Background and career
Roy Edward Oswalt (; born August 29, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Oswalt played for the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Houston Astros. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, and Colorado Rockies. Oswalt was selected by the Astros in the 1996 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with Houston, in 2001, finishing his rookie season with a win–loss record of 14–3. Oswalt was a back-to-back 20-game winner in 2004 and 2005. He helped lead the Astros to their first World Series appearance in 2005, and was named Most Valuable Player of the 2005 National League Championship Series (NLCS). When Oswalt left the Astros in 2010, both his wins (143) and strikeouts totals (1,593) ranked second in franchise history to Joe Niekro (144) and Nolan Ryan (1,866), respectively. Oswalt was a three-time All-Star, selected from 2005 to 2007.
Oswalt was born and raised in Weir, Mississippi, the son of Billy Joe and Jean Oswalt. Billy was a Vietnam War veteran and logger. Oswalt grew up with his older brother, Brian, and their older sister, Patricia. Jean was an avid baseball fan and taught her kids about the game. Oswalt grew up rooting for the Atlanta Braves. Oswalt joined the Weir High School football team as a quarterback and the baseball team as a pitcher. He could throw in the mid 80s with good control, but his relatively slight stature (5'10", 150 lbs.) scared away scouts. Oswalt reflected, "I always heard that I was too small." Weir itself was very small in size, making it difficult for scouts to hear about Oswalt. Nonetheless, he was recruited to join the baseball team at Holmes Community College. At Weir High School, Oswalt played defensive back and wide receiver on the football team, which won a state title his senior year. He graduated in a class with 32 students. Oswalt attended Holmes Community College in Goodman, Mississippi, for two years.
Oswalt was spotted by only one MLB scout, James Farrar of the Houston Astros. Convinced that Oswalt's anonymity kept him hidden from other teams, the Astros allowed him to drop into the 23rd round of the 1996 MLB draft. By this point, Oswalt had drawn the attention of the Mississippi State Bulldogs, for whom he had long wanted play. The Astros enticed Oswalt with a $500,000 signing bonus, and he signed with the club on May 18, 1997. Oswalt would eventually become the latest-drafted player to lead his draft class in career Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement as of 2019. In 1997, Oswalt played rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League, where he gave up only two runs in five starts. He was then called up to the Auburn Doubledays of the New York–Penn League, where he went 2–4 the rest of the way. Oswalt split 1998 between the same two teams. In 16 innings of work with the Gulf Coast Astros, he struck out 27 batters and walked just one. Oswalt was promoted again to Auburn, where he recorded the league's fourth-lowest ERA (2.18). During the 1999 season, when Oswalt was with the Class A Michigan Battle Cats in the Midwest League, he began suffering pain in his upper shoulder. A month after the season was over, he was still suffering pain. Team doctors diagnosed the pain as tendinitis earlier in the year, although Oswalt was convinced that his shoulder was torn. A few days after returning home, he was checking the spark plug wires on his pickup truck. He touched one of the spark plug wires, causing the truck's engine to start. The truck's electric current flowed through Oswalt's body, and consequently the muscles in his hand tightened on the spark plug wire. Unable to let go of it, Oswalt grasped the wire for what he said felt like two days, but was probably just a minute. He claimed his foot finally slipped off the truck's bumper and which threw him off the truck. Oswalt told his wife, "My truck done shocked the fire out of me, and my arm don't hurt no more." He finished 1999 with 143 strikeouts and a club-high 13 wins. Oswalt began 2000 with the Class A Kissimmee Cobras of the Florida State League, going 4–3 with a 2.98 ERA before a player injury on Class AA Round Rock Express of the Texas League led to his promotion. Oswalt was only expected to pitch a few games and had been given a round-trip ticket. But after striking out 15 batters in his first start with the Express, manager Jackie Moore tore up his ticket. Nolan Ryan, owner of the Express and Oswalt's idol, admired his calm demeanor and his aggressiveness so much that he successfully lobbied to keep Oswalt on the roster, where he would go 11–4 with a 1.94 ERA, and record 141 strikeouts over 19 games (18 starts). It was in Round Rock that he met pitching coach Mike Maddux, who counseled the young Oswalt to be economical in his pitch selection by throwing more breaking balls and inducing groundouts early in the count. As a result of his success at Round Rock, Oswalt was selected to play on the U.S. Olympic baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In Olympic baseball competition, Oswalt pitched in the semi-finals against South Korea, a game that the U.S. won with a walk-off home run by Doug Mientkiewicz en route to their gold medal finish. Oswalt struck out ten and allowed two runs (1.38 ERA) in his two starts. In 2001, Oswalt started the season with the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs, where he went 2–3 before being called up to the MLB when left-hander Wayne Franklin was optioned down.
