1988 Dodgers player profile: William Brennan, getting his feet wet

William Brennan was one of two players to make their major league debut with the 1988 Dodgers, joining Ramon Martinez. Brennan, who nearly made the club out of spring training as a reliever but instead opened the year in Triple-A Albuquerque, made his debut nearly a month before Martinez.

How acquired: Brennan was signed by the Dodgers as an undrafted free agent in 1984 out of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.

Prior MLB experience: None; Brennan made his major league debut on July 19, 1988. He suffered the loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, as he allowed three runs on six hits and three walks in 4⅔ innings, with two strikeouts.

1988 age: 25

1988 stats: Brennan was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in four games, with seven strikeouts and six walks in 9⅓ innings. In two starts Brennan allowed seven runs in 7⅓ innings, and in his two relief appearances he pitched a pair of scoreless frames in mop-up duty. With the Dukes in 1988, Brennan was 14-8 with a 3.82 ERA in 29 games including 28 starts, with 83 strikeouts and 51 walks in 167⅓ innings.

Brennan's MLB debut was derailed by three walks, a pair of wild pitches, a balk, and two stolen bases allowed.

"He hurt himself. But overall, he threw well," catcher Mike Scioscia told Sam McManis of the Los Angeles Times after Brennan's debut. "But he got his feet wet and hopefully won't make those mistakes again. Maybe if we would've had a better offensive attack, it would have overshadowed a few of those plays."

Regular season game of the year: His two starts were kind of forgettable, so let's go with his scoreless inning in relief on Sept. 2 against the Mets, even though it came when the Dodgers trailed by eight runs.

NLCS & World Series performance: Brennan did not make the postseason roster.

Post-1988 playing career: Brennan's third time around in Triple-A Albuquerque was not a charm, as he went 6-9 with a 5.23 ERA in 129 innings in 1989. After the season Brennan was selected by Houston in the Rule 5 draft, then bounced around in the farm systems of the Astros, Expos, Tigers, and Cubs. His only other major league action came in 1993, when he was 2-1 with a 4.20 ERA in eight games and 15 innings for the Cubs.

Where he is now: Brennan spent years as a private pitching instructor, and wrote this essay on pitching mechanics back in 2002.