Bronson Arroyo

Bronson Arroyo played 16 years of major-league baseball and helped the Boston Red Sox end the Curse of the Bambino with the 2004 World Series championship. His controversial tag of Álex Rodríguez in Game Six of the ALCS, when the umpires reversed their original call, spurred the Red Sox on to a victory. Boston closed out the series with a win over the Yankees in Game Seven. Arroyo later pitched for Cincinnati, and 108 of his 148 career victories were for the Reds.

Bronson Anthony Arroyo was born on February 24, 1977, in Key West, Florida, to Gus and Julie (Dopp) Arroyo, one of two children. (He has an older sister, Serenity.) He was named after the actor Charles Bronson. Arroyo’s father, who came to the US from Havana, worked in the roofing business with his father until they sold the business in 1986, then invested in real estate. The family moved to Brooksville, Florida, when Bronson was a youngster. As a 14-year-old, he played for the Northeast Pensacola team that won the Dixie League state title and was runner-up in the Dixie Boys (13- and 14-year-olds) World Series.1 He was 1-1 in World Series games that he pitched.

Arroyo starred in baseball and basketball at Hernando High School in Brooksville, Florida. As a sophomore he made the Tampa Bay Times All-North Suncoast all-star team as a second baseman. He hit .265 with 21 runs scored and was considered an outstanding defensive player for the district champions. He also was a starting guard on the varsity basketball team as a sophomore.

During the summer of 1993, Arroyo, at 16, pitched the Hernando Dixie-Majors to the summer-league state baseball championship. He pitched six innings in relief, giving up one run and striking out 11 to win the title game. “He’s the best player to come through Hernando County in a long time – 15, 20 years,” Hernando coach Tim Sims said.2 “From a mental standpoint in his approach to the game he’s years ahead of a 16-year-old. He’s more like a junior or senior in college, or a second-year pro player.3 Hernando was defeated in the ages 15-18 Dixie League World Series, but Arroyo recorded the team’s only victory.4

Arroyo suffered from tendinitis in his arm during much of his junior year, so his pitching was limited. He still managed to play shortstop, hit .380, and drive in 24 runs and make the Tampa Bay Times All-North Suncoast team as an infielder. His pitching line was 4-3 with a 1.08 ERA. Hernando finished 24-9 and repeated as Class 3A-District 7 champions, despite losing seven starters from the previous year – including two pitchers who were drafted. “At the start of the season, I don’t think anyone on the team thought we’d be in this position,” Arroyo said. “The second half of the season, we’ve just played together as a team. That’s why we’ve won.”5 Hernando went on to win one more game in the district tournament, a two-hit shutout by Arroyo, before its season ended with a loss. Arroyo also continued to play basketball and was Hernando’s leading scorer as a junior, averaging 15.4 points per game.

In the fall of his senior year Arroyo signed a letter of intent to play baseball at the University of South Florida, where he would concentrate on pitching. The first Hernando player to sign with a Division 1 baseball school, he was highly recruited by such baseball powers as Florida, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, and Mississippi State. Arroyo finished his high-school basketball career as one of the leading scorers in school history. He averaged 16.2 points per game and was named to the All-North Suncoast first team.

As a senior Arroyo for the third year in a row was named to the All-North Suncoast first team. He was voted the District Class 4A Player of the Year and was named to the all-state first team by the Tampa Bay Times. He finished his senior season with a 10-3 record, a 0.44 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 80 innings. He batted .308 from the leadoff spot for the 26-8 district champions, who lost in the semifinals of the state tournament.

Arroyo was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 1995 amateur draft. His high school coach, Sims, said of Arroyo, “Mentally, he’s prepared to play in the big leagues, he’s blessed with good size and he’s got such a fluid motion that he makes it look easy. As far as his potential, I think no one around here is as good.”6 “I wanted to go with the Pirates all along,” Arroyo said. “I’ve known the Pittsburgh scout since I was in ninth grade and he’s always been straight with me. I’ve got a good impression of the organization just from my contacts with him.”7 He was at the barbershop getting his hair cut when the Pirates called. When he returned home, his dad told him he had been drafted by Pittsburgh.

