Eric Massingham

Eric J. Massingham

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 205 lb.

• School Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
• High School De La Salle High School

• Born November 19, 1986 in Walnut Creek, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Eric Massingham has pitched in the US, Australia and Germany.

Massingham was 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA as a college freshman, 3-1 with a 4.17 ERA as a sophomore and 2-5 with a 5.86 ERA as a junior. His senior season, he improved to 7-3 with 6 saves and a 3.07 ERA. He was 6th in the Big West Conference in saves and tied for 7th in wins. The Philadelphia Phillies took him in the 25th round of the 2009 amateur draft. Shane Bowers was the scout.

He began his professional career very well with the Williamsport Crosscutters (2-1, 4 Sv, 0.76, .181 opponent average, 32 K in 23 2/3 IP) before a right hand fracture ended his year. With the Lakewood BlueClaws the next summer, he did well when healthy (5-2, 3 Sv, 3.43 in 34 G) but was twice on the DL. Let go by the Phillies, he moved on to the independent leagues. In 2011, he was with the Somerset Patriots (10 H, 3 R in 3 1/3 IP) and Evansville Otters (2-3, 22 Sv, 1.38, 47 K in 45 2/3 IP). He was second in the Frontier League in saves, 6 behind Ryan Quigley.

In 2012, he was briefly with the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks (1 R in 4 IP) but again spent most of the year with the Otters (4-2, 21 Sv, 2.86, 40 K in 34 2/3 IP). He led the Frontier League in saves by two ahead of Amalio Diaz. He was 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA for the Canberra Cavalry in the 2012-2013 Australian Baseball League, as Canberra won the title. He was even more dominant (3-1, 19 Sv, 1.25) in his third season with Evansville; he was 5th in the Frontier League in saves, between Justin Erasmus and Nick Capito. He won the league's All-Star relief pitcher award. He tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings for Canberra when they became the first Australian Baseball League team to win an Asia Series; 3 of the innings came in the finale of the 2013 Asia Series against the Uni-President Lions after starter Ethan Cole gave up 4 unearned runs in the first 2 1/3 IP. Mike Ekstrom relieved Massingham and got the win.

With Canberra in 2013-2014, he was 4-2 with a 5.75 ERA in 19 games. He split 2014 between Evansville (8 Sv, 1 R in 12 IP) and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (2-4, Sv, 6.16 in 42 G). He signed with the Stuttgart Reds in Germany for 2015. He was 8-4 with a 3.05 ERA, finishing 6th in the southern Bundesliga-1 in ERA, second in strikeouts (117, one behind Jan-Niclas Stöcklin), tied Stöcklin and Gianny Fracchiolla for 4th in wins and was 4th in IP (97 1/3, between Tyler Lockwood and Stöcklin).

Signing with the Mainz Athletics for 2016, he was even better at 10-2, 1.44. He led the league in ERA (.27 ahead of Dave Rider), tied Wesley Roemer for 5th in strikeouts (90), was second in wins (two behind teammate Tim Stahlmann), led in WHIP (.84, .05 ahead of Roemer), was second in opponent average (.194, .001 behind Erasmus), was second in opponent slugging (.257, .012 behind Stahlmann), allowed the lowest OBP (.230, .014 better than Erasmus) and had the lowest opponent OPS (44 points better than Mike Bolsenbroek).

Sources

• Frontier League
• 2013 Asia Series
• 2011 Phillies Media Guide
• The Baseball Cube
• Bundesliga