Daniel John Haren (born September 17, 1980 in
Monterey Park, California) is a baseball pitcher for
the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Dan Haren graduated from Bishop Amat High School in
La Puente, CA in 1998. He attended Pepperdine
University in Malibu, CA on a baseball scholarship.
It was there that Haren teamed up with Noah Lowry, a
left-handed pitcher just one month younger than
Haren, to form the best starting pitching duo in the
West Coast Conference. In the 2001 season, Haren
posted a 2.22 ERA in 17 starts and Lowry posted a
1.71 ERA in 18 starts. The teammates (and roommates)
skipped their senior seasons, and Lowry was taken in
the 1st round (30th overall) by the San Francisco
Giants and Haren was taken in the 2nd round (72nd
overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2001
Major League Baseball Draft.
Haren quickly shot up through the St. Louis
organization. He made 28 starts in A-ball in 2002
for Peoria and Potomac, finishing with a combined
ERA of 2.74. He started 2003 in Double-A Tennessee,
but was so dominant in his 8 starts he was promoted
to Triple-A Memphis and eventually made it all the
way to the big club.
