Roy Oswalt Set to Make 2013 Debut with Rockies

Baseball newsThe Colorado Rockies have officially announced that Roy Oswalt will start on Thursday against the Washington Nationals, marking the 2013 season debut for Oswalt.

After signing a minor league contract with Colorado on May 2, Oswalt has been dominant in his time at Double-A Tulsa. In five starts with the Tulsa Drillers, Oswalt has posted a 3-2 record and 2.16 ERA along with a 25/7 strikeout to walk ratio in 33 1/3 innings of work.

In his most recent start on June 14, Oswalt went 8 1/3 scoreless innings, surrendering five hits and striking out seven batters while walking just one in a 9-1 victory for Tulsa.

After an injury-marred season for the Texas Rangers last year, in which he posted a 5.80 ERA in 17 games (nine of which were starts, as the Rangers relegated Oswalt to bullpen duty towards the end of the season) Oswalt was left without a job following the 2012 season, holding onto free agent status throughout spring training and the start of the season before signing with Colorado in early-May.

In 335 career starts, Oswalt has posted a 163-96 record and 3.28 ERA, in addition to a 1818/511 strikeout to walk ratio in 2213.0 innings of work. Over 12 seasons, Oswalt has registered two 20-win seasons (2004-05) and finished in the top five for Cy Young Award voting five times.