Brian Patrick Bannister and his wife, Megan, had their fi rst daughter, Brynn Avery, in October 2008 and live in San Ramon, Calif...Graduated from Chaparral (Ariz.) High School...named a 3-time All-Region and All-City selection in baseball and led team to a state title as a senior...winner of the Wendy's High School Heisman Award as a senior...Played baseball at the University of Southern California, where he was a member of the 2-time Pac-10 Champions...named First-team Academic All-American while at USC...His father, Floyd, pitched in the Majors for 15 seasons with the Astros, Mariners, White Sox, Royals, Angels and Rangers...went a combined 16-14 for the Royals in 1988 and 1989...uncle, Greg Cochran, played in the Yankees and A's systems...brother Brett pitched in the Mariners system...other brother Cory is a pitcher at Stanford...Participated in the 2008 and 2009 Royals Caravan and FanFest.

After a superb rookie season in 2007, had a rough go of it in 2008, recording a 9-16 mark with a 5.76 ERA, setting a career high with 32 starts...His 16 losses were tied for fourth in the Majors...His 29 home runs allowed were the third-most in the American League...Posted a solid 3.96 ERA in 17 home starts while his 8.43 road ERA was the highest among all Major League hurlers with at least 70 road innings...Struggled with 2 outs, as opponents hit .329 (80-for-243), .328 (101-for-308) with runners on base, .344 (53-for-154) with runners in scoring position and .342 (26-for-76) with runners in scoring position and 2 outs...Made his second career Opening Day roster (also 2006 with the Mets)...Had a superb start to the season, going 3-0 in his fi rst 3 starts with a 0.86 ERA (21 IP, 2 ER)...included in that streak was his second career complete game on April 13 vs. Minnesota...allowed just 1 unearned run on 3 hits in a 5-1 win...Suffered through a 13-start winless streak from June 29-September 9, going 0-9 with 4 no decisions and posting a 7.79 ERA (67 IP, 58 ER)...Had toughest day of his career on August 17 at New York, allowing 10 runs on 10 hits in 1-plus innings...Struck out a career-best 8 batters against the Rangers on August 27, but suffered the 3-2 loss...Snapped his 13-start winless streak by defeating the Indians on September 14 in Cleveland, 13-3.