David Buchanan

David Andrew Buchanan

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 200 lb.
• School Chipola College, Georgia State University
• High School Fayette County High School
• Debut May 24, 2014

• Born May 11, 1989 in Atlanta, GA USA

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Biographical Information

Pitcher David Buchanan made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of May 2014 and stayed in the starting rotation the rest of the season, making 20 starts with a record of 6-8, 3.75. His last win came on August 6th, as he was 0-3 in 9 starts the rest of the way. It was not that he pitched poorly: he actually lowered his ERA from 4.39 to 3.75 over that stretch, but he did not receive much run support. He got off to a very rough start in 2015, becoming the only pitcher in the majors to be tagged with five losses in April. Following a 9-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on April 30th, his record stood at 0-5, 8.76 and stretched his streak of winless starts to 14. The last Phillies pitcher to have lost his first five starts of the season was Kyle Abbott, back in 1992, a year in which he went 1-14. Buchanan did not do that much better, finishing at 2-9, 6.99, his last year as a big leaguer, before spending 2016 in AAA with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

He then moved to Asia, playing for the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Pro Baseball from 2017 to 2019. In his best season there, in 2018, he was 10-11, 4.03 in 28 games, though he tied Shota Imanaga for the Central League lead in losses and allowed the most hits. From 2020 to 2023, he was with the Samsung Lions in the Korea Baseball Organization. It was an excellent four-year stretch, as he won in double figures every year, without ever losing more than 8 games. Starting off with a 3.45 ERA the first year (when he went 15-7), he lowered it every season to finish at 2.54 in 30 games in 2023, to go along with a record of 12-8. He was also a workhorse, pitching at least 160 innings every year and also racking up good strikeout totals. His 16 wins in 2021 tied Eric Jokisch for the league lead.

Given that the KBO had been known as a hitters' league of late, that success caught the interest of major league scouts, and in 2024, he found himself back where he had started, in spring training with the Philadelphia Phillies on a minor league contract. There he was joining with Bryce Harper, with whom he had a bit of a history: back in 2015, when Harper was with the Washington Nationals, he had thrown a pitch behind Harper's head, only to see the slugger propel one of his next offerings into the stands for a homer. He explained that he had long regretted how that at-bat had gone and took a belated opportunity to apologize to his now teammate.

Further Reading

• Todd Zolecki: "Buchanan clears air with Harper over 2015 regret", mlb.com, February 26, 2024. [1]

Related Sites

• David Buchanan on mlb.com
• Georgia State University bio