[2] In his freshman season, he won the championship game of the 1994 NCAA Division III World Series, against Wesleyan University (Connecticut).

[2] That season he had a 6-1 record, a 2.03 earned run average (ERA) before being named to the NCAA Division III All-Midwest Region second team.

[2] Washburn began his professional career pitching for the Low Single-A Boise Hawks and Cedar Rapids Kernels in 1995.

Washburn began 1997 back in Double-A and was playing for Triple-A Vancouver in 1998 when he was called up and made his major league debut on June 2.

Washburn's career year was 2002, when he won 18 games and lost 6 with an excellent ERA of 3.15, finishing 4th in American League Cy Young Award voting, and helped the Angels to a World Series championship.

As of the end of July 2009, opposing batters were hitting .224 against him, which was the third-lowest batting average in the league; he was just behind Edwin Jackson (.216) and Matt Garza (.222), and was followed by Scott Feldman (.228; .217 as a starter).

[8] Washburn, a playoff-tested veteran in the midst of a great season, was expected to shore up a Tigers rotation that had seen seven different pitchers make a start in the fifth starters' spot.

While he had led the American League in earned run average at the time of the trade,[10] Washburn's tenure with the Tigers was forgettable, as he proceeded to go 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA in 8 starts.

[12] In 2013, Washburn became the head baseball coach at his alma mater, Webster High School,[13] but only until his kids graduated, then he left the program with haste.