Matt Karchner

Matthew Dean Karchner

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 245 lb.
• School Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania
• High School Berwick Area Senior High School
• Debut July 18, 1995
• Final Game June 14, 2000
• Born June 28, 1967 in Berwick, PA USA

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Biographical Information

Matt Karchner spent his entire six-year major league career with the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs.

He was an eighth-round pick in the 1989 amateur draft by the Kansas City Royals, and spent 1989-1995 in the minors before getting his first major league chance in the middle of the 1995 season. He had been taken by the Montreal Expos in the 1991 Rule V Draft but failed to make the team the following spring and was returned to the Royals. The White Sox then selected him from the Royals in the 1993 minor league draft. Peak performances in the minors included 1991, when he posted a 1.97 ERA as a relief pitcher in the Florida State League, and 1994 when he split his time between Double A and Triple A ball and had an ERA under 1.40 in both places.

In 1995, he spent half the season with the Nashville Sounds, posting a 1.45 ERA, and half the season with the White Sox, posting a 1.69 ERA.

Karchner never started a game in the majors, pitching all his 223 games in relief, but in the minors he made 41 starts.

Matt continued to spend some time in the minors each year from 1995-2000 except for 1998. In 1997, for example, he was in the majors much of the season but posted a 1.93 ERA with Nashville in 13 games there.

Karchner's best season in the majors was 1995, his rookie year, but he also had a 2.91 ERA with 15 saves in 1997, and a 2.50 ERA in 1999. He was on the Cubs team that played in the post-season in 1998, and Karchner appeared briefly in the NLDS that year.

As a batter, he had an OBP of 1.000, getting a walk and a sacrifice hit in his only two plate appearances.

In 2004-2005, he was baseball coach at Susquehanna University.