Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brian Wolfe died on Tuesday, both his wife and the franchise announced.
He was 45.
Wolfe died after “a really, really difficult and torturous battle,” his wife wrote on social media. Further specifics of his death are not yet known.
Wolfe was selected in the sixth round of the 1999 MLB draft out of Anaheim, California. He made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays in 2007 after playing in the minor leagues for years. He made 38 appearances and held a 3-1 record with a 2.98 ERA during his rookie campaign. He ended up making 72 appearances on the mound for the Blue Jays with a 3.81 ERA over his three seasons in the league.
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Wolfe became a free agent after the 2009 campaign, and he then spent the next nine years playing professionally in Japan. He spent part of his Nippon Professional Baseball career with the Nippon Ham Fighters, and played one season alongside Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani before joining the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
Wolfe helped the Hawks win the Japan Series with in both 2014 and 2015. He ended his career after a stint with the Saitama Seibu Lions, and retired after the 2018 season when he was 37. Wolfe held a 3.43 ERA over 167 starts in total in the NPB
