Christopher Keith Sampson (born May 23, 1978) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He attended

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

, where he played for the Red Raiders. Sampson stands .

Career

Sampson originally began his professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

career in the late 1990s as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. After batting .239, and hitting only one home run during the 1999 season in Class A baseball, Sampson decided to retire since his chances of making the Major Leagues were slim due to his poor batting stats. In the years following his retirement, he coached baseball for

Collin College Collin College is a public community college district in Texas. Founded in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 58,000 credit and noncredit students. Formerly known as the Coll ...

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

, just outside

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, where he would frequently throw batting practice. It was then that he realized his potential as a pitcher. In 2003, Sampson contacted the Astros for a try-out as a pitcher. Astros Assistant

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Tim Purpura Timothy Gerard Purpura (born March 19, 1958 in Oak Lawn, Illinois) is an American baseball executive and former lawyer. He is the former General Manager of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball team. He was with the club from 2005 to 2007. Bi ...

was impressed with Sampson's pitching ability and signed him to a minor league contract. Sampson developed as a pitcher, and impressed the Astros with his performance at Triple A

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home games at the Dell Diamond. The team is named ...

where he began the baseball season with a 7-1 record and a 2.64 ERA in 10 starts. His performance resulted in the Astros purchasing Sampson's contract on June 1, 2006. He made his debut the next day when he entered a blowout game for the Houston Astros against the Cincinnati Reds in relief of starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez. Sampson made his first Major League start for the Astros on June 7, 2006. He threw a no-hitter into the fifth inning and eventually gave up three hits and no runs in seven innings pitched on his way to a 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. In this effort he recorded no strikeouts; 16 of his 21 batters retired were put away on ground balls. The only run came from a

Brad Ausmus Bradley David Ausmus (; born April 14, 1969) is an American former professional baseball manager and catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). In his 18-year MLB playing career, Ausmus played for the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, Houston Ast ...

home run. Coming out of spring training, Sampson was named the 5th starter in the Astros rotation for the 2007 season. He remained with the Astros through the 2010 season when he became a free agent. Sampson signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies for the 2011 season but was released after spring training. On April 23, 2011, Sampson signed a minor league contract with the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

Personal life

Sampson was married at home plate of

Minute Maid Park Minute Maid Park is a retractable roof stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. It opened in 2000 as the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros. It has a seating capacity of 41,168, which includes 5,197 club seats and 63 ...

over the 2006–2007 offseason. On May 15, 2007, Sampson was with his wife, Heather, as she delivered the couple's first child, an 8-pound, 14-ounce boy named C.J. The next day, Sampson pitched 6 innings, giving up 7 hits, allowing 1 run and struck out Barry Bonds in a 2-1 victory. Before the game the umpires made him take off his hospital wristband.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Chris 1978 births Living people Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Houston Houston Astros players Auburn Doubledays players Salem Avalanche players Lexington Legends players Round Rock Express players Corpus Christi Hooks players New Orleans Zephyrs players Lon Morris Bearcats baseball players Collin Cougars baseball coaches