Career
Wagner was a natural-born right-handed person, but after breaking his right arm twice in accidents as a young boy, he taught himself to throw baseballs using his left arm by throwing thousands of balls against the wall of a barn, and then fielding the rebounds, and repeating.
Wagner went to school in the Tazewell school system, and he graduated from the Tazewell High School, where he was named the Baseball Player of the Year in 1990. He next attended Ferrum College, a small liberal arts college in Virginia, and in his one year as a student-athlete there, he recorded a record of 16 wins and four losses. Wagner also set single-season NCAA records for strikeouts per nine innings, with 19⅓ in 1992, and fewest hits allowed per nine innings, with 1.88.
Wagner was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft in June 1993 by the Houston Astros, and he played exclusively as a starting pitcher in minor league baseball. In 1994, Wagner led all minor league pitchers – in every league – in strikeouts, with 204.
Wagner made his first Major League appearance with the Astros, as a late-season promotion from AAA baseball, on September 13, 1995, pitching against one batter late in a 10–5 defeat by the New York Mets. This was his only opportunity to pitch for the Astros that season.
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