Arroyo decided to forgo college and signed his professional contract the day he was drafted. “We had an amount in mind and they more than exceeded that amount with their first offer,” Gus Arroyo said. “He would have been a fool to pass up that kind of opportunity, we took it right away.”8

Arroyo reported to the Bradenton Pirates of the Rookie Gulf Coast League, two days following his high-school graduation. He made his minor-league debut, pitching one inning and striking out two. He finished his first season of professional baseball with a 5-4 record and a 4.26 ERA in 61⅓ innings. “I have a lot of work ahead of me. It’s going to take a while,” said the 18-year-old hurler. “I realize I have to be patient. I also know anything could happen in the future. There is no guarantee and I never expected one. I just want to give it my best shot and if it’s in the cards, well, great.”9

With Augusta of the low Class-A Sally League in 1996, Arroyo began learning how to pitch and about the wear and tear on his arm. “I’m learning that you can’t just go out and try to strike everybody out,” he said. “You have to work on getting people to pop up, ground out, and concentrate more on saving your arm. It’s a long season.”10  With Augusta he posted an 8-6 record with a 3.52 ERA. (In his debut on April 5, he allowed just one hit in six innings.)

During spring training in 1997, Arroyo was asked by a reporter if he had fantasized about playing professional baseball as a kid. “I would have bet my life on it when I was 6 years old,” he said. “I always knew I’d play pro ball. I never thought about doing anything else.”11

With Lynchburg of the advanced Class-A Carolina League in 1997, Arroyo was 12-4 with a 3.31 ERA and helped lead the team to the league title. He pitched 166 innings, his highest season total in the minor leagues. In the playoffs he was 2-0 with a sparkling 0.52 ERA. Arroyo was selected to the midseason all-star team.

Arroyo continued his progression through the Pirates’ minor-league system in 1998, playing for the Double-A Carolina Mudcats (Raleigh, North Carolina). He finished with a 9-8 mark and his ERA ballooned to 5.46. Despite that, the Pirates remained high on the youngster. “He’s really developing on a good course,” said Mudcats manager Jeff Banister. “The way he’s advancing, he has a good chance to pitch in the big leagues someday in the near future.”12 Pittsburgh sent Arroyo to the Arizona Instructional league for two months that fall to further his development. He finished with a 2-4 record and a 6.51 ERA.

Arroyo was back in Double A in 1999 with the Altoona Curve. He put together his best minor-league season with a 15-4 record, tied for the Eastern League lead in wins, and a 3.65 ERA. He won eight of his first nine starts. Arroyo was promoted to Triple-A Nashville on August 20 and made three starts, losing two with one no-decision.

Arroyo began the 2000 season in Nashville and was 8-2 with a 3.65 ERA. The call he had been waiting and hoping for came, when he was informed by Sounds manager Richie Hebner on Sunday afternoon June 11, about an hour before he was scheduled to pitch. “Richie said, ‘Stop, you’re pitching against the Braves on Tuesday,’” Arroyo said. “I said, ‘Sweet!’”13

Arroyo had never attended a big-league game until he made his debut at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium on June 12, 2000. But it wasn’t as a pitcher. A decent hitter in the minor leagues, Arroyo batted for pitcher Scott Sauerbeck in the bottom of the sixth inning. He ran the count to 3-and-2 against Braves pitcher Bruce Chen, and then hit a groundball back to the mound.

Arroyo made his pitching debut the next night, June 13, against the Braves. He pitched five innings, allowed five runs and 10 hits, and got a no-decision as the Pirates rallied for a 7-6 10th-inning victory. Arroyo lost three starts before getting his first major-league victory on July 22 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Three Rivers Stadium. He surrendered two hits over seven scoreless innings. “I think I appreciate (the win) more because I didn’t win in my first or second outing,” Arroyo said. “I had to claw my way to get a win. If it had happened in my first outing, I probably wouldn’t appreciate it so much.”14 His second win came six days later, on July 28 in a 16-5 Pirates romp over San Diego. Arroyo allowed three earned runs in six innings and collected his first major-league hit, a double off Matt Clement. During his time with the Pirates, he made 20 big-league appearances – 12 starts and 8 relief appearances – while compiling a 2-6 record and a 6.40 ERA.

