Michael Warren Maroth (born August 17, 1977) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) starting pitcher and current pitching coach for the UCF Knights. Born in Orlando, Florida, and after attending the University of Central Florida, the left-handed Maroth made his Major League debut in 2002 for the Detroit Tigers. Playing career Early career A third-round pick in the 1998 draft, Maroth spent his first two years of professional baseball playing for the Single-A Sarasota Red Sox in the Boston Red Sox organization. He led Sarasota's starting pitchers with 11 wins in 1999. Detroit Tigers Before the 2000 season, Maroth was traded to the Tigers organization for relief pitcher Bryce Florie and worked his way up from the Single-A Lakeland Tigers to the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens by 2001. Maroth had a 4.65 earned run average (ERA) with Toledo. At the time of his promotion to the Tigers, he was also tied for second place in wins for the entire International League. Maroth was made a starter for the Tigers on June 8, 2002. In 2003, Maroth lost 21 games for the Tigers—the first pitcher to lose 20 or more games in a season since Brian Kingman lost 20 for the Oakland Athletics in 1980. However, he led the Tigers in wins (9) and win–loss percentage (.300) while the team set the American League record of 119 games lost (43–119). Maroth rebounded to a decent 2004 campaign, going 11–13 with a 4.31 ERA and 108 strikeouts. 2004 also saw Maroth pitch a one-hit complete game shutout against a surging New York Yankees team that July – he lost his no-hit bid in the fourth-inning due to future teammate Gary Sheffield. In light of the Tigers continually struggling offense, Maroth's 2005 performance was similarly solid, as he managed to rack up 14 wins from 28 starts – the second best record on the team, and just one loss behind their young ace, Jeremy Bonderman. In 2006, Maroth assumed the No. 3 role in the starter rotation, behind the veteran Kenny Rogers and Bonderman, and ahead of rookie Justin Verlander and Nate Robertson. Maroth credited Rogers with suggested changes to his pitching strategy, and – after the season's first month – it appeared that he was experiencing a breakout year, though digging a little deeper reveals that his defense independent pitching statistics were actually about the same as they had been