Since 2005, no reliever in baseball has appeared in more games than right-hander Chad Qualls. The 33-year old right-hander will now be doing his work for the Phillies after signing a one-year, $1.15 million deal.
Qualls, who is known as the quintessential groundball pitcher, has a career ERA of 3.78 in 537 major league games. Last season, Qualls pitched for the San Diego Padres and appeared in 77 games, posting a 3.51 ERA.
The Padres declined to pick up Qualls' $6 million contract for 2012, opting instead to pay the $1.05 million buyout, which made Qualls a free agent. Qualls will actually be making less this season in Philadelphia than the $1.5 million he made with San Diego in 2012.
In his career, Qualls has a groundball rate of 57.5% and has allowed less than one home run for every nine innings that he's pitched.
The Phillies have concerns about the health of veteran Jose Contreras and Qualls will help fill that spot if Contreras struggles.
Chad Qualls' career stats
| Year |
Tm |
W |
L |
ERA |
G |
SV |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
WHIP |
HR/9 |
SO/BB |
| 2004 |
Houston |
4 |
0 |
3.55 |
25 |
1 |
33.0 |
34 |
13 |
13 |
3 |
8 |
24 |
1.273 |
0.8 |
3.00 |
| 2005 |
Houston |
6 |
4 |
3.28 |
77 |
0 |
79.2 |
73 |
33 |
29 |
7 |
23 |
60 |
1.205 |
0.8 |
2.61 |
| 2006 |
Houston |
7 |
3 |
3.76 |
81 |
0 |
88.2 |
76 |
38 |
37 |
10 |
28 |
56 |
1.173 |
1.0 |
2.00 |
| 2007 |
Houston |
6 |
5 |
3.05 |
79 |
5 |
82.2 |
84 |
29 |
28 |
10 |
25 |
78 |
1.319 |
1.1 |
3.12 |
| 2008 |
Arizona |
4 |
8 |
2.81 |
77 |
9 |
73.2 |
61 |
29 |
23 |
4 |
18 |
71 |
1.072 |
0.5 |
3.94 |
| 2009 |
Arizona |
2 |
2 |
3.63 |
51 |
24 |
52.0 |
53 |
23 |
21 |
5 |
7 |
45 |
1.154 |
0.9 |
6.43 |
| 2010 |
Arizona |
1 |
4 |
8.29 |
43 |
12 |
38.0 |
61 |
41 |
35 |
5 |
15 |
34 |
2.000 |
1.2 |
2.27 |
| 2010 |
Tampa
Bay |
2 |
0 |
5.57 |
27 |
0 |
21.0 |
24 |
15 |
13 |
2 |
6 |
15 |
1.429 |
0.9 |
2.50 |
| 2010 |
combined
stats |
3 |
4 |
7.32 |
70 |
12 |
59.0 |
85 |
56 |
48 |
7 |
21 |
49 |
1.797 |
1.1 |
2.33 |
| 2011 |
San
Diego |
6 |
8 |
3.51 |
77 |
0 |
74.1 |
73 |
30 |
29 |
7 |
20 |
43 |
1.251 |
0.8 |
2.15 |
| 8 Seasons |
38 |
34 |
3.78 |
537 |
51 |
543.0 |
539 |
251 |
228 |
53 |
150 |
426 |
1.269 |
0.9 |
2.84 |