Scott Proctor

Scott Christopher Proctor (born January 2, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

Proctor was drafted in the 17th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball draft by the New York Mets out of Martin County High School, but decided to attend Florida State University, where he played for the Florida State Seminoles baseball team under head coach Mike Martin.

He was 10–2 in 60 career games for Florida State.

In 1996, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, returned to the league in 1997 and 1998 to play with the Hyannis Mets, and was named a league all-star in 1997.

In 1998, Proctor was drafted in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Dodgers and assigned to the Yakima Bears to start his professional career.

He played for the Vero Beach Dodgers (2000–2001), Jacksonville Suns (2001–2003) and Las Vegas 51s (2003).

On July 31, 2003, Proctor was traded to the New York Yankees with Bubba Crosby for Robin Ventura.

The Yankees assigned him to the Triple-A Columbus Clippers.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 2004 and 2011 for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Atlanta Braves.

Proctor made his Major League Baseball debut for the Yankees on April 20, 2004 against the Chicago White Sox, working 2 1⁄3 innings in relief and allowing 2 earned runs.

Throughout the course of his first season, he appeared in 26 games, pitched 25 innings, finished 12 games, and posted a 2–1 record and a 5.40 ERA with 21 strikeouts.

He finished the 2005 season with a 6.04 ERA and a 1–0 record.

In 2006, Proctor emerged as a durable, reliable late-inning option for manager Joe Torre.

Finally harnessing his breaking pitches, Proctor led the American League with 83 appearances, often pitching more than one inning or in consecutive games.

Proctor notched his first career save in 2006.

Proctor pitched in five games in the 2006 MLB postseason for the Yankees: two against Los Angeles and three against Detroit.

In six innings, he struck out two and gave up just one run.

Proctor appeared in 83 games in both 2006 and 2007, 3rd and 5th most amongst all MLB pitchers respectively.

Along with Kyle Farnsworth and Brian Bruney, Proctor was a part of the Yankees' bridge between the starters and closer Mariano Rivera, and reprised that role for the first part of the 2007 season.

In May 2007, Yankees first baseman Josh Phelps had slid hard into Seattle catcher Kenji Johjima.

In return, Phelps was hit by Jarrod Washburn on the first pitch of his next at-bat.

Both benches were warned.

Proctor then thew inside to Yuniesky Betancourt and was ejected, along with Yankees manager Joe Torre.

Proctor was fined and suspended for four games, while Torre was suspended for one.

On June 1, 2007, Proctor hit Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis in the shoulder after two Yankee batters were hit.

Youkilis was the fifth hit batsman in the game.

A visibly enraged Youkilis had to be held back by Yankee catcher Jorge Posada.

Proctor was soon ejected after both benches calmed, though Proctor remained upset over his ejection.

After the game, he protested to the media that the pitch had gotten away from him and that he had no reason to hit Youkilis as he had a 2–2 count.

Before the following game, during the YES Pre-Game Show, Joe Torre told reporters that after Proctor's ejection, Proctor stormed into Torre's office and insisted that he did not throw at Youkilis intentionally, an explanation Torre accepted.

Proctor was ultimately not suspended.

On June 30, after a poor performance in a loss to the Oakland Athletics (and after taking the loss in each of the Yankees' last two games), Proctor lit fire to his equipment on the field, just feet from the Yankees dugout.

Proctor's heavy use as a Yankee reliever led to concerns that Torre was overusing him.

On July 31, 2007, Proctor was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for infielder Wilson Betemit.

He was mostly used as a late inning setup man.

He finished the 2007 season with an impressive 3–0 record and a 3.38 ERA in 31 relief appearances for the Dodgers.

Proctor struggled in 2008 and spent most of the season on the disabled list.

However, he pitched much better in the month of September, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League West Division title.

General manager Brian Cashman revealed in 2011 that he confronted Torre about Proctor's workload and asked the pitcher to be more honