Micah Owings

Micah Burton Owings (born September 28, 1982) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres between 2007 and 2012.

During his career, Owings was used as a pitcher and an occasional pinch-hitter; he also played outfielder in the minor leagues.

He was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 2nd round (50th overall) in the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign with them.

Owings played college baseball at Georgia Tech in 2003 and 2004 before transferring to Tulane University in New Orleans.

After the 2004 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

He was selected again in 2004 in the 19th round (576th overall) by the Chicago Cubs and again chose not to sign.

He was drafted in the third round of the 2005 MLB Draft by Arizona, making his major league debut with the Diamondbacks in 2007.

He played two seasons in Arizona before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds.

He spent two seasons with the Reds, followed by a return to Arizona for a one-year stint.

In the 2005 season, Owings was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Conference USA Tournament.

Tulane held a number one national ranking for most of the season and reached the College World Series.

In 2005, he was selected in the third round by the Arizona Diamondbacks (83rd overall).

After signing with Arizona, he was assigned to the Single-A Lancaster JetHawks.

He pitched in 16 games out of the bullpen, going 1–1 with a 2.45 ERA.

In 2006, he played in Double-A and Triple-A for the Tennessee Smokies and the Tucson Sidewinders, respectively.

He made 12 starts for the Smokies and went 6–2 with a 2.88 ERA.

His stats in Triple-A were impressive, in which he went 10–0 with a respectable 3.75 ERA in 15 starts.

While playing for the Diamondbacks in 2007, he was honored with a Silver Slugger Award as the top-hitting pitcher.

Owings played college baseball with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets before transferring to Tulane, where he played in the College World Series.

Owings was a long shot to make the Diamondbacks' Opening Day roster in 2007, but was ultimately named the fifth starter over Enrique González, Dana Eveland, Dustin Nippert, and Yusmeiro Petit.

Owings made his major league debut on April 6, 2007, against the Washington Nationals.

He pitched five shutout innings, allowing only one hit, and striking out six.

Originally brought up to fill a starter spot while Randy Johnson recovered from back surgery, management was very impressed by his performances.

On July 26, Owings hit his first Major League home run against Byung-hyun Kim of the Florida Marlins.

Owings was having an uneventful season in the major leagues in 2007 until he faced the Atlanta Braves on August 18, 2007.

He pitched 7.0 innings, allowing three hits and three earned runs, striking out seven.

His batting performance made it a career night.

Owings went 4 for 5, including two home runs, scoring four times with six RBI.

He is the first pitcher with four hits, four runs and six RBI in the same game.

The last pitcher in the Major Leagues to record four hits and four runs was Danny Jackson in.

Owings' 11 total bases are the most by a pitcher in the last 50 seasons.

The last Arizona player to have four hits, two homers, four runs and six RBI was Shea Hillenbrand in.

He was the first Diamondbacks pitcher to have 2 home runs in one game.

The Diamondbacks would later win, 12–6.

Following two particularly poor outings in early September 2007, Owings pitched his first Major League shutout on September 18, 2007, allowing only two hits against the San Francisco Giants.

Later in 2007, on September 27, Owings made an emergency start in place of Brandon Webb and pitched 6 innings of shutout ball, while going 4-for-4 at the plate with three doubles and three RBI.

Owings joined the San Diego Padres in 2012, signed a minor league contract with Washington in 2013, was later released and then signed with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Owings holds Georgia's high school home run record with 69, fourth in the nation only to Drew Henson, Jeff Clement, and James Peterson.

As a sophomore, he hit .630 with 21 homers; as a senior he hit .448 with 25 home runs while going 12–1 on the mound with a 1.03 ERA, 121 strikeouts, and 3 walks in 75 innings.

Owings played his freshman and sophomore seasons at Forsyth Central High School in Cumming and transferred to Gainesville High School as a junior.