Former Mets Number One Pick Who Went On To Pitch A Perfect Game: Phil Humber (2006-2007)

Philip Gregory Humber was Born on December 21, 1982 in Nacogdoches, Texas. The six foot three right hander attended Rice University where he was 11-1 with a 2.77 ERA in his freshman year.

He was 11-3 as a sophomore as his team got to the College World Series. He hit a record three straight batters in the Series semi finals, but pitched a complete game five hitter in the finals. By his senior year he was selected by Baseball Americas to the second team All American. But The American Baseball Coaches Association and Collegiate Baseball magazine both made him a first-team All-American pick.

Humber then got drafted in the first round (the third pick overall) in 2004 by the New York Mets, signing a year later for $4.2 million.

He began his career at St. Lucie going 2-6 with a 4.99 ERA and was promoted to AA Binghamton but had his season cut short due to elbow surgery.

In 2006 he flew through the minors going 5-3 overall getting called up to the Mets in September after they had clinched the NL East title. Humber was highly touted, debuting at Shea Stadium against the Washington Nationals pitching a scoreless 9th inning. He made one more appearance in Atlanta facing the Braves for one inning.

He went to AAA New Orleans in 2007 going 11-9 with a 4.27 ERA making 27 starts, getting another September call up. He would pitch in three games, finishing all of them which were losses, he earned no decisions. His worst outing was his last, allowing five earned runs on six hits in four innings against the Nationals at Shea Stadium. That February 2008 he was traded to the Minnesota Twins along with Carlos Gomez & Kevin Mulvey for Johan Santana.

He would go 10-8 at AAA Rochester appearing in ten games with Minnesota. After just pitching in eight games at the big league level in 2009 Humber left Minnesota, signing with Kansas City as a free agent.

He spent most of the year at AAA Omaha getting to the Royals staff in late August going 2-1 there as well.

By now he was not as effective as in his early days & he was placed on waivers, no longer a top prospect. Humber was picked up by the Chicago White Sox for 2011, had a good spring & made the staff.

On April 25th he pitched seven innings of one run ball against the AL New York team & combined for a two hit shutout. He was a big surprise for the third place Sox, going 9-9 with a 3.75 ERA posting 116 strike outs in 163 innings pitched while making 26 starts.

On April 21st 2012 he pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field in Seattle. It was just his second start of the year & he only threw 96 pitches in the game. It was the third perfect game by a White Sox pitcher & the 20th in baseball history.

In his next outing he pitched the worst follow up to a perfect game in baseball history when he gave up eight runs to the Boston Red Sox. His season went downhill from there, going on the DL in June & finishing up the year at 5-5 with a 6.44 ERA.

In December 2012 he was placed on waivers & was picked up by the Houston Astros. In 2013 he went a dreadful 0-8 with a 7.90 ERA. In his eight year career he is 16-23 with a 5.31 ERA in 97 career games.