He went to a sidearm-type delivery, eventually morphing into a submarine-style pitcher. His life path was altered when O’Day changed his pitching style just casually throwing the ball around with his brother, Kyle, at the family’s summer house rental on Kingsley Lake in 2002. O’Day parlayed that one opportunity into an MLB career where the situational reliever finished with a 42-21 record, 2.59 ERA, 637 strikeouts in 609 innings pitched and was named a 2015 All-Star for the Baltimore Orioles. Nobody drafted O’Day, but Los Angeles Angels scout Tom Kotchman convinced the team to sign him in 2006 and he needed just two years to reach the big leagues. He instead decided to give pro baseball a shot. Then he tried out again after messing around with a three-quarters sidearm delivery, made the team, eventually finishing with 23 wins and 20 saves in his Gators’ career.Īfter college, he had been accepted into UF medical school and had a three-year window in which to start the process of becoming a doctor. The 40-year-old O’Day was pitching overhand in a Jacksonville men’s adult baseball league in the summer of 2002, having been cut the previous fall at Florida. More: Gene Frenette: Chiefs deliver gut punch, but Jaguars won't be going away any time soon More: Gene Frenette: Jaguars fans getting fun, entertaining product they have long deserved More: Gene Frenette: Getting on a Bengals track would be good thing for Jaguars' future “Part of me wanted to keep going, but I just don’t actually enjoy pitching as much as I used to because I’m not as good at it now.” I was a better MLB pitcher than I was in college or high school. “Nobody ever thought I’d pitch in the big leagues, including myself. “It’s absolutely bonkers,” O’Day said in a phone interview from his Atlanta home. O’Day went from a baseball afterthought, initially rejected as a walk-on at Florida, to undrafted, to a big-league career as a submarine-style pitcher that lasted longer than any other Jacksonville native. His story was the greatest rags-to-riches tale among any local MLB player. Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was suspended for sticky stuff on April 20, and Seattle's Hector Santiago and Arizona's Caleb Smith were suspended in 2021.One of the most unique careers in Jacksonville sports history came to a close this week when Bishop Kenny High product Darren O’Day decided to call it quits after 15 seasons pitching for six different Major League Baseball teams. Hoye had asked German to wash rosin off his hand and some had remained on the pitcher's pinkie. Hoye's crew examined the 30-year-old right-hander during an April 15 start against Minnesota, when German retired his first 16 batters, but allowed him to stay in that game. German's ejection was the fourth since Major League Baseball started its crackdown on prohibited grip aids two years ago, and the second this season. I don't need any extra help to grab the baseball.” “It was definitely just the rosin bag,” German said through a translator. He denied Hoye's assertion, saying he didn't have anything on his hand other than rosin. German had retired his first nine batters Tuesday night. He allowed two runs and six hits over 3 1/3 innings Tuesday in a rehab start with Double-A Somerset. Yankees right-hander Luis Severino is expected to be activated off the injured list Sunday to start in German's place against the Cincinnati Reds.Ī two-time All-Star, the 29-year-old Severino has not pitched for New York this season because of a right lat strain. We'll share it all and we'll do it together.” “He went over the line that umpires deemed and now we've got to live with the consequences of that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday in Toronto. Barring rainouts, he will be eligible to return May 28 against San Diego. German cannot be replaced on the roster while he is suspended. German did not appeal, and his suspension began with Wednesday night's game in Toronto. The punishment was imposed by Michael Hill, MLB's senior vice president for on-field operations. “My fingers had a hard time coming off his palm,” crew chief James Hoye explained after the game. The penalty was announced following German's ejection in the fourth inning Tuesday night at Toronto for what an umpire said was “the stickiest hand I've ever felt.” New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German was suspended for 10 games Wednesday by Major League Baseball and fined for violating the sport's prohibition of foreign substances on the mound.
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