Tyson Michael Blach ( ; born October 20, 1990) is an American

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 professional ...

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 ...

for the Colorado Rockies organization. He has previously played in MLB for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

and Colorado Rockies.

Career

Amateur career

Blach played baseball and tennis for

Regis Jesuit High School Regis Jesuit High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory high school administered by the Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus in Aurora, Colorado. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1877. The high school shares much of ...

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties, Colorado, United States. The city's population was 386,261 at the 2020 United States Census with 336,035 residing in Arapahoe County, 47,720 residing in ...

. He then attended

Creighton University Creighton University is a private Jesuit research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate and undergra ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Creighton Bluejays The Creighton Bluejays, or Jays, are the athletic teams that represent Creighton University, a Jesuit/Catholic University in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. They compete in NCAA Division I in the Big East Conference. Sports sponsored Baseba ...

San Francisco Giants

The

selected Blach in the fifth round (178th overall) of the

2012 Major League Baseball draft The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 4 through June 6, 2012, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Houston Astros, with the List of first overall Major League Baseball draft picks, first ...

. He made his professional debut in 2013 for the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants ga ...

. In 22 games (20 starts), he went 12–4 with a 2.90

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), 117

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 ...

and 18 base on balls in innings. He spent the 2014 season with the

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. The ...

where he was 8–8 with a 3.13 ERA in 25 starts. Blach spent 2015 with the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 ...

where he compiled an 11–12 record and a 4.46 ERA in 27 starts. The Giants added Blach to their 40-man roster after the 2015 season. Before being called up by the Giants, Blach spent 2016 with Sacramento where he pitched to a 14–7 record with a 3.43 ERA in 26 starts. Blach was promoted to the Major Leagues for September call-ups on September 1, 2016. Blach made his major league debut on September 5, 2016 against the Colorado Rockies. He entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning and pitched three scoreless innings while allowing one hit. On October 1, 2016, in his second MLB start, Blach pitched eight shutout innings against

Clayton Kershaw Clayton Edward Kershaw (born March 19, 1988) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) . He has played for the Dodgers for the entirety of his MLB career. A left-handed starting pi ...

and the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, allowing three hits and securing his first win. He also had his first and second MLB hits against Kershaw. Blach was the winning pitcher in Game 3 of the 2016 NLDS against the Chicago Cubs after pitching two scoreless innings in relief. In four games (two starts) for San Francisco, he was 1–0 with a 1.06 ERA. Despite being a starter throughout his minor league career, Blach opened the 2017 season in the Giants bullpen as their lone left-handed reliever; however, later in April, after pitcher

Madison Bumgarner Madison Kyle Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989), commonly known by his nickname, "MadBum", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants ...

was injured, Blach was put into the starting rotation. On August 3, Blach hit his first major league home run. He spent all of 2017 with the Giants, going 8–12 with a 4.78 ERA in 34 games (24 starts). He had the fewest strikeouts per 9 innings in the major leagues (4.01). Blach started Opening Day of the

2018 MLB season The 2018 Major League Baseball season began on March 29. The regular season ended on October 1, extended a day for tiebreaker games to decide the winners of the National League Central and National League West. The postseason began on October 2 ...

against the

, his first career Opening Day start. He gave up three hits, three walks, and no runs over five innings to earn the win over

. Blach would then for the remainder of the season switch between a starting and relief role for San Francisco. He ended the season with a 6–7 record in 47 games, 13 starts. He struck out 75 batters in innings. In 2019, Blach spent the majority of the first half in the Giants minor league system. He was designated for assignment on July 27, 2019.

Baltimore Orioles

Blach was claimed off waivers by the

on August 3, 2019. Blach made 5 appearances for Baltimore, but struggled to an 11.32 ERA in 20.2 innings pitched. On September 16, Blach was designated for assignment, and was outrighted to the Triple-A

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

on September 19. He made 2 appearances for the Tides before the end of the year, but struggled tremendously, allowing 10 runs in 5.1 innings of work. Blach did not play in a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On July 15, 2020, Blach underwent Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the truncated 2020 Major League season. On August 10, Blach was released by the Orioles organization. On March 30, 2021, Blach re-signed with the Orioles on a minor league contract. Blach would return to play in 2021, playing in 16 games between the

Florida Complex League Orioles The Florida Complex League Orioles are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Before 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Orioles. The team plays its home ...

and the Single-A

Delmarva Shorebirds The Delmarva Shorebirds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Salisbury, Maryland. They are members of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Their home games are played at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. The Shor ...

, pitching to a 1.23 ERA with 23 strikeouts in 22.0 innings pitched. He elected free agency following the season on November 7.

Colorado Rockies

On December 17, 2021, Blach signed a minor league contract with the Colorado Rockies. On April 4, 2022, Blach had his contract selected to the major league roster.

References

External links

*
Creighton Bluejays bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blach, Ty 1990 births Living people Baseball players from Denver Major League Baseball pitchers San Francisco Giants players Baltimore Orioles players Colorado Rockies players Creighton Bluejays baseball players San Jose Giants players Richmond Flying Squirrels players Sacramento River Cats players Norfolk Tides players Florida Complex League Orioles players