CA in the San Francisco Bay Area ..