That fall Arroyo married his high-school sweetheart, Aimee Faught. They had dated since 1994 and were engaged in 1998. They divorced in 2008.

Arroyo made the Pirates’ Opening Day roster for the 2001 season. “Breaking camp with the team, it will be a little different experience than it was last year,” he said. “With us opening the new ballpark (PNC Park), I think it will not be overwhelming, but kind of like, ‘Wow, it’s coming together.’”15 He won his first start of the season, on April 7 at Houston, 5-3. He bounced between Pittsburgh and Nashville throughout the season. Arroyo made 24 appearances for the Pirates, 13 starts, and pitched his first complete game on October 2, a 10-1 win over the New York Yankees. He was 5-7 with the Pirates and made nine starts in Nashville, finishing with a 6-2 record. After the season he played winter ball in Puerto Rico with Santurce and had a strong season.16

Arroyo’s 2002 season was similar to 2001 except that he spent more time with Nashville than with Pittsburgh. He was disappointed that he did not make the Pirates’ Opening Day roster. “After the season I had in winter ball, I thought I definitely would make the team,” he said.17 In his eighth season in the Pittsburgh organization, he was 8-6 in Nashville with a career minor-league-low ERA of 2.96 in 22 games. With the Pirates he appeared in nine games with a 2-1 record, highlighted by a 4-1 victory over future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine of the Braves on August 29.

Pittsburgh surprisingly placed Arroyo on waivers after the season and the Red Sox claimed him on February 4, 2003. After signing pitcher Jeff Suppan, the Pirates felt they could do without Arroyo. “At this point in time we’re just not convinced by his performance,” general manager Dave Littlefield said of Arroyo. “He just falls off the list as far as our priorities”18 

Arroyo was out to prove that the Pirates made a mistake. In his first year in the Boston organization, he was named the Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year. He went 12-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 24 starts for Triple-A Pawtucket and was second in the International League in strikeouts with 155 in 149⅔ innings. On August 10 he pitched the fourth perfect game in the 120-year history of the International League, a 7-0 win over Buffalo. He struck out nine in the victory. “I didn’t feel especially great in the bullpen,” Arroyo said afterward. “But after you get through three or four innings of easy work and you haven’t thrown many pitches you kind of keep rolling and rolling.”19 

Twelve days later Arroyo was called up to the Red Sox in the heat of the pennant race. He pitched in six games in relief with no won-lost record but a good 2.08 ERA. He recorded his first major-league save in his Red Sox debut. He relieved Pedro Martínez on August 25 against Seattle and pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits. Arroyo was on Boston’s 2003 postseason roster. He did not pitch in the Red Sox’ Division Series win over Oakland, but appeared three times against the Yankees in the ALCS, pitching 3⅓ and allowing one run.

In 2004 for the first time, Arroyo spent the entire season in the big leagues. He became a dependable fifth starter, making 29 starts in his 32 appearances. Arroyo finished with a 10-9 record and a 4.03 ERA. He was at his best down the stretch, going 5-0 in his last nine starts with a 3.78 ERA, all Red Sox wins. He led the major leagues with 20 hit batsmen, tying the Red Sox record set by Howard Ehmke in 1923.

On July 19 against the Seattle Mariners, Arroyo recorded 11 consecutive outs via strikeout in innings three through seven. (Seattle won the game in extra innings.) Five days later, on July 24, Arroyo triggered a bench-clearing brawl with the Yankees. In the top of the third inning with Boston trailing 3-0, he beaned Álex Rodríguez and then, in an effort to restrain the Yankee star, Jason Varitek pushed his catcher’s mitt into Rodríguez’s face and a melee ensued. New York went ahead of Boston, 9-4, but the Red Sox clawed their way back and Bill Mueller hit a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth off Mariano Rivera. That 11-10 win provided confidence to the team, especially later in the year in the playoff rematch with New York.

