Darrell Wayne Sutherland (born November 14, 1941) 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 ...

right-handed

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, ...

, who 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 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 ...

and

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 , the team ...

, from to and .

Early life

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

alumni, Sutherland is the brother of MLB

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

Gary Sutherland Gary Lynn Sutherland (September 27, 1944 – December 16, 2024), nicknamed "Sudsy", was an American professional baseball middle infielder. He player 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1966 to 1978 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Mo ...

and son of minor league pitcher Ralph Sutherland. Despite being tall, Sutherland was relatively lanky, weighing only .

Baseball career

Signed by 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 ...

on June 12, 1963, Sutherland was selected by the Mets in a first-year waiver pick on April 6, 1964. He made his big league debut on June 28 of that year, facing the

Milwaukee Braves The Milwaukee Braves were a Major League Baseball club that played in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1953 to 1965, having previously played in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Braves. After relocating to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966 they were rename ...

. Although Sutherland started the game, he lasted only one-third of an

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

, giving up five runs, on three

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

, and two walks. In total, Sutherland appeared in 10 games in his rookie season, making four starts. He went 0–3, with a 7.76

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), walking 12, and

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on ''The Good Wife'' by Robert King (writer), Robert and Michelle King. Prod ...

only nine in 26 innings of work. In 1965, in what turned out to be his career-year, Sutherland was used almost entirely as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

. He appeared in 18 games (2 of them starts). Sutherland posted an impressive 3–1 record, with a 2.81 ERA, 17 walks, and only 16 strikeouts, in 48 innings pitched. In 1966, Sutherland slumped, posting a 4.87 ERA, allowing 60 hits, 25 walks, 23 strikeouts, in 44 innings. Despite that, he posted a perfect 2–0 record. Sutherland spent all of 1967 in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

. On November 28, 1967, he was selected by the Indians in the minor league draft. Sutherland made three appearances for the 1968 Indians, posting an 8.10 ERA, with four walks, and two strikeouts, in 3 innings of work. Sutherland played his final MLB game on April 19. Sutherland’s big league career stat line includes going 5–4, in 62 games (six starts), never striking out more in a season than he walked. In 122 innings pitched, Sutherland walked 58 batters, and struck out only 50. For a pitcher, he was a fairly solid

hitter In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to dri ...

, posting a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .238. Sutherland apparently made a much better reliever in his career than starter — he won all five of his career games while in relief. all four of Sutherland’s losses came as a starter.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Darrell Living people 1941 births Major League Baseball pitchers New York Mets players Cleveland Indians players Baseball players from Glendale, California Bakersfield Bears players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Portland Beavers players Jacksonville Suns players Waterbury Indians players Stanford Cardinal baseball players Glendale High School (Glendale, California) alumni