Andy Benes

Andrew Charles Benes (born August 20, 1967 in Evansville, Indiana) is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four teams: the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Arizona Diamondbacks, in a fourteen-year career from 1989 to 2002. His brother Alan also pitched in the Major Leagues, and was his teammate in 1996-97 and 2000-01. He and his brother Alan attended Evansville Lutheran School and Evansville Central High School.

Benes was the first person selected in the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft after playing college baseball at the University of Evansville. Benes pitched well enough in his first year to make it to the majors and be named National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News. Benes was an All-Star in 1993 after a 15-15 season with the Padres, and led the Majors in losses with 14 and in strikeouts with 189 the next season. Benes finished third in the Cy Young Award balloting in 1996 after a 18-10, 3.83 earned run average season. After the 1997 season, Benes agreed to sign a 5-Yr 30 Million dollar contract to return to the Cardinals. Unfortunately, the contract was signed after the deadline for players to re-sign with their 1997 teams. Benes would then have to wait until May 1st to re-sign Instead, Benes became one of the first players in Diamondbacks history when he signed as a free agent prior to the 1998 season and threw out the first pitch in the history of the franchise.

In a 2004 column for The Sporting News, pitcher Todd Jones wrote that Benes had a habit of gritting his teeth when preparing to throw a slider, a tell that some hitters exploited.