On May 6, 2001, Oswalt made his major league debut in a relief appearance at Olympic Stadium to work the ninth inning of a 13–7 Astros win over the Montreal Expos. He retired Vladimir Guerrero on a strikeout for the first of his major league career. Oswalt yielded two hits, including a run batted in (RBI) double to former Astro Geoff Blum, but limited any father scoring to close out the game. From August 30 to September 18, 2001, Oswalt tossed 24 consecutive scoreless innings before giving up a home run at Pacific Bell Park to Andrés Galarraga of the San Francisco Giants. During that streak, Oswalt earned his first major league shuout on September 9, tossing it at home against the Milwuakee Brewers and striking out a career-high 12. Oswalt finished his rookie campaign with a 14–3 record and a 2.73 ERA, including a 12–2 mark with a 2.82 ERA in his 20 starts. He finished second in voting for National League Rookie of the Year, losing unanimously to Albert Pujols. He also placed fifth in Cy Young Award voting, which was won by Randy Johnson. He won the Sporting News NL Rookie Pitcher of the Year Award. Oswalt was unavailable to pitch in the playoffs due to a groin strain. The Atlanta Braves swept the best-of-3 National League Division Series (NLDS), eliminating the Astros and ending their season. The 2002 season was another step forward for Oswalt, who finished the season with a 19–9 record, striking out a career-high 208 batters and finishing with an ERA of 3.01. He tied with Éric Gagné for fourth in Cy Young voting, losing once again to Johnson. From July 27 to September 8, he won a then-club record 9 straight starts before getting a no-decision in an extra innings' Astros loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Injuries plagued Oswalt in 2003, but he still recorded a 10–5 record over 21 starts. He started a team no-hitter against the New York Yankees on June 11. Oswalt left after one inning, and 5 more Astros continued to no-hit the Yankees. He rebounded in 2004 with the first 20-win season of his career, the only National League (NL) pitcher to do so that year. He went 20–10 despite a career-high 3.49 ERA, and struck out 206 batters. He finished third in Cy Young Award voting, behind his teammate Roger Clemens and, once again, Randy Johnson. He also made his first postseason appearance, going 1–0 with a 4.19 ERA in three starts and one relief appearance. He threw two complete-game shutouts during the season, both against the Milwaukee Brewers. He led all NL starters with the fastest average fastball, at 94.0 miles per hour (151.3 km/h). He won the Darryl Kile Award. In 2005, Oswalt threw a career-high 2412⁄3 innings, striking out 184 batters and only walking 48 on the way to his second consecutive 20-win season – the first Astro to do so since Joe Niekro in 1979–80. He notched a 20–12 record, including a career-best 10-game winning streak from April 10 to July 26, with a 2.94 ERA, and was named to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game as the National League All-Star Final Vote winner. He was fourth in Cy Young Award balloting, won by Chris Carpenter. In the postseason that year, Oswalt started 4 games and went 3–0. His two seven inning one-run performances netted him the NLCS MVP award, including a three-hit seven strikeout game in Game 6.
Oswalt went 15–8 in 2006 and was named to his second consecutive All-Star team and his final ERA led NL (2.98), and also struck out 166 batters while walking 38. On August 9 of that year, Oswalt hit his first and only career home run in the second inning in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting a two-run homer off of Shawn Chacon. On August 29, 2006, Oswalt's 29th birthday, he signed a five-year extension with the Astros totaling $73 million with an option for a 6th year. He again finished fourth in Cy Young Award voting, won by Brandon Webb. On September 18, while pitching against the Cincinnati Reds, Oswalt recorded his 1,000th strikeout, becoming the eighth player in Astros history to reach the milestone. Before the 2007 season, Roy Oswalt received the second-highest Pitcher Player Value Ranking from Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview Edition. He was rated the best in the NL ahead of Brandon Webb and Chris Carpenter, and was only below the 2006 Triple Crown winner Johan Santana. On July 5, 2007, it was announced Oswalt would replace an injured John Smoltz on the National League All-Star team, making it Oswalt's third consecutive All-Star game appearance. He did not pitch in the All-Star Game, however. On August 13, 2007, Sports Illustrated named Oswalt as one of the top five pitchers (along with Santana, Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy, and Justin Verlander). On September 26, 2007, it was reported that Oswalt was suffering from pain in his left side and it was decided to shut him down for the remainder of the season so as not to risk a more serious injury. He finished the 2007 season throwing 212 innings, his fourth consecutive year of 200 or more innings pitched, a 14–7 record, an ERA of 3.18 and 154 strikeouts. Although he started off the 2008 season slowly (0–3, 9.00 ERA), a solid second half helped Oswalt reach his highest win total since 2005. Oswalt was able to accomplish this despite landing on the disabled list on July 19 for the first time since 2006. He also set an Astros team record with 321⁄3 scoreless innings. He finished the 2008 season throwing 2082⁄3 innings, his fifth consecutive year of 200 or more innings pitched, a 17–10 record, an ERA of 3.54 and 165 strikeouts. Oswalt is one of 10 major league pitchers who won at least 11 games in each year from 2004 to 2008. In 2009, Oswalt played for the United States in the World Baseball Classic, appearing in two games. He was the winning pitcher in the contest versus the Netherlands, but was pulled from the semifinal against Japan in the fourth inning after giving up 6 runs.
On July 29, Oswalt was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies for J. A. Happ and two minor league players, center fielder Anthony Gose, and shortstop Jonathan Villar, playing for Class-A Advanced and Class-A, respectively. On August 24, Oswalt became the first Phillies pitcher to field in a non-pitching position in 39 years. In a game against the Houston Astros, Phillies' first baseman Ryan Howard was ejected after arguing a checked swing to end the bottom of the 14th inning. Out of offensive reserves, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel moved left fielder Raúl Ibañez to first base and sent Oswalt to play left field. Oswalt acquired one putout in the outfield, but later hit into the final out of the Phillies loss by grounding out in the bottom of the 16th inning. The previous Phillies pitcher to play a position was Bill Wilson, who played third base for one-third of an inning on August 6, 1971.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
