You'd have to get up pret-ty early in the morning to find an Oriole more obscure than Brian Falkenborg. The 6'7" righty was the team's second-round pick in the 1996 draft, and had a cup of coffee in October 1999 that consisted of three scoreless relief innings spanning two games against Boston. That offseason, he underwent Tommy John surgery and subsequently missed the entire 2000 season. The O's released him, and he spent three seasons in the Seattle organization. Brian next latched on with the Dodgers, and made it back to the major leagues in 2004, five years after his debut in Baltimore. He earned his first big league victory on
May 9, 2004, tossing two shutout innings of relief against the Pirates. He bounced around the league through 2008, also pitching for the Cardinals and Padres. Since then, he's actually carved out a living in the land of the Rising Sun. Falkenborg has been a member of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks for the past four seasons, compiling a 10-5 record and a scant 1.39 ERA as a reliever, striking out 12 men per 9 innings. For his first three years in Japan, Brian was a teammate of current Orioles pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada. It's a small world after all.
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