Former pitcher Joe Coleman died today, Wednesday, at the age of 78:

The son and father of major leaguers, Coleman became the No. 3 pick in baseball’s inaugural amateur draft in 1965 when he was selected by the Washington Senators. His father, also named Joe — who pitched in the majors from 1942-55 — negotiated a club-record $75,000 signing bonus.

The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Coleman became the first player to reach the majors after being drafted when he debuted for the Senators on Sept. 28, 1965. He threw a four-hitter to beat the Kansas City Athletics 6-1.

ESPN.com

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Coleman peaked early with most of his best seasons coming between seasonal ages 21 and 26. In that time he accumulated 21.6 of his 27.7 rWAR. His best season came in 1973 when he posted a 23-15 record with a 3.53 ERA. It was the third of four straight seasons of pitching at least 280 innings. The 1974 season was his last at that level of innings, and it’s very likely the workload contributed to his early decline.

His strength came from limiting home runs. In his prime years he allowed just 0.8 per 9 IP, and he was likely hurt by pitching in Detroit.