Scott Richmond

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Scott Daniel Richmond

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Biographical Information[edit]

Scott Richmond made his Organized Baseball debut at age 28 after his work in the independent leagues and for Team Canada and made his major league debut that same year. He was the first New Zealand citizen to play in the majors; his father grew up in Auckland.

His high school did not offer a baseball program, so instead he played amateur summer baseball throughout western Canada, supporting himself by working on the docks in Vancouver. Richmond attended Missouri Valley College for one year, playing for the school's NAIA-level baseball team. He then attended Bossier Parish Community College in Louisiana for one year, again playing for the school's baseball team. Richmond again changed schools after a year, transferring to Oklahoma State University.

Richmond was 3-3 with a 4.66 ERA for Oklahoma State in 2004. In 2005, he was 3-6 with 6 saves and a 3.00 ERA, striking out 98 in 99 innings while allowing 74 hits and 27 walks. He just missed the Big Twelve Conference's top 15 in ERA, tying Brian Duensing. He was named a Big 12 honorable mention All-Conference pick.

Undrafted and aged 25, Richmond was signed by the Edmonton Cracker-Cats but struggled (1-4, 4 Sv, 6.25). In 2006, he was 3-7 with 8 saves and a 3.03 ERA, striking out 72 while walking only 17 in 71 1/3 innings and allowing just 53 hits. He led Edmonton in ERA; had he qualified, he would have ranked 4th in the Northern League.

Richmond moved to the rotation in 2007, where he had a 10-9, 4.26 record. The rest of the staff was just 28-49 as Richmond led in wins. He was 10th in the Northern League in ERA. The Toronto Blue Jays signed Richmond following the season.

In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, Richmond joined Team Canada; Canada also put Jamie Richmond (no relation) on the team. While Jamie Richmond had a fine tournament, Scott struggled. He was 0-2 with a 9.39 ERA, taking two of Canada's three losses. He led the team in hits allowed (14) and homers allowed (2) and had the second-worst ERA (ahead of Mike Kusiewicz). Facing the Cuban national team (which won Silver), Richmond relieved Phillippe Aumont in the 3rd inning and gave up 9 hits and four runs in four innings of work, including a Yulieski Gourriel home run. He threw one scoreless inning of relief against the Dutch national team (which finished 4th). Against the Australian national team, he entered with a 3-3 tie, 2 outs and the bases loaded in the 6th, retiring Andrew Graham to escape the jam. After Canada took the lead in the bottom of the 6th, Richmond allowed a double to Trent Oeltjen in the 7th and a run-scoring single to Justin Huber. In the 9th, he gave up a double to Luke Hughes and walked Oeltjen. Brad Harman doubled to give Australia the lead. After an intentional walk to Huber, Richmond was lifted for Mike Johnson, who let two inherited runners score. Canada lost 7-6 and Richmond took his second defeat.

Richmond did better in the 2008 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament. He was 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA, getting a win in a 15-10 slugfest over Mexico and throwing four scoreless frames against a strong South Korean national team offense (which included the tourney leaders in RBI, runs and average) for a second win. Richmond tied Kwang-hyun Kim, Min-han Son, Chien-Ming Chiang, Chien-Fu Yang and teammates Alexandre Periard and Steve Green for the tourney lead in wins. He ranked 6th in ERA. Thanks in part to Richmond's work, Canada won a spot in the 2008 Olympics.

Richmond was 5-8 with a 4.92 ERA in 16 games for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in his Organized Baseball debut. He was then called up to the Syracuse Chiefs and was 0-2 with a 2.50 ERA in five starts, with 31 strikeouts in 32 innings. He was placed on Canada's roster for the 2008 Olympics. However, he was unable to make the trip to Beijing as he was called up to Toronto at that point to replace the injured Brian Tallet. James Avery took his spot on the Olympic roster.

