Christopher Eric Roberts (born June 25, 1971) 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 baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He played for the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) and for the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA, represents the United States in international level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United S ...

Career

Roberts attended Middleburg High School in

Middleburg, Florida Middleburg is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) within Clay County, Florida, Clay County in the U.S. state of Florida, located southwest of downtown Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville and northwest of Green Cove Springs, ...

. He competed for the

in the 1989 World Junior Baseball Championships, winning gold. He also appeared in the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games, officially known as the XI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Havana 1991 (), were held in Havana, Cuba from 2 to 18 August 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the Pan American Sports Organi ...

, winning the bronze medal with the game-winning hit in the bronze medal game against the

Dominican Republic national baseball team The Dominican Republic national baseball team ( Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de República Dominicana'') is the national baseball team of the Dominican Republic. The team has won the Baseball World Cup in 1948 and World Baseball Classic in 2 ...

. In the tournament, he was named to the All-Tournament Team. The

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

selected Roberts in the second round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft, but he did not sign, opting to attend

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Florida State Seminoles baseball The Florida State Seminoles baseball team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of college baseball. Florida State competes in NCAA Division I, and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference ...

team in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

's (NCAA) Division I. A two-way player at Florida State, Roberts was named a College Baseball All-American by '' Collegiate Baseball'' in 1992. That summer, he competed for the United States in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. The

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

drafted Roberts in the first round, with the 18th overall selection, of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. He played for the

of the

(NPB) in 2000. He retired after the 2001 season. Since 2009, Roberts has served as assistant coach for the

Stetson University Stetson University is a private university in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of John B. Stetson. The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 ...

baseball team, which competes in the

Atlantic Sun Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Chris 1971 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Japan Baseball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Baseball coaches from Florida Baseball players from Clay County, Florida Binghamton Mets players Camden Riversharks players Carolina Mudcats players Chiba Lotte Marines players Edmonton Trappers players Florida State Seminoles baseball players Gulf Coast Mets players Indianapolis Indians players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Newburgh Black Diamonds players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Norfolk Tides players Olympic baseball players for the United States People from Green Cove Springs, Florida St. Lucie Mets players Baseball players at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in baseball