End Of The Line: Tim Hudson

End Of The Line is an occasional offseason series that will take a closer look at the career of DMBL players leaving the league after the 2016 season. Today, we look back at longtime Carolina Mudcat, Tim Hudson.

Tim Hudson sat around all season waiting for a call that never came before deciding to hang it up. He was eligible for the 2016 DMBL but never got picked up, even as a free-agent injury fill-in. He did spend some time with the Kansas Stars last summer but nothing that would make him eligible for DMBL 2017.

With the book now closed on him, Hudson spent 14 seasons in the DMBL, the first 11 with Carolina. The Mudcats made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2000 draft. He was selected ahead of such luminaries as Scott Williamson, Kris Benson and Todd Ritchie. Other notable 1st rounders that year included Hideo Nomo, Eric Milton, Homer Bush, Juan Guzman and one-year wonder Terry Shumpert (he slugged a record 69 doubles that year but only managed 26 at-bats the rest of his career). Bush would go on to win the Pat Listach Rookie of the Year Award, with Hudson (and Jeff Zimmerman) receiving one vote despite a career-high 17 losses.

Hudson repaid the Mudcats on their investment, giving them the best years of his career. In his first seven seasons, he started no fewer than 32 games. He had one of the all-time best pitching seasons in 2004: 17-3, 2.08 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, a record 29 quality starts (.879), and career-high 234 innings on his way to the Ben McDonald Award that year. He also won a career-high 17 games in 2011.

In all, Hudson played 15 years (2000-14) and made double-digit starts in all but two of them (he made just two starts in 2007 and missed the entire 2010 year with an injury). He last played in 2014 with Marietta, logging 209 2/3 innings and going 10-10. In all, Hudson compiled 11 seasons with double-digit wins as well as 10 with double-digit losses.

At the 2012 trade deadline, Rowdy Roddy Pipers (the former Mudcats) sent Hudson to Amityville for a 5th rounder.

Hudson, 40, finishes his DMBL career as one of only 7 pitchers to start 400 games. He ranks No. 7 all-time in starts (407) behind Roy Halladay (408). Hudson's retirement leaves Bartolo Colon as the active leader in starts (388). He leaves the game ranked 8th in innings pitched (2,647 2/3), breaking a tie with Pedro Martinez thanks to a brief 5-inning start for Livingston in 2015 in which he went out with a bang: 15 hits and 10 runs allowed (9 earned). Hudson ends his career with a record of 156-145 (.518); the 156 wins good for 12th all-time.