Ian "JR" Ritchie Jr. (born June 26, 2003) is an American 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, ...

in the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

organization.

Early life and amateur career

Ritchie lives on

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 24,825 at the 2020 census, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. The island is s ...

, where he attended Bainbridge High School. His sophomore season was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. During that year, Ritchie added 20 pounds of muscle to his build, which resulted in increased velocity on his pitches. He was named the Gatorade Washington Baseball Player of the Year as a junior after he went 6–0 record with a 0.38

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) and 54 strikeouts in innings pitched while also batting .531 with 24 runs scored. He committed to play

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, ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. Ritchie emerged as high-round prospect for the

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) draft during his senior season. He finished his senior season with a 7–0 win–loss record, yielding two earned runs, 12 hits, 74 strikeouts, and four walks in innings pitched. Following the end of his senior season, Ritchie participated in the 2022 Draft Combine.

Professional career

Ritchie was selected by the

with the 35th overall selection of the 2022 MLB draft. He signed with the team and received an over-slot signing bonus of $2.4 million. He made five starts split between the rookie-level

Florida Complex League Braves The Florida Complex League Braves are an American baseball team. They are the Rookie-level affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast Lea ...

and the Single-A

Augusta GreenJackets The Augusta GreenJackets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina. History Augusta was a member of the S ...

, posting a 1.88 ERA with 14 strikeouts in innings pitched. In 2023, Ritchie returned to Augusta, making four starts and registering a 5.40 ERA with 25 strikeouts in innings of work. He last pitched on May 6, and later that month, it was reported that Ritchie would undergo

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, ...

to repair a moderate UCL tear in his right elbow and miss the remainder of the season.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, JR Living people Baseball players from Kitsap County, Washington People from Bainbridge Island, Washington 2003 births Florida Complex League Braves players Augusta GreenJackets players 21st-century American sportsmen