Rick DeHart

Richard Allen DeHart

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.
• School Washburn University of Topeka
• High School Seaman High School
• Debut July 16, 1997
• Final Game June 8, 2003
• Born March 21, 1970 in Topeka, KS USA

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Biographical Information

Rick DeHart pitched four seasons in the major leagues, the first three with the Montreal Expos from 1997 to 1999, then after running into injury issues, he had a short stint with the Kansas City Royals in 2003. Overall, he went 2-3, 6.14 in 56 games. He also pitched very briefly in Japan.

He was signed by the Expos as an undrafted free agent and was never considered to be much of a prospect, but he managed to make his way up the minor league ladder relatively quickly, reaching AA by the end of his second pro season in 1993 with the Harrisburg Senators. He was a member of three straight Harrisburg teams that won the Eastern League championship, from 1993 to 1995, transitioning from the starting rotation to the bullpen during that time. In 1997, he was promoted to the AAA Ottawa Lynx to start the season and while he did not put up overwhelming numbers - he went 0-4, 4.00 in 43 games - he got the call to Montreal in mid-July when the team was short of pitchers following three successive years of fire sales, the promotion of most of their true pitching prospects, and a rash of injuries. Specifically, due to the struggles of Omar Daal, they were left without a single lefthander in their bullpen, prompting them to give Rick a look. He went 2-1, 5.52 in 23 games, with 29 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings.

He had done just enough to be kept on the 40-man roster after his debut season and managed to start the 1998 in Montreal, where he gave up 9 runs in his first 14 innings. After being sent down to Ottawa, he pitched much better, going 7-1, 3.23 with 4 saves in 38 games in what was his best minor league season. That earned him a number of return trips to Montreal that year, and in 26 games overall, he had no wins or losses and an ERA of 4.82. That was misleading though, as he gave up an unusually high number of unearned runs: only 15 of the 22 runs he gave up 28 innings were earned. he did pick up the only save of his career against the St. Louis Cardinals on September 26th. He started the 1999 season in Ottawa, but was back in Montreal by mid-April due to an injury to Steve Kline. He was roughed up in three outings to the tune of a 21.60 ERA and went back to Ottawa where he failed to impress, with an ERA of 4.78 in 15 games. On June 11th, the Expos sold his contract to the Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese Central League, but he went just 0-1, 8.53 in 6 games.

He missed all of 2000 with an injury and resurfaced in 2001 as a member of the Royals' organization, his hometown team. He pitched in Class A and AA that year but made it back to AAA with the Omaha Royals in 2002 and 2003, going 1-0, 3.90 in 49 games the first year and 1-3, 4.82 the second. In 2003, the Royals gave him a brief look, but he went 0-2, 13.50 in 4 games and was written off by the organization. Not willing to retire yet, he spent then next three seasons between the Independent Leagues and the Mexican League, with three seasons with the Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League and part of one with the Sultanes de Monterrey. He was back to being a full-time starting pitcher by that point and after starting 11 games between two teams in 2007 and going 4-6, 4.06 at age 37, he was ready to hang up his glove. In 2008, he became the pitching coach of the Kansas City T-Bones of the Northern League, but was also pressed into getting back on the mound towards the end of the season, making one final start.