Scott Feldman
Scott Wynne Feldman is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and Cincinnati Reds.
After going 25–2 in his first two years of college baseball, he was drafted in the 30th round by the Texas Rangers in 2003. Feldman had Tommy John surgery later that year. He followed it up with a minor league career in which he had a 2.70 ERA, and held batters to only 6.6 hits per 9 innings, pitching almost exclusively in relief.
After pitching out of the bullpen while bouncing back and forth between Texas and its Triple-A affiliate in 2005–07, Feldman converted to a starter in 2008. He established himself in 2009 with a breakout season for the Rangers. He was 17–8, tied for 4th in the American League in wins, and tied the major league record with 12 victories on the road. As the Reds' Opening Day starter in 2017, he became one of 52 pitchers to have started Opening Day for at least three major league teams.
Early and personal life
Feldman was born in Kailua, Hawaii, and grew up in Burlingame, California. He is Jewish, as is his father, and the family belonged to Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame for a period of time. His father, an FBI agent who grew up in a Pennsylvania coal mining town and played college baseball at Duquesne, coached Feldman in youth baseball in Northern California.The Feldman was big from an early age. "His second-grade teacher made a comment to my wife that it was like 'Alice in Wonderland,' because Scott was always too big for his seat", his father recalls.
As for Feldman's road to the major leagues, "The dream started off like any other kid", Feldman said. "You’d think about it as you were watching games in front of the TV, and you’d think about it playing in the neighborhood park with your friends. You always hope, but you just don’t know if it's ever going to happen."
He went to Lincoln Elementary, Burlingame Intermediate School, and later Burlingame High School in Burlingame, where he pitched a no-hitter. Feldman led the Peninsula Athletic League in batting average in his junior year. He was overweight in high school; at one point he was up to.
In 2018, Feldman was one of 42 players born in Hawaii to have made it to the majors. In 2014, he and Jerome Williams joined Brian Fisher and Sid Fernandez as the only Hawaiian-born players to ever pitch for the Astros.
College
Feldman lost before the start of his freshman year at the College of San Mateo, and walked on to the team. In two seasons, he went 25–2, with a 1.30 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 8-to-1. "When Feldman pitched", said Bulldogs coach Doug Williams, "the game was 95% over." He earned Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year honors both as a freshman in 2002 and as a sophomore in 2003, and was also an All-American both years. "He has a gift", Williams said.Picked in the 41st round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft by the Houston Astros, he did not sign. He was then drafted again, in the 30th round of the 2003 Draft by the Texas Rangers, 13 rounds behind future teammate Ian Kinsler, and this time he signed with the Rangers after they offered him a lucrative contract.
Minor leagues
Feldman underwent reconstructive elbow surgery for a torn ulnar collateral ligament in October 2003. In his four appearances in 2004 for the Arizona League Rangers in the Arizona League, he pitched seven scoreless innings. He began the 2005 season with the Single-A Bakersfield Blaze, but after nine scoreless innings in relief was quickly promoted to the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.On July 28, 2005, Feldman and two teammates threw a perfect game against the Corpus Christi Hooks. It was the first combined nine-inning perfect game in Texas League history, and the third overall. Feldman was tasked with getting the last three outs, and with two outs in the ninth he let the count get to 3–1. "I was just telling myself, 'Don't walk him,'" Feldman said. "Once it got to 3–1, I threw it right down the middle. If they got a hit, they got a hit. But they're not going to break up a perfect game on a walk." The batter grounded out. On July 31, the three pitchers shared the Texas League Pitcher of the Week Award.
With the RoughRiders, he held opposing batters to a.202 batting average in 46 relief appearances, led the team with 14 saves, and had a 2.36 ERA. For the 2005 season, between the two teams he had a 2.06 ERA and 17 saves in 52 appearances, all in relief. Baseball America tabbed him as having the best control of all minor league pitchers in the Rangers' organization.
Prior to the 2006 season, MLB.com beat reporter T. R. Sullivan opined that Feldman was the Rangers' top minor league relief prospect. In 2006, in 23 relief appearances for the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma RedHawks, he had a 1.98 ERA, and in 2007 in 21 relief appearances for the team he had a 4.50 ERA. Later in 2007, he pitched in the Arizona Fall League, to work on a new three-quarters delivery.
In 2008, as the Rangers decided to convert Feldman to a starter, he started and won a game for Frisco, taking a perfect game into the fifth and a no-hitter into the seventh. He also started and won the two games that he pitched for Oklahoma.
Overall, through 2008 Feldman had a minor league career ERA of 2.70 in 153.1 innings in 105 games, and gave up on average only 6.6 hits per every 9 innings.
Major leagues
Texas Rangers (2005–2012)
2005: Breaking in
Feldman was a late-season call-up in 2005. "The night before, I didn’t sleep a minute. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I walked in , I saw a lot of the guys I had seen on TV all these years, and was like, 'Holy cow, I’m in the big leagues'", he remembers.He made his major league debut against the Chicago White Sox on August 31, 2005. In eight relief appearances with the Rangers, he compiled a record of 0–1, with an ERA of 0.91 in 9.1 innings of work. He struck out Aaron Rowand for his first Major League strikeout.
