John E. Lannan (born September 27, 1984 in Long
Beach, New York) is a left-handed Major League
Baseball starting pitcher in the Washington
Nationals organization.
Following his time as captain of the Chaminade High
School baseball team, Lannan was selected by the
Washington Nationals out of Siena College in the
11th round (324th overall) of the 2005 Major League
Baseball draft.
He pitched for the low Single-A Vermont Expos in
2005 and the Single-A Savannah Sand Gnats in 2006,
compiling ERA's of 5.26 and 4.76 respectively. In
2007, however, he blazed through the minors. He
began the year for the high-A Potomac Nationals
going 6-0 with an ERA of 2.13 and was promoted to
the Double-A Harrisburg. He went 3-2 with a 3.25 ERA
and got bumped up to Triple-A Columbus, where he
started six games, and went 3-1 with a 1.75 ERA --
and all of this before July ended.
The Nationals, decimated by starting injuries to
their pitching staff, purchased Lannan's contract on
July 26, 2007, for Lannan to start against the
Philadelphia Phillies. In his debut, behind 3-2 with
one out in the fifth inning, Lannan hit Chase Utley
with a fastball (breaking Utley's hand) and then hit
Ryan Howard on the next pitch, whereupon umpire
Hunter Wendelstedt immediately ejected Lannan from
the game; Lannan was the first Major Leaguer in a
decade to be tossed from his debut. Lannan picked up
his first Major League win, in his second start, six
days later, in which he held the Cincinnati Reds
hitless through three and scoreless through five
inning before allowing two runs in the sixth.
On August 6, 2007, Lannan, in just his third major
league start, found himself on the national stage as
he faced the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in
Barry Bonds's first start after tying Hank Aaron's
Major League Baseball's home run record. The 22-year
old Lannan held Bonds to no hits; in four plate
appearances Bonds fouled out to third, walked,
grounded into a double play, and, as Lannan's last
batter, struck out on a 3-2 curveball with two out
and one on in the seventh. Lannan finished with
seven innings of one-run ball pitched, although the
Nats went on to lose 3-2 in 11 innings.