Richmond made his major league debut with the Toronto Blue Jays on July 30, 2008, in a losing start against the Tampa Bay Rays, allowing 3 runs in 5 1/3 IP. Scott allowed a single to the first batter he faced in The Show, Akinori Iwamura, and Carl Crawford tripled him home two batters later. In spite of this inauspicious debut, Richmond managed to turn some heads in his last start of the season on September 26th, when he pitched a rain-shortened 6-inning complete game shutout to earn his first Major League victory by a 3-0 score over the Baltimore Orioles. He finished the season 1-3 with a 4.00 ERA for the Jays, walking only 2 in 27 innings.

Now a top Blue Jay pitching prospect, Richmond suddenly found himself Team Canada's ace at the 2009 World Baseball Classic, as all of the team's more experienced starting pitchers - Jeff Francis, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster and Erik Bedard - bowed out of the competition. Richmond was expected to start Canada's opening game against Team USA on March 7th, but manager Ernie Whitt chose the veteran Mike Johnson instead, then used Vince Perkins in the second game against Italy, leaving Richmond to start the must-win third game against Venezuela. However, the plan backfired when Perkins pitched poorly and Italy eliminated Canada in an upset, leaving Richmond entirely out of the action.

Richmond was named the AL Rookie of the Month for April 2009, going 3-0 with an ERA of 2.70 in four starts that month with the Blue Jays. He would miss 19 games in July though, suffering from tendonitis in his right shoulder. After April, he was not as effective, finishing the season at 8-11, 5.52. His 27 homers allowed tied Edwin Jackson, David Hernandez, Mark Buehrle and Trevor Cahill for 6th in the 2009 AL.

A shoulder injury turned Scott from a member of the Jays rotation to a guy who did not pitch in the majors in 2010. He pitched 9 rehab games in the minors and did well (4-1, 1.98) between Dunedin (3-0, 1.29), New Hampshire (3 R in 10 IP) and Las Vegas (1-1, 2.70). In 2011, though, he struggled with Las Vegas (6-9, 7.73) and only pitched to one batter in the majors with the Blue Jays, retiring Mark Trumbo in an early April game. Only Chad Jenkins lost more games among Jays minor leaguers. He pitched for Canada in the 2011 Baseball World Cup, but had a 8.59 ERA, highest on the staff, in three games, lasting four innings in his lone start (versus Panama). Canada still won a Bronze. He was much better in the 2011 Pan American Games, with a 4.16 ERA in two games. He also came up biggest in the clutch. In the Gold Medal game, he relieved Andrew Albers with a 2-1 lead, two on and two out. He threw a wild pitch but retired Tuffy Gosewisch. He then went 1-2-3 in both the 8th and 9th, fanning 3 in retiring Jordan Danks, A.J. Pollock, Joe Thurston, Brett Carroll, Matt Clark and Jordy Mercer to save it. It was Canada's first Gold Medal ever in baseball at the Pan American Games.

In 2012, Richmond was 11-7 with a 5.61 ERA for Las Vegas, tying for 8th in the 2012 PCL in wins; he tied Anthony DeSclafani for third in the Jays chain in victories. He allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in three innings for the Blue Jays. For 2013, he signed a guaranteed one-year, $700,000 deal with the Korea Baseball Organization's Lotte Giants but injured his knee during spring training before the 2013 KBO season started. The team refused to pay him any of his salary and it was still the subject of legal hearings two years later.

He wound up signing with the Texas Rangers, going 6-7 with a 5.91 ERA for the 2013 Round Rock Express. In 2014, he was 1-6 with a 7.65 ERA for Round Rock, allowing 81 hits in 57 2/3 IP. He began 2015 with the independent Wichita Wingnuts and was 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA before joining Team Canada for the first time in four years. In the 2015 Pan American Games, where he was a late roster addition, he was Canada's least-used hurler, allowing one run in one inning, wrapping up a 9-1 win over Nicaragua. Canada repeated as Gold Medalists, becoming the second team (after Cuba) to take multiple baseball Golds in the Pan Ams.

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