Arroyo also played an important role in the postseason that began with a start in Game Three of the Division Series in Anaheim against the Angels. He pitched six innings while allowing two runs and three hits with seven strikeouts. Arroyo left the game with the Red Sox leading 6-1 and the crowd gave the right-hander a standing ovation. “Unbelievable. You can’t describe it,” he said. “Walking off the field, knowing you’ve earned the respect of the fans and your teammates.”20 The Angels rallied to tie the score, only to have David Ortiz win the game with a walk-off two run homer for Boston in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Arroyo started Game Three of the ALCS against the Yankees but did not pitch well. He gave up six runs in two-plus innings and was tagged for home runs by Hideki Matsui and Rodríguez.  The Red Sox tied the game, 6-6, in the bottom of the third to get Arroyo off the hook, but they went on to lose the game 19-8 and trail in the series three games to none. He pitched a scoreless 10th inning of Game Five in the Red Sox’ come-from-behind 14-inning 5-4 victory, won on Ortiz’s game-winning single.

Arroyo was the center of controversy in Game Six of the ALCS in Yankee Stadium. Boston was leading 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth and the Yankees had Derek Jeter on first with one out and Arroyo pitching to Rodríguez. Rodríguez hit a groundball down the first-base line that Arroyo fielded. Arroyo went to tag Rodríguez but the Yankee third baseman slapped Arroyo’s glove. The ball bounded out of the glove and rolled into right field with Jeter scoring from first and Rodríguez getting to second. Initially the umpires ruled Rodríguez safe. Arroyo and Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz argued with first-base umpire Randy Marsh, claiming interference. Boston manager Terry Francona joined the fray to argue the call. The six-man umpire crew stepped aside to discuss the ruling. Finally, the umpires reversed the call and ruled that Rodríguez had interfered and was out. He stood at second base in disbelief while Jeter was returned to first base. The 56,128 fans in Yankee Stadium booed relentlessly and threw baseballs and other objects onto the field. After a 10-minute delay to restore order, Arroyo induced Gary Sheffield to pop to catcher Jason Varitek to end the threat. The Red Sox retired New York in the ninth inning with no damage and held on for a 4-2 victory.

“I didn’t know what the rule was,” Arroyo said after the game. “I wasn’t sure what they were going to do. I was just putting the tag on him and he just chopped me across the arm. It was pretty obvious to me.”21 Umpire Marsh after the game said, “I did not see Alex wave at him and knock the ball out. In that situation (plate umpire) Joe West could see it clearly. He was the man who really helped us out. He had the best shot. He was sure of it.”22

Arroyo relieved Tim Wakefield in the fourth inning of Game One of the World Series at Fenway Park on October 23 with the Red Sox leading 7-5. There was a runner on first with two outs. After surrendering a single, Arroyo forced Albert Pujols to ground out and end the inning. Arroyo pitched a perfect fifth inning with two strikeouts. In the sixth he allowed back-to-back run-scoring doubles to Edgar Rentería and Larry Walker as the Cardinals tied the game, 7-7. The Red Sox continued to hit and went on to an 11-9 victory.

Arroyo made one more appearance in the World Series, relieving Derek Lowe in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game Four with Boston leading 3-0. He prompted Roger Cedeño to pop out to second baseman Mark Bellhorn and then walked Reggie Sanders. Francona replaced Arroyo with Alan Embree. Embree retired the Cardinals and Keith Foulke set St. Louis down in the ninth and the Red Sox had their first World Series championship in 86 years. Arroyo, reflecting on his first full big-league season, said, “I wanted to prove I could pitch in this league and I think I accomplished all that. Winning the World Series was a bonus.”23   

Arroyo was back with Boston in 2005 and posted a 14-10 record. He led the team with 20 quality starts and established personal career highs in wins (14), starts (32), and innings pitched (205⅓). He won nine consecutive decisions, five from 2004 and four in 2005, before losing to Toronto on May 25.

