Sterling Alex Hitchcock (born April 29, 1971) 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), ...

left-handed

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 played from to , mostly with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

and

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 ...

Early life

Hitchcock was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He attended

Armwood High School Armwood Senior High School is a public high school located in Seffner, Florida, United States, on U.S. Highway 92. It opened in August 1984. The school is named after Blanche Armwood, a longtime Tampa resident, educator and activist. The school's ...

Seffner, Florida Seffner is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,362 at the 2020 census, up from 7,579 at the 2010 census. ZIP codes for the Seffner area are 33584 and 33583. Located approximate ...

Professional career

The Yankees selected Hitchcock in the ninth round of the

1989 Major League Baseball Draft First-round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1989 Major League Baseball draft on June 5. Supplemental first round selections Other notable players * Brian Hunter, 2nd round, 35th overall by the Houston Astros * Ti ...

. Though he committed to attend the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

, the Yankees signed Hitchcock with a $50,000 signing bonus. He made his Major League debut in 1992, pitching his first full season in 1994. He was traded to the Mariners after the 1995 season with Russ Davis for

Tino Martinez Constantino "Tino" Martinez (born December 7, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 1990 t ...

, Jeff Nelson, and

Jim Mecir James Jason Mecir (born May 16, 1970) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for five teams over an 11-year career between and . Mecir is notable for having overcome a birth defect (namely club feet) to become an effect ...

. The following winter, the Mariners sent him to San Diego for Scott Sanders. Hitchcock is best remembered for his performance in the playoffs with the Padres, in which he was named the NLCS

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. He was the winning pitcher in both of his starts with a 0.90

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

in the NLCS. Overall in the 1998 playoffs he was 3–0, allowing 3 runs in 22 innings (1.23 ERA) with 32 strikeouts. His successful years with the Padres were followed by struggles with injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery. The Padres traded Hitchcock back to the Yankees in mid-2001 for two minor leaguers. Hitchcock was the winning pitcher for the Yankees in Game 5 of the

2001 World Series The 2001 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2001 season. The 97th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Arizona Diamondbacks and the three-t ...

. He re-signed with the Yankees after the season. The Yankees traded Hitchcock to the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in 2003 for Justin Pope and Ben Julianel. He finished his career with the Padres in 2004. During the regular season, Hitchcock's career-best win–loss record was 13–9 with Seattle in 1996. His career-best ERA was 3.93 with the Padres in 1998.

References

External links

Sterling Hitchcock
at Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchcock, Sterling 1971 births Living people New York Yankees players Seattle Mariners players San Diego Padres players St. Louis Cardinals players Baseball players from North Carolina Major League Baseball pitchers Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina Gulf Coast Yankees players Greensboro Hornets players Prince William Cannons players Albany-Colonie Yankees players Oneonta Yankees players Columbus Clippers players Lake Elsinore Storm players Portland Beavers players Tampa Yankees players National League Championship Series MVPs People from Brandon, Florida