Tony Torcato Tony Torcato Anthony Dale Torcato (born October 25, 1979 in Woodland, California) is a former professional baseball player. Torcato was drafted in the 1st round (19th overall) of the 1998 Major League Baseball Draft by the San Francisco Giants. Before being drafted, Torcato signed a letter of intent to play college baseball at UNLV. He made his MLB debut on July 26, 2002 as the starting right fielder for the Giants against the Los Angeles Dodgers and singled to right field in his first at-bat off of the Dodgers Hideo Nomo. He played in parts of four seasons in Major
Hideo Nomo numbers were attributed to his unorthodox wind-up, where he turned his back to the hitter, raised his pivot leg, and paused for a second before throwing. The delivery increased his pitch speed and made it more difficult for batters to spot the ball coming out of his hand. The windup gave him the nickname "Tornado." In his first four seasons, Nomo was as consistent, and consistently good, as any pitcher in Japanese baseball, winning 17 or 18 games each year. His fifth season in 1994 was marred by a shoulder injury and netted him only eight wins. Nomo's forkball became