After the season Arroyo signed a new three-year contract with Boston, securing his spot on the club, or so he thought. Two months later, on March 20, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Wily Mo Peña. “I don’t know if there’s a moment in my life that’s probably been lower than the phone call Theo Epstein (Red Sox general manager) gave me,” Arroyo recalled years later. “I was three years in, you win a World Series in such a special place in Boston, I was really entrenched there. I was looking forward to doing that for six or seven years. For him to pull the plug on me was completely unexpected. It was a huge downer.”24  

Arroyo became a stalwart of the Reds’ pitching staff for the next eight years, chalking up 108 wins in 279 starts. It took him a little while to adapt to Cincinnati, but once he did, it was home. “I feel very fortunate that I got off to a good start to have people enjoy me and love me right out of the gate,” Arroyo said years later. “It started feeling like a place that I could be for a very long time. It felt like it was my speed. It didn’t feel like the town was too large to get your hands gripped around it. It was just a real hometown feel for me and it happened relatively quickly.”25

In 2006 Arroyo was an All-Star for the first time and was voted the winner of the Johnny Vander Meer Award as the Reds’ Most Outstanding Pitcher and the Joe Nuxhall Good Guy Award. He had a 14-11 record and led the majors with 240⅓ innings pitched. In February 2007 he signed a three-year contract extension and he re-upped again with Cincinnati in 2010 which kept him with the club though the 2013 season.

Arroyo was the Reds’ most reliable pitcher. In all eight seasons with Cincinnati, he made at least 32 starts and pitched over 200 innings except for one season when he pitched 199. Six times he had double-digit wins and in both of the two seasons he fell short he recorded nine. Arroyo had a high of 17 wins in 2010, twice he had 15 victories (2008, 2009), and twice 14 (2006, 2013). He led the team in starts seven times and innings pitched six times. From 2006 to 2013 he was among the major-league leaders in wins, starts, and innings pitched. He won the Vander Meer Award three times (2006, 2009, 2010) and the Joe Nuxhall Award four times (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012). Arroyo was only the second Reds pitcher to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence when he won it in 2010.

Arroyo helped lead the Reds to three playoff appearances, in 2010, 2012, and 2013, the franchise’s only playoff seasons between 1996 and 2019. He was the Reds’ leader in wins in 2010 and tied for the team lead in 2013.

Arroyo started Game Two of the 2010 ALDS against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on October 8. He pitched 5⅓ innings, allowing one earned run on four hits. His defense, with back-to-back errors in the fifth inning, cost him two unearned runs. He left the game with a 4-2 lead, but the bullpen could not hold it as Philadelphia rallied for a 7-4 victory.

In the 2012 ALDS, Arroyo started and won Game Two over San Francisco, 9-0. He allowed just one hit and one walk in seven innings. However, the Reds lost the five-game series, dropping the final three games at home.

After the 2013 season, Arroyo opted for free agency and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He spent one season in Arizona where he made 14 starts and finished with a 7-4 record for the last-place Diamondbacks. Arroyo injured his arm in June and required Tommy John surgery. He sat out the rest of the 2014 season and all of 2015. He bounced around via a few trades and signed as a free agent twice, and at the age of 40 returned to the big leagues with the Reds in 2017, which was his final season. He made 14 starts and finished with a 3-6 record and a 7.35 ERA.

That was the end of the line for Arroyo after 16 major-league seasons and a 22-year professional baseball career. His final major-league statistics include 148 wins, 137 losses. with a 4.28 ERA. Arroyo dots the Reds all-time list in a few categories. He is sixth in strikeouts (1,157), seventh in starts (279) and 16th in wins (108).

Before ending his baseball career, Arroyo had a budding music career. He began playing the guitar when he was in Double A in 1999. While in Boston in 2004-05 he performed in the Hot Stove, Cool Music Show at the Paradise Rock Club to raise money for the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox’ charity to fight cancer in children. He released a music CD, Covering the Bases, in 2005. The record debuted at No. 1 in Boston and several other cities across New England.26 After being traded to Cincinnati, Arroyo performed in concert with the Screaming Mimes to raise $35,000 for the Reds Community Fund in 2006. In addition, from 2006 to 2013 he performed at Redsfest each year. In 2020 he collaborated with classical pianist Harrison Sheckler to create a recording of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” He returned to Boston in 2021 to play the Hot Stove, Cool Music Show.

