Kiko Calero

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**Kiko Calero**

Oakland Athletics — No. 50
Relief Pitcher
Born: January 9, 1975 (1975-01-09) (age 33)
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
April 2, 2003 for the St. Louis Cardinals
Selected MLB statistics (through June 4, 2008)
Win-Loss	12-10
Earned Run Average	3.52
Strikeouts	251
Teams
St. Louis Cardinals (2003-2004) Oakland Athletics (2005-present)

Enrique Nomar "Kiko" Calero (born January 9, 1975 in Santurce, Puerto Rico) is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Oakland Athletics. He is commonly referred to in baseball circles as "the Walrus" (for short: "Rus", "Rusty", "Russell", "the Wall", or "Wallrusty").

Originally, he was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 41st Round (1142nd overall) of 1994 amateur entry draft, but Calero did not sign with the Tigers. Instead he waited until 1996, when he was picked in the 27th round draft pick (799th overall) by the Kansas City Royals out of St. Thomas University (Florida).

Mainly a starting pitcher in the Royals minor league organization, he spent 6 years at the A and AA levels before finally reaching AAA Omaha in 2002. Calero was subsequently signed as a free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals. During his minor league career, Calero played big for the Royals organization. On 1996, he finished fourth in the Class A Northwest League in ERA. He was also named to the Texas League All Star team in 1997. Until 2000, Calero had 31 wins in the Wrangler uniform and worked as a reliever in 2001 after 105 stars.

Calero spent all of 2003 and most of 2004 in the majors. He played all games but one game coming as a reliever. He was a member of the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals' team that went on to win the National League title and played on the 2004 World Series. After the 2004 season, Calero was traded from the Cardinals along with starting pitcher Danny Haren and top-hitting prospect Daric Barton to the Oakland Athletics for Mark Mulder. The trade was initially viewed as a win for St. Louis, as Mulder was considered one of the best pitchers in the American League, but based on Calero and Haren's extremely productive 2005 and 2006 seasons, and Mulder's poor 2006 season and shortened 2007 season due to shoulder surgery, the trade is widely seen as a coup in Oakland.

Kiko Calero has also played on several other teams. He played from 1996 to 2000 with the Indios de Mayaguez (Mayaguez Indians) in the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. During those years, he went on to win two national titles and three participations on the Serie del Caribe. In 1996 , Calero was named Rookie of the Year, and he also was selected to participate on three all star games, during his playing year with the Indios de Mayaguez. Kiko also played on the MLB team at the Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series played at Japan in 2004. He was also a member of the 2006 Puerto Rico national baseball team at the World Baseball Classic.

Still today, Calero is considered in Puerto Rico one of the best pitchers of all times from the island. He has a street named after him, on a little part of Rio Piedras called Fair View, where Calero grew up and played his little leagues and juvenile leagues. In the present, Calero is married to Carola Rodriguez and they have one child. He lives in Caguas, Puerto Rico during the off season and during MLB season on Oakland, California.

[edit] Career statistics

Year	League	Team	G	GS	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	H	ER	BB	K
1995	CC	Miami Dade-Kendall	-	-	7	7	7	3.33	-	-	-	-	-
1996	College	St. Thomas University	-	-	10	5	0	2.75	-	-	-	-	-
1996	A	Spokane	17	11	4	2	1	2.52	75	77	21	18	61
1996	LBPPR	Indios de Mayaguez	-	-	-	-	-	-	45.2	42	-	-	33
1997	AA	Wichita	23	22	11	9	0	4.44	127.2	120	63	44	100
1998	AAA	Lansing	4	4	1	0	0	3.78	16.2	19	7	7	10
1998	AAA	Wilmington	17	17	7	3	0	9.64	97.2	74	31	51	90
1998	AA	Wichita	3	3	1	0	0	9.64	14	23	15	6	5
1999	AA	Wichita	26	23	9	3	1	4.11	129.1	143	59	57	92
2000	AA	Wichita	28	25	10	7	0	3.63	153.2	141	62	66	130
2003	MLB	Cardinals	26	1	1	1	1	2.82	38.1	29	12	20	51
2004	MLB	Cardinals	41	0	3	1	2	2.78	41.1	27	14	10	47
2005	MLB	Athletics	58	0	4	1	1	3.23	55.2	45	20	18	52
2006	MLB	Athletics	70	0	3	2	2	3.41	58	50	22	24	67
2007	MLB	Athletics	46	0	1	5	1	5.75	40.2	40	26	21	31