2006: Brawl
Towards the end of the spring training in 2006, Feldman was feeling confident that he was going to make the parent club's 25-man roster. A week before Opening Day he was called into Manager Buck Showalter's office. But instead of telling Feldman he had made the team, for the first 10 minutes Showalter and the team's pitching coach Mark Connor spoke on and on about how Feldman had had a solid spring training — but needed to work on some things. Feldman couldn't believe it but eventually thought, "Holy smoke, I’m going down ." Suddenly, unable to continue the prank any longer, Showalter burst out laughing: "Pack your bags, rookie, you’re coming with us!"During the regular season, Feldman bounced back and forth between the Rangers and Oklahoma.
The national spotlight shone briefly on Feldman on August 16, 2006, when he sparked a bench-clearing brawl in the ninth inning of a game between the Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Tensions between the two division rivals were already high after two Ranger starting pitchers — Adam Eaton and Vicente Padilla — had been ejected in previous games that month for throwing at Angel hitters, along with Texas manager Buck Showalter. Before Feldman took the mound in relief, on a night with a game-time temperature of, two Angel pitchers had already been thrown out of the game for hitting Ranger batters, and Angel manager Mike Scioscia and acting manager/bench coach Ron Roenicke had been ejected as well.
Feldman hit Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy in the buttocks with a fastball with two outs and the Rangers up 9–3. Kennedy charged the mound as the Feldman stood atop it and threw down his glove. When Kennedy, who is, reached him, Feldman punched him in the armpit. An announcer describing the fight said, " even punches like he throws — sidearm and underhand." Rangers play-by-play announcer Josh Lewin even commented on Feldman's side arm punch, stating "He's a sidearm puncher too." "I didn't charge him", Feldman said in his defense. "I couldn't just stand there." Feldman was suspended for six games. As to others' reactions, Feldman said: "Everybody is telling me to take boxing lessons."
In 36 relief appearances in 2006, he had an ERA of 3.92. In games that were late and close, Feldman held the sixteen batters he faced hitless.
2007: First win
Feldman was in the Rangers' 2007 spring training camp, and won the final spot in the Texas bullpen. He picked up his first Major League victory on April 11 in his 47th big-league appearance. "I'll always remember it, no doubt about it", Feldman said.He was sent down, however, on May 1. That began a trend, as he was called up and send down five more times during the season.
He made some changes in his delivery in September. Instead of throwing sidearm, he raised his arm angle and threw from a three-quarters delivery, which pitching coach Mark Connor observed gave him more sink on his fastball and downward movement on his breaking ball. "This has a chance to be pretty good", Connor said. "He was busting his fastball 94–95, the ball was sinking, and his four-seamer was cutting."
He was 1–2 for the season, with a 5.77 ERA in 29 games. He held the first batter he faced in each game to a.160 batting average, and his "ground ball:fly ball ratio" of 1.39 was the highest on the team.
2008: Conversion to starter
In spring training in 2008, Feldman changed his release point, and used the three-quarter delivery that he had begun to use late in 2007. Manager Ron Washington noted: "It makes his ball heavier, and his movement a little more pronounced."In late March, he was one of three pitchers vying for one long relief spot on the team, though the Rangers also began experimenting with converting him to be a starter. General Manager Jon Daniels observed: "Toward the end of spring training something clicked with his new arm slot." On March 22, despite Feldman's success with his new, higher arm angle, the Rangers optioned him to Oklahoma, where he was a starter. In April he bounced back and forth between Texas and Frisco.
In his first Major League start, on April 13, he allowed three runs in six innings and did not receive a decision. "Feldman was outstanding", manager Washington said. "He hung in there and battled." Feldman recorded his first major league hit on June 13 against Óliver Pérez of the New York Mets.
On August 12, against the Boston Red Sox, he allowed 10 runs in the first inning.
T. R. Sullivan of MLB.com wrote towards the end of the season: "He's going to win the bronze medal for innings pitched on the Rangers this season. ... He has exceeded all expectations, and his lack of history as a starter makes it difficult to figure where this great experiment is headed." General Manager Daniels noted: "Feldman has really saved our pen this year, and he wasn't a guy we were counting on in the beginning of the season." The Rangers wanted to limit his use towards the end of the seaton, but had to keep him in the rotation because of injuries to the other pitchers.
For the season, he was 6–8 in 25 starts and three relief appearances, over 151.1 innings — just two innings fewer than he had pitched in his entire minor league career. He also led the Rangers' pitching staff in quality starts, quality start percentage, strikes looking, "grounded into double plays", and "grounded into double play rate". His 13 unearned runs tied for the third-highest total in the AL.
During the off-season, club president Nolan Ryan emphasized conditioning for the Rangers pitchers. Feldman and nine other of the team's top young pitchers were brought to Arlington in November for a week-long conditioning camp. "It's different", Feldman said. "In the past, it was a little more of 'this is what you need to do, now go out and do it.' Most guys would do it, but this is their way of overseeing it and making sure everybody is ready."