Arroyo married Nicole McNees in 2021 and as of 2023 the couple resided in the Cincinnati area.

Arroyo was elected to the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame on October 26, 2022, and was enshrined in the summer of 2023, becoming the 82nd Reds player so honored. “It’s something you work for your whole life,” he said upon hearing he had been elected. “You just want to play in the major leagues. You have no idea if you’re going to play long enough to leave your mark in any way, shape, or form. One of the things you don’t think about as a player a lot of times is sticking with the same team long enough to build up these types of numbers to be in their hall of fame.”27 

Arroyo and his band ’04 released an album, Some Might Say, on February 16, 2023. It was the first album for which he wrote all the music.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, AZcentral.com, the Boston Red Sox Media Guides for 2004 and 2005, and the Cincinnati Reds 2013 Media Guide.

Notes

1 Staff reports, “Northeast Pensacola reaches Dixie Boys World Series,” Pensacola News Journal, August 16, 1991: Section C-1.

2 Tim Buckley, “Arroyo Shines for Dixie Team,” Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg), August 6, 1993: 4.

3 “Arroyo Shines for Dixie Team.”

4 Tim Buckley, “Hernando Boys Set Sights on World Series,” Tampa Bay Times, July 31, 1993: 1.

5  Gregg Doyel, “Hernando Seeks More Surprises,” Tampa Tribune, May 10, 1994: 4-Hernando.

6 Scott Danahy, “Arroyo Calm While Pitching Up a Storm,” Tampa Tribune, June 3, 1995: 6-Citrus.

7 Thomas White, “Majors Come Calling on Hernando Pitcher,” Tampa Bay Times, June 2, 1995: 1.

8 Scott Danahy, “USF Loses Arroyo to Lure of Pro Game,” Tampa Tribune, June 6, 1995: 5-North Tampa.

9  Thomas White, “Arroyo Nostalgic, but Happy with Present,” Tampa Bay Times, August 10, 1995: 4.

10  Mike Readling, “Arroyo Working on Fooling Hitters and Saving His Arm,” Tampa Bay Times, July 18, 1996: 4.

11  Rick Gershman, “At Home on the Mound,” Tampa Bay Times, March 30, 1997: 1.

12 Pete Young, “Arroyo Beating Numbers Game,” Tampa Bay Times, September 3, 1998: 4.

13  Brant James, “Hernando Native Steps Up to the Big Leagues,” Tampa Bay Times, June 13, 2000: 1.

14  Paul Meyer, “Arroyo Sparkles in 2-1 Victory,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 2000: D-6.

15  Brant James, “Pirates’ Arroyo Is in ‘The Show,’” Tampa Bay Times, April 1, 2001: 6.

16 Associated Press, “Pirates finally ready to Play,” Latrobe Bulletin, February 26, 2002: 8.

17 Brant James, “Back to Nashville … Again,” Tampa Bay Times, March 31, 2002: 4.

18 Robert Dvorchak, “Paper Pirates Are Improved,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 1, 2003: C-2.

19 Associated Press, “PawSox’s Arroyo Perfect,” Lewiston (Maine) Sun-Journal, August 11, 2003: C3.

20 John Powers, “Emotions Bubbling Over for Arroyo,” Boston Globe, October 9, 2004: E3.

21  Peter May, “A-Rod a Bigger Villain in One Swipe,” Boston Globe, October 20, 2004: D2.

22 “A-Rod a Bigger Villain in One Swipe.”

23 John Schwarb, “Arroyo, Red Sox Prove Their Worth, Tampa Bay Times, December 12, 2004: 4.

24 Bobby Nightengale, “From Reluctance, Cincinnati Became Home for Arroyo,” Louisville Courier-Journal, October 30, 2022: B8.

25 “From reluctance, Cincinnati Became Home for Arroyo:” B8.

26 2013 Cincinnati Reds Media Guide, 54.

27  Bobby Nightengale, “Arroyo Voted into Reds Hall of Fame,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 28, 2022: C3.