William Douglas "D. J." Mitchell Jr. (born May 13, 1987) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

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 in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

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

in 2012. Before embarking on his professional career, 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, ...

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

Amateur career

Mitchell graduated from North Forsyth High School in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

, and attended

, where he played

for the

Clemson Tigers baseball The Clemson Tigers baseball team represents Clemson University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The team participates in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tigers are currently coached by head coach Erik Bakich and ...

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 ...

. In 2006, Mitchell's freshman year, he played as a

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. Mitchell began to pitch in 2007, his sophomore year at Clemson. After Clemson's 2007 season concluded, Mitchell pitched for the

Bourne Braves The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park (ballpark) ...

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 1,000 forme ...

(CCBL), a

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 ...

league. He led the CCBL in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s, earning him recognition in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''s '' Faces in the Crowd'' feature. By 2008, Mitchell played exclusively as a pitcher, and he was named First Team All-ACC.

Professional career

New York Yankees

The

drafted Mitchell in the 10th round, 320th overall, of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. Making his professional debut in 2009, he had a 1.95

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) in 6 games with the

Charleston RiverDogs The Charleston RiverDogs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League. They are located in Charleston, South Carolina, and are the Single-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The RiverDogs' home stadium is Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Char ...

of the

Single-A Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

. He had a 2.87 ERA in 19 games after his promotion to the

Tampa Yankees Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the county seat of Hillsborough C ...

of the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

. After the season,

Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus (BP) is an organization that publishes a website, BaseballProspectus.com, devoted to the sabermetric analysis of baseball. BP has a staff of regular columnists and provides advanced statistics as well as player and team perf ...

ranked Mitchell as the organization's 11th best prospect. Mitchell began the 2010 season with the

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the D ...

of the Double-A Eastern League. On August 21, 2010, Mitchell was promoted from Trenton to the Triple-A

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, often abbreviated to SWB RailRiders, are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They are located in Moosic, Pennsylvania, in the S ...

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

. Before the 2011 season, Mitchell was rated the organization's 18th best prospect and 10th best pitching prospect. In 2011, he had a 13–9

win–loss record Win–loss may refer to: * Win–loss analytics, analysis of the reasons why a visitor to a website was or wasn't persuaded to engage in a desired action * Win–loss record, also winning percentage * Win–loss record (pitching), the number of ...

with a 3.18 ERA for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. For this performance, Mitchell won the 2011 Yankees' Minor League "Pitcher of the Year" Award. Mitchell was added to the Yankees'

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

after the 2011 season to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Competing for the

long reliever A long reliever or long-relief pitcher is a relief pitcher in baseball who enters the game if the starting pitcher leaves the game early. Long relievers often enter in the first three innings of a game when the starting pitcher cannot continue, w ...

role with the Yankees in

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 2012, the Yankees chose David Phelps for the role, and Mitchell was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. On April 29, 2012, Mitchell was recalled to the Yankees after

Freddy García Freddy Antonio García (born October 6, 1976) is a Venezuelans, Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He is best known for his many seasons with seven Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, including the Seattle Mariners, Chicago Whi ...

was moved to the bullpen. David Phelps was placed in the rotation,

Cody Eppley Cody Allen Eppley (born October 8, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. Amateur career Eppley attended Northern High School in ...

was optioned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and Mitchell took Phelps' role of long relief. He made his major league debut on May 1, against the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...

, allowing two hits and striking out one in an inning of work. He made three more appearances with the Yankees during his rookie campaign.

Seattle Mariners

The Yankees traded Mitchell and pitcher

Danny Farquhar Daniel Andres Farquhar ( ; born February 17, 1987) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, and Chicago White Sox from 2011 to 2018. He had a brain aneurysm durin ...

to the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

in exchange for

Ichiro Suzuki , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years w ...

on July 23, 2012. Mitchell was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma after the trade and pitched to a 2.96 ERA in eight starts. On April 11, 2013, Mitchell was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

. After clearing waivers, he opted for free agency.

New York Mets

Mitchell signed a minor league contract with 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 ...

on April 22, 2013. He pitched to a 7.71 ERA in innings out of the bullpen and starting rotation for the Triple-A

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevada, a comm ...

. Mitchell became a free agent after the season.

Bridgeport Bluefish

Mitchell signed with

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseb ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

for 2014 season. He re-signed with the Bluefish for the 2015 season and returned for a third season with the club in 2016.

Long Island Ducks

On August 1, 2016, Mitchell was traded to the

Long Island Ducks The Long Island Ducks are an American professional minor league baseball team based on Long Island in Central Islip, New York. The Ducks compete in the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), an independent "par ...

in exchange for former major league player

Sean Burroughs Sean Patrick Burroughs (September 12, 1980 – May 9, 2024) was an American professional baseball third baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2002 to 2005 and 2011 to 2012 for the San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Arizona ...

. He became a free agent after the 2016 season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, D. J. 1987 births Living people New York Yankees players Baseball players from Winston-Salem, North Carolina Clemson Tigers baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers Bourne Braves players Charleston RiverDogs players Tampa Yankees players Trenton Thunder players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees players Bridgeport Bluefish players Tacoma Rainiers players Las Vegas 51s players