Tony Metoyer

Tony Keith Metoyer

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 175 lb.
• School Texas A&M University
• High School Madison High School (Houston)

• Born July 21, 1962 in Roswell, NM USA
• Died March 10, 2022

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Tony Metoyer played as high as AAA and won the first two save titles in the CPBL.

The Houston Astros took him in the 14th round of the 1984 amateur draft, one pick before John Jaha. He hit only .175/.260/.207 for the 1984 Auburn Astros, fielding .945 as their main third baseman. He led New York-Penn League third basemen in fielding percentage, putouts (57), assists (151) and double plays (15).

He then was moved to the mound, though he continued to play third on occasion through 1990. He split 1985 between the GCL Astros (3-1, 3 Sv, 0.62, 32 K in 29 IP, .76 WHIP) and Asheville Tourists (3 R in 6 2/3 IP) for a fine first season as a pitcher. In 1986, he moved to the rotation, going 5-2 with a 3.89 ERA for Asheville.

Metoyer split 1987 between the Osceola Astros (7-3, 2.72 in 23 G) and Columbus Astros (0-1, 6.60 in 4 G). He played for the independent Virginia Generals in 1988, going 7-12 with a 4.06 ERA. He tied Kent Mercker for 6th in the Carolina League with five complete games and tied for first in losses. With another indy team in 1989, he was 9-14 with a save and a 3.80 ERA for the Miami Miracle. The rest of the staff was 34-77 as he led them in wins, two ahead of Kevin Ponder. He led the Florida State League in defeats (one ahead of Reggie Harris), was second with nine complete games (two behind Royal Thomas), was second in IP (187 1/3, behind Mike Miller) and was 4th with 127 K (between Miller and Harold Allen).

When the CPBL formed in 1990, Metoyer went to Taiwan and was 10-10 with 9 saves and a 2.07 ERA for the Uni-President Lions (he had been their second foreign player drafted, after Enrique Burgos Sr.). He was third in the league in ERA (behind Joe Strong and Wu-Hsiung Huang), third in wins (behind Ping-Yang Huang and Strong), led in losses (one ahead of Longo Garcia), led in games pitched (46, 7 ahead of Ping-Yang Huang), led in saves (two ahead of Ming-Shan Kang and Wu-Hsiung Huang), was third in IP (195 1/3, behind Ping-Yang Huang and Strong) and fifth in strikeouts (105). He thus now held CPBL records in saves, games pitched and losses. Yi-Hsin Chen would break his loss record in 1991 while Tony broke his own save and appearance marks, going 4-4 with 20 saves and a 2.26 ERA. He was third in ERA again (behind Ping-Yang Huang and Ming-Te Chen), pitched 11 more games than anyone else (Kang and Yi-Hsin Chen tied for 2nd) and had four times as many saves as runners-up Strong and Yi-Hsin Chen. He got the wins in both Game 4 and Game 7 of the 1991 Taiwan Series against the Wei Chuan Dragons, winning the first Game 7 in Taiwan Series history. Both times, he beat Ping-Yang Huang.

Tony fell to 1-1 with two saves and a 5.65 ERA for the Lions in 1992. Julio Solano broke his games pitched record but he retained his save mark still. He moved to the expansion Jungo Bears in 1993, becoming the first player in CPBL history to appear for two teams in their first season of play. He rebounded to 5-2, 2.08 with 13 saves. He walked 41 in 82 2/3 innings but yielded only 56 hits and 3 homers. He was third in saves, five behind Chin-Hsing Kuo and Al Jones. He was 4-4 with 2 saves and a 5.34 ERA in 1994. Chien-Cheng Kuo broke his save record. He was a strike replacement player during the 1995 strike.

In 1995, he was a starter for the Bears, going 5-11 with a 5.14 ERA. He tied for third in losses, behind Yi-Hsin Chen and Les Straker. He was 1-5 with 3 saves and a 4.94 ERA for the Sinon Bulls in 1996. He then moved to the Mexican League. In 1999, he pitched for the Langosteros de Cancun (0-3, 7 Sv, 4.11) and Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos (3-4, 18 Sv, 2.54 in 35 G). He tied Juan Luevano for 5th in the Liga in saves. He then closed out his career with the Albany-Colonie Diamond Dogs in 1999 (2 Sv, 1 R in 2 IP) and 2000 (2 Sv, 0 R in 5 2/3 IP).

Through 3/31/22, he still ranked tied for 14th in CPBL history in career saves (49), even with Dario Veras. He was tied for 5th among foreign hurlers, behind Mike Garcia, Ryan Cullen, Brad Thomas and Jones. He died that year after a two-month battle with COVID-19.