Wayne Franklin

Who is Wayne Franklin?

Gary Wayne Franklin is a retired American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves. Franklin bats and throws left-handed.

Franklin was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 36th round of the 1996 amateur draft. He signed with the team on June 8, 1996, just four days after being drafted.

Wayne began his professional career with the Los Angeles farm team the Yakima Bears in 1996, where he went 1-0 with 1 save and a 2.52 ERA. The following year, he pitched mostly as a reliever for the Single-A Savannah Sand Gnats. He did, however, make 7 starts, and he finished the 1997 season with a 5-3 record, a 3.11 ERA, and 2 saves. In 1998, playing with the Vero Beach Dodgers, Franklin earned a career-high 9 wins and he also notched 10 saves and a 3.53 ERA in 86.2 innings pitched. However, it was his last season in the Dodgers organization. On December 14, Franklin was drafted by the Houston Astros in the Rule 5 Draft.

After going 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA in 12 games for Single-A Kissimmee, Franklin was called up to the Jackson Generals in May of 1999. After being called up, Franklin posted a 3-1 record with 20 saves and a 1.61 ERA. He was named to the Texas League All-Star team, and placed 2nd in relievers with a .178 opponent batting average. Franklin began the 2000 season with the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, but was called up after 48 games when he put up a 3-3 record with a 3.63 ERA. He made his big league debut with the Astros on July 24 against the Cincinnati Reds. He recorded a 2.79 ERA in 16 appearances and only gave up 6 hits to 34 batters faced. In 2001, Wayne was on the Houston Opening Day roster and made 11 relief outings, but was sent down to the Zephyrs on May 5 after putting up a 6.75 earned run average. With New Orleans, he went 2-1 with 51 strikeouts in 41 relief appearances.