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Bradley Wayne Penny (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Penny played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Tigers, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He was an All Star in 2006 and 2007.
He was immediately sent to the Arizona Summer League, where he ranked fourth in the league in ERA (2.36) and was named Arizona's Organizational Pitcher of the Month in August. With the South Bend Silver Hawks in 1997, he was 10–5 with an ERA of 2.73 in 25 starts.
In 1998, with the High Desert Mavericks, he went 14–5 with a 2.96 ERA in 28 starts and was named to Baseball America's first team Minor League All-Stars, the California League Pitcher of the Year, California League Most Valuable Player, Arizona Diamondbacks Minor League Player of the Year and "A" Level Player of the Year.
In 1999, he started the year with the El Paso Diablos at the Diamondbacks Double-A level, and had a 2–7 record with a 4.80 ERA when he was traded to the Florida Marlins along with Abraham Núñez and Vladimir Núñez in exchange for relief pitcher Matt Mantei. The Marlins assigned him to their Double-A team in Portland. Penny combined with Luis Arroyo for the first no-hitter in Portland history in his first game in the Marlins' organization on August 8.
In 2001, Penny pitched 205 innings for the Marlins. He finished 10–10 in 31 starts. In 2002, due to injuries and ineffectiveness, Penny saw his ERA rise from the previous season, from 3.69 in 2001, his ERA in 2002 was at 4.66 in just 24 starts.
In 2003, Penny bounced back, finishing the 2003 campaign with 14 wins for the Marlins and helping them reach the playoffs. Penny collected the win in Florida's NLCS clinching victory over the Chicago Cubs and in the World Series against the New York Yankees he went 2–0 with a 2.19 ERA in his two starts.
Penny started the 2004 season with an 8–8 record with a 3.15 ERA in 21 starts for the Marlins.
On June 12, 2005, Penny signed a three-year contract extension worth a guaranteed $25 million and a team option for the 2009 season.
Penny was named by Houston Astros manager Phil Garner as the National League's starting pitcher in the 2006 All-Star Game. He hurled two innings, allowing home run to Vladimir Guerrero after striking out the side (Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter, and David Ortiz) in the first inning.
On September 23, 2006, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Penny joined the small club of pitchers who have struck out four batters in one inning. Due to the uncaught third strike rule, Penny was credited with striking out Chad Tracy, but because catcher Russell Martin failed to catch the ball cleanly, Tracy was allowed to attempt to run to first base, and made it there before he could be thrown out. Despite giving up three runs in the inning, Penny recorded three more strikeouts to complete the four-strikeout inning.
He also threw the fastest fastball of all NL starters in 2006, averaging 93.9 miles per hour.
Penny had a strong start to 2007 that continued throughout the season, with an ERA of 3.03 for the season and was the first Dodger pitcher to start out with a 12–1 record since Phil Regan went 14–1 in 1966. Penny was selected to the All-Star game for a second consecutive year. Penny had several memorable outings in 2007, including on May 7, 2007, against his former team, the Florida Marlins, Penny struck out a career-high 14 in a Dodger 6–1 win. Another memorable performance was against the San Diego Padres in a pitcher's duel against All-Star teammate Jake Peavy just before the All-Star break. The match ended in a draw with both pitchers going seven innings giving up one earned run on five hits. Penny struck out seven, while Peavy struck out six. The Padres would eventually win the game 3–1 in 12 innings. He also threw the fastest fastball of all NL starters in 2007, averaging 93.4 miles per hour.
Besides being a hard throwing pitcher, Penny developed into a good hitting pitcher since being traded to the Dodgers. In 2006, his batting average was .185, but was above .200 for most of the season and was as high as .240 before Penny ended the year in an 0-for-12 slump. He batted .246 in 2007. Penny also had six doubles, seven RBI, and seven runs scored.
For the 2008 season, Penny was selected as opening day starter against the San Francisco Giants, shutting them out over seven innings, but he struggled in 2008 overall, going 6–9 with a 6.27 ERA and a stint on the DL. After coming back from the DL in September, Penny made a few appearances out of the bullpen but struggled in that role and returned to the DL. After the season, the Dodgers declined his option year, making Penny a free agent.
Penny recorded his 100th career win on June 17, 2009, against his former team the Florida Marlins, in a five inning effort only giving up one unearned run. The win came on the Red Sox's 500th consecutive sell out at Fenway Park.
During his last five starts with the Red Sox, Penny was 0–4 with a 9.11 ERA. After a disastrous start against the rival Yankees, Boston management decided on August 22 that Penny would leave the rotation, replaced by veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who was coming off the disabled list. During Wakefield's August 26 start, Penny was placed in the bullpen as insurance, but was never needed with Wakefield pitching a strong seven inning effort giving up only one run. With Wakefield completing a healthy start, reliever Billy Wagner being added to the roster, and Penny not wanting to be a reliever, the Red Sox granted his wish to be released late that night. During his time in Boston, Penny's record was 7–8, with a 5.61 ERA.
Penny started off the season with the Tigers as their number two starter, behind Justin Verlander and in front of Max Scherzer. Aside from May, when Penny went 3–1 in five starts with an ERA of 3.24, Penny had a sub-par first half of the season, going 6–6 with a 4.50 ERA, and with the Tigers' acquisition of Doug Fister in July, in addition to the success of Scherzer, Penny was moved to the number four spot in the rotation. Penny had a worse second half, going 5–5 with a 6.53 ERA after the All-Star break. Overall, Penny's 5.30 ERA was the worst among qualified starters in 2011.
When the Tigers went to the postseason, he was added to the roster in the bullpen. He appeared in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers, his only appearance in the playoffs, and pitched innings while giving up 5 runs. The Tigers went on to lose that game 15–5, sending the Rangers to the World Series. The Rangers lost in 7 games to Penny's former club, the St. Louis Cardinals.
However, after allowing six runs and five stolen bases in only innings in his NPB debut game, Penny claimed that he injured his elbow and asked to be removed from the game. He was immediately sent to the disabled list and took two MRI exams (one in Fukuoka, and one in the United States), but both results were negative. Penny was released from his contract a month later, on May 8. He was a "huge disappointment," and a local newspaper reported that signing Penny was "the worst decision in franchise history."
Penny subsequently began dating former Oklahoma City Thunder dancer Kaci Cook. They became engaged in January 2013, and married on August 1, 2013, in Hawaii.
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