Tony Marcel Sipp (born July 12, 1983) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

. He played in

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 (A ...

(MLB) for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central division. Since , they have ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

, and

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

Amateur career

Born in

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2 ...

, Sipp graduated from

Moss Point High School Moss Point High School is a public high school in Moss Point, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Moss Point School District. History Moss Point High School was established in 1883 in a two-story schoolhouse. Tuition was required. Th ...

in Moss Point, Mississippi, where he also competed in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, winning a state title with the team in 2000. In baseball, Sipp also helped Moss Point High reach the state championship in baseball. Sipp and fellow major leaguer Joey Butler formerly played against one another, as they are both from

Jackson County, Mississippi Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 139,668, making it the fifth-most populous county in Mississippi. Its county seat is Pascagoula. The county was named for Andrew J ...

. Sipp played for

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (MGCCC) is a public community college with its main campus in Perkinston, Mississippi. It was founded as Harrison County Agricultural High School in 1912. MGCCC has three campuses and six centers: The ma ...

, and also attended Okaloosa-Walton College, before transferring to

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

. In 2003, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Wareham Gatemen The Wareham Gatemen are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Wareham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Gatemen play their home games at Clem Spillane Fie ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

, and returned to the league in 2004 to play for the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

Professional career

Cleveland Indians

After being drafted by the

in the 45th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft. Sipp made his professional debut in 2004 with the Low-A

Mahoning Valley Scrappers The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Niles, Ohio, a city in the valley of the Mahoning River, and play their home games at Eastwood Field. From 1999 to 2020, they were ...

, logging a 3-1 record and 3.16 ERA in 10 appearances. He split the 2005 season between the Single-A

Lake County Captains The Lake County Captains are a Minor League Baseball team in Eastlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, that plays in the Midwest League as the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. The Captains joined the Class A Midwest League following ...

and the High-A Kinston Indians, posting a 6-3 record and 2.40 ERA in 35 games between the two teams. In 2006, he played for the Double-A

Akron Aeros The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park, located in downtown Akron, which seats 7,630 ...

, recording a 4-2 record and 3.13 ERA with 80 strikeouts. Tony Sipp on June 30, 2012

He made his major league debut on April 22, 2009. Coming out of the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

, Sipp went 2–0 with an ERA of 2.92, recording 48

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

. In 2010, Sipp pitched to a 2-2 record and 4.14 ERA in 70 appearances with Cleveland. The next year, he logged a 6-3 record and 3.03 ERA in 69 games. He pitched in 63 games for Cleveland in 2012, recording a 1-2 record and 4.42 ERA with 51 strikeouts in 55.0 innings of work. In 4 years in the Indians bullpen, he appeared in 248 games and recorded 167

holds A hold (abbreviated HLD, H or HD) is awarded to a relief pitcher who meets the following three conditions: :1. Enters the game in a save situation; that is, when all of the following three conditions apply: :: (a) He appears in relief (i.e., ...

, striking out 225 batters and recording a 3.68 ERA.

Arizona Diamondbacks

On December 12, 2012, Sipp was acquired by the

in a nine-player three-team blockbuster trade that sent

Shin-Soo Choo Shin-Soo Choo (; ; born July 13, 1982) is a South Korean professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter for the SSG Landers of the KBO League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland Indians, C ...

to the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He was designated for assignment on August 4, 2013, after pitching to a 3-2 record and 4.78 ERA in 56 games. He became a free agent on November 27, 2013.

San Diego Padres

Sipp signed a minor league deal with the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

organization on February 7, 2014. He was assigned to the Triple-A

El Paso Chihuahuas The El Paso Chihuahuas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in El Paso, Texas, and play their home games at Southwest University Park, which opened ...

to begin the season but was released on May 1 after pitching to a 4.30 ERA in 11 appearances.

Houston Astros

On May 2, 2014, Sipp signed a major league deal with the

. Sipp became a key component of the Astros' bullpen for the remainder of the 2014 season, posting a 2.94 xFIP and striking out 11.19 batters per nine innings of work. On December 11, 2015, the Astros re-signed Sipp to a 3-year, $18 million contract. Sipp made 60 appearances for the Astros in 2016, pitching to a 4.95 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work. In 2017, Sipp made 46 appearances out of the bullpen and finished the season 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA. The Astros finished 2017 with a 101-61 record, giving them an AL West pennant clincher. Sipp did not see any sort of postseason action, but was still on the 40-man roster at the time, as the Astros won the

2017 World Series The 2017 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2017 season. The 113th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers and th ...

. In 2018 with Houston, Sipp posted a 3-1 record and stellar 1.86 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 38.2 innings pitched.

Washington Nationals

On March 14, 2019, Sipp signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the

. The deal included a mutual option for the 2020 season. On June 7, Sipp hit 10 years of major league service time. He was designated for assignment on August 2 after posting an ERA of 4.71 in 36 appearances. He was released shortly afterwards. Reports involving the

Houston Astros sign stealing scandal The Houston Astros sign stealing scandal resulted from a series of rule violations by members of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB), who used technology to steal signs of opposing teams during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. For yea ...

state that prior to the

2019 World Series The 2019 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2019 season. The 115th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Houston Astros and the National League ...

Nationals ace Max Scherzer reached out to Sipp and asked if the Nationals needed to be concerned about the Astros even with no runners on base, to which Sipp replied yes.

Pitching style

Sipp throws four pitches: a

four-seam fastball A four-seam fastball, also called a rising fastball, a four-seamer, or a cross-seam fastball, is a pitch in baseball. It is a member of the fastball family of pitches and is usually the hardest (i.e., fastest) ball thrown by a pitcher. It is c ...

(91-94 mph), a two-seam fastball (89–91), a slider (79–82), and a

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

to right-handed hitters (78–81). The slider is his most common two-strike pitch.

References

External links

Bio from MiLB.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sipp, Tony 1983 births Living people People from Pascagoula, Mississippi Baseball players from Mississippi African-American baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Cleveland Indians players Arizona Diamondbacks players Houston Astros players Washington Nationals players Northwest Florida State Raiders baseball players Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs baseball players Clemson Tigers baseball players Mahoning Valley Scrappers players Lake County Captains players Kinston Indians players Akron Aeros players Gulf Coast Indians players Columbus Clippers players Reno Aces players El Paso Chihuahuas players Peoria Javelinas players Cotuit Kettleers players Wareham Gatemen players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people