Spencer Patton

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Spencer Burdette Patton

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Spencer Patton was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 24th round of the 2011 amateur draft. He made his debut that year with the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Pioneer League, going 3-1, 3.40 in 19 games, essentially as a reliever. In 2012, he was back with Idaho falls but ran into some problems as he finished 0-7 with an ERA of 6.32 in 16 games. In spite of the poor results, he did strike out 84 batters in only 57 innings and walked a mere 21, indicating that he had good stuff in spite of the poor results.

In 2013, Patton righted things with the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Carolina League, putting up an excellent ERA of 1.96 in 25 games, to go along with a 5-2 record. Only half a season from struggling badly in Rookie-League ball, he was promoted to the AA Texas League in mid-year and had a 1.50 ERA in 12 games with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Overall, his ERA was 1.86 in 82 1/3 innings that season, and he struck out 103 batters. He started 2014 in AAA with the Omaha Storm Chasers, where he collected 14 saves over the first half, even though his ERA had risen to 4.08 in 34 games. He continued to strike out plenty of batters, though, recording 60 Ks in 46 1/3 innings. He was selected to pitch in the AAA All-Star Game. On July 16th, he was traded to the Texas Rangers in return for veteran reliever Jason Frasor. He went 1-1, 3.38 in 15 games for the AAA Round Rock Express for a combined minor league record of 5-4, 3.90 and 19 saves. He made his big league debut with the Rangers on September 4th, going 1-0, 0.96 in 9 games.

In 2015, he split his season between Round Rock and Texas, pitching 26 times in AAA with a record of 2-0, 1.67 and 11 saves, whole for the Rangers, he was 1-1 with an ERA of 9.00 in 27 games and 24 innings. On November 20th, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for IF Frandy Delarosa.

On June 28, 2016, he got to play a third of an inning in left field in a wild 7-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds that took 15 innings. The Cubs had run out of available position players in the 13th, so when manager Joe Maddon called for a double switch, Pitcher Travis Wood came in to play left field. Patton came into the game to start the bottom of the 14th, but after one out, he switched positions with Wood, while the later retired Jay Bruce. Patton then returned to the mound to complete the inning as the two men switched positions again. He was pinch-hit for by another pitcher, Jason Hammel, as the Cubs scored 5 runs in the top of the 15th, and Wood returned to the mound to complete the game while P Pedro Strop went to left for the final inning.

He did not play in the major leagues from 2017 to 2020, playing for the Yokohama Bay Stars of Nippon Professional Baseball instead. Despite posting a 4.92 ERA in 57 relief appearances his final year there, the Texas Rangers signed him to a contract for 2021. He made 42 appearances for them in his return stateside, averaging more than a strikeout per inning and posting a 3.83 ERA. In 2022, he pitched just 7 games for the Rangers with no record and an ERA of 3.86, but struggled badly in AAA with the Round Rock Express, ending up with an ERA of 6.44 in 24 games. He was signed by the Oakland Athletics in April of 2023, as they scooped up all sorts of veterans with major league experience but no recent record of success in order to round out a very weak pitching staff. In spite of putting up an ERA of 6.60 in 11 games for the AAA Las Vegas Aviators at the start of the season, he was called up to Oakland in early May, where he continued to be hit hard, giving up 4 runs in 5 1/3 innings in his first four relief outings.

Related Sites[edit]

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