Auburn Baseball: Where Are They Now? Tim Hudson
By Chris Roush
Here we discuss former Auburn baseball player Tim Hudson, who was a member of the Tigers’ last trip to the College World Series.
Tim Hudson came to Auburn University in 1995 after two years of community college baseball at Chattahoochee Valley Community College and was part of the College World Series team in 1997, the last time Auburn baseball made the World Series.
In his first season on the Plains, Hudson had a 5-3 record with a 3.25 earned run average. He also played in the outfield when he wasn’t pitching and hit three home runs with seven RBIs.
Hudson’s 1997 season, however, was one of the most outstanding seasons in college baseball history.
On the mound for the Tigers, Hudson went 15-2 with a 2.97 ERA and 165 strikeouts in 118.1 innings. And when he wasn’t pitching, Hudson played again in the outfield, hitting .396 with 18 homers and 95 RBIs. The performance earned him SEC Player of the Year, and he became the first player to be named All SEC at two positions.
After the season, Hudson was drafted in the sixth round by the Oakland A’s to be a pitcher. He made the major league club in 1999, finishing with an 11-2 record and placing fifth in the Rookie of the Year balloting.
Hudson’s only 20-win season came the next year, when he went 20-6. He led the American League in wins and earned the first of his four All-Star Game appearances that year.
The A’s traded the pitcher to the Atlanta Braves before the 2005 season, allowing Hudson to play for the team he grew up cheering for. In 2005, Hudson won his 100th career game, and the next year he was part of the Team USA roster for the World Baseball Classic.
Hudson missed parts of the 2008 and 2009 seasons due to Tommy John ligament replacement surgery, but he had one of his best seasons ever in 2010, going 17-9 with a 2.83 ERA and garnering his third All-Star game appearance. He was named National League Comeback Player of the Year for his 2010 performance.
Hudson missed the second half of the 2013 season due to a fractured ankle, and he signed with the San Francisco Giants for 2014. Although he won only nine games that year, Hudson started game seven of the World Series and won his only championship that year.
Hudson retired after the 2015 season with 222 wins and 2,080 strikeouts, as well as a .625 win percentage. In major league history, only 21 pitchers have finished their careers with more than 200 wins, at least 2,000 strikeouts and a win percentage above .600. Of those 14 are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Although retired, Hudson wasn’t done playing. He joined the Kansas Stars, a team of former big-leaguers, to play in the 82nd National Baseball Congress World Series in July and August. He won one game during the Congress, pitching three innings of shutout baseball.
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Hudson spent the rest of the 2016 baseball season rooting for his former Auburn teammate David Ross, who won the World Series with the Chicago Cubs.