Oct. 3, 2012

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Los Angeles, Calif. - Former UCLA pitcher Tyson Brummett made his major league debut earlier today, pitching a scoreless 2/3 of an inning for the Philadelphia Phillies in their 5-1 loss to the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

Brummett becomes the 69th former UCLA baseball player to compete in the major leagues and the sixth to play for head coach John Savage at UCLA.

The right-hander from Salem, Utah (Spanish Fork HS) was called up by the Phillies back on Sept. 30 after spending six years in the Phillies farm system from 2007-2012. Brummett was a seventh round pick of the Phillies back in 2007. This year, he posted a record of 5-6 with a 3.20 ERA in 44 games between Double-A Reading (Eastern League) and Triple-A Lehigh Valley (International League), making eight starts. Brummett pitched a total of 90 innings in the Minor Leagues this year, logging 83 strikeouts to just 29 walks while holding opposing batters to a .226 average.

Brummett started the year at Double-A Reading and in 10 games went 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA, pitching a total of 18.0 innings mostly out of the bullpen. He averaged a strikeout per inning, registering 18 strikeouts in his 18 innings pitched and giving up only two walks. Brummett was promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 4 of this year and put up a record of 4-6 with a 3.63 ERA in 34 games for the IronPigs. Brummett accumulated 65 strikeouts while again pitching mostly out of the bullpen. In his last 10 games at Lehigh Valley (five starts), Brummett posted a 2.93 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 27.2 innings pitched, again holding batters to a scant .221 average against him.

Brummett's first major league action came in the eighth inning of today's game against the Nationals, when he was called out of the bullpen to take over for Jonathan Papelbon. With one out, Brummett allowed singles to Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa before recovering to strikeout Jesus Flores and Chad Tracy to end the inning.

Brummett pitched at UCLA for two seasons from 2006-07 after transferring from Central Arizona CC, becoming the Bruins' Sunday starter in 2006 and the ace of the staff in 2007. He went 16-13 in his two seasons at UCLA, starting 33 of his 37 games played and posting a 4.24 ERA with total of 194 strikeouts in 235.2 innings pitched. Brummett enjoyed his finest season as a Bruin in 2007, going 10-6 with a 4.04 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 138 innings pitched. Brummett also recorded seven complete games in 20 appearances and earned All-Pac-10 team honors.

With Brummett's promotion to the Phillies, UCLA currently has eight former ballplayers playing in Major League Baseball. In addition, all three starting pitchers from the 2006 team have now reached the Major Leagues (David Huff - Cleveland, Hector Ambriz - Houston, Tyson Brummett - Philadelphia).

For a complete list of UCLA baseball players in the pros, click here.