Craig Weissmann

Craig Fisher Weissmann

• Bats Unknown, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 185 lb.
• School United States International University
• High School Clairemont High School

• Born January 26, 1961 in San Diego, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Pitcher Craig Weissmann played 11 seasons in the minor leagues. He was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 19th round of the 1979 amateur draft, out of Clairemont High School in San Diego, CA. He spent 1979 and 1980 with the GCL Cubs, then split the 1981 and 1982 seasons between the Geneva Cubs of the New York-Penn League and the Quad Cities Cubs of the Midwest League. He was 5-4, 5.80 in 1981 and 5-8, 4.96 in 1982.

In 1983, he moved over to the New York Mets organization, as part of the trade that brought SS Tom Veryzer from the Mets to the Cubs on April 2nd. He did well in Class A the next two seasons, going 8-4, 3.57 for the Columbia Mets in the South Atlantic League in 1983 and 9-9, 3.94 for the Lynchburg Mets in 1984. In 1985, he made it to AA for the first time with the Jackson Mets of the Texas League, going 8-8, 2.93. He seemed close to the Show by that point, but the major league Mets were stacked with pitching and had a very good young team, and opportunities to make it to Shea Stadium were limited. In 1986, he moved to the Detroit Tigers organization and struggled, going 0-2, 18.26 in 6 starts for the Glens Falls Tigers in the Eastern League. He was released, but was picked up quickly by the St. Louis Cardinals, who assigned him to the Arkansas Travelers. Back in the Texas League, he got things back under control, going 4-4, 3.52 in 29 games, mainly as a reliever.

Craig was back to starting with Arkansas in 1987 and posted a personal best for wins, going 11-7, 3.77. However, his window to reach the major leagues seemed to have passed by at this point. He pitched in the Southern League in 1988, his third different AA circuit in three years, seeing time with both the Jacksonville Expos and Huntsville Stars. He was 1-5, 4.56 as a reliever for Jacksonville, and 1-0 for Huntsville, for a combined ERA of 4.69 in 38 games. He went back to Arkansas in 1989, finishing up his career by going 1-2, 5.07 in 40 games. He then pitched in Serie A1 in 1991 while completing a bachelor's degree in international relations from United States International University. He was 0-6 with a 5.35 ERA for Torino (the rest of the team was 0-30 with higher ERAs, though). He was 4 for 31 while backing up Dante Carbini at first base.

After his playing career he went into scouting to work with Joe Henderson, a veteran of the business who became his mentor. Craig started his Scouting Career in 1992 with the San Diego Padres and signed Gary Matthews Jr. in 1993. Craig then went to the Seattle Mariners starting in 1994. In 1995, he set that aside temporarily to be a replacement player trying out for the team in spring training before the settlement of the 1994 strike. He signed Fernando Cortez, John Jaso, Elliot Johnson, Edgar Gonzalez, Bobby Cramer, Jason Pridie, Brian Stokes and Joe Kennedy for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, spending eight years in the organization. He signed Andrés Ávila, Arnold Leon, Yairo Munoz, Trevor Cahill and James Simmons for the Oakland Athletics, for whom he worked from 2006 to 2012, first as an area scout and later as a professional scout and special assignment scout. As an Area Scout Craig managed Winter league teams always looking for players to draft or sign. Craig was on the go scouting and coaching year around. Here is a list of just a few players he managed: Barry Zito , Adam Jones, Casey Janssen, Justin Germano, Tony Gwynn Jr., Danny Espinosa, Mike Jacobs, Mike Carp, Matt Bush, Kris Medlen and even DeSean Jackson who went on the be an NFL Star.

Craig has a keen eye for talent all you have to do is look at some of these draft choices and where they were drafted: Greg Dobbs, 53rd round; Barry Zito, 59th round; D.J. Houlton, 55th round; Mike Jacobs, 48th round; Brad Davis; 48th round; Kris Medlen, 37th round; Ike Davis, 19th round; Mike Leake, 7th round; Gary Brown, 12th round.

Not all players sign for various reasons, but all you need to do is look at where they were drafted. The ability to project how players will develop is essential to being a good evaluator of talent.

In 2013, he was named Vice-President of Player Personnel by the Miami Marlins, succeeding Dan Jennings, who was promoted to General Manager. He had known Jennings from their time together in the Devil Rays' organization. Unfortunately, Jennings was let go after the 2015 season when he was unexpectedly named the Marlins' manager. Craig left the organization as well and decided to pivot in another direction by joining the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016. In 2019, he joined the San Francisco Giants front office to once again work with Farhan Zaidi whom he had worked with at the A's and the Dodgers.

Further Reading

• Bob Finnigan: "M's Scout Hopes To Play, Too -- Weissmann Revives `Competitive Fire' As `Player-Scout'", The Seattle Times, February 26, 1995. [1]
• Juan C. Rodriguez: "Marlins add new VP of player personnel", South Florida Sun Sentinel, October 25, 2013. [2]

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