Juan Eichelberger

Who is Juan Eichelberger?

Juan Tyrone Eichelberger is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He graduated from Balboa High School of San Francisco, California in 1971, played collegiately at the University of California, Berkeley and pitched for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves. He also pitched one season in Japan for the Yakult Swallows.

In 7 seasons he had a 26–36 win-loss record, 125 games, 79 games started, 14 complete games, 1 shutout, 16 games finished, 603 ⅓ innings pitched, 575 hits allowed, 312 runs allowed, 275 earned runs allowed, 50 home runs allowed, 283 walks allowed, 281 strikeouts, 8 hit batsmen, 25 wild pitches, 2,605 batters faced, 20 intentional walks, 14 balks and a 4.10 ERA.

Eichelberger was known for his unusual set position. While most pitchers would come to a standing position with their feet together and bring the ball and glove to their chest or chin, Eichelberger would keep his feet spread apart with his knees bent in a crouch and ball and glove at his belt.

Juan Eichelberger's son Jared followed his father into professional baseball, as a RHP originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2001. Juan and Jared now run the youth baseball training program Baseball ASAP in San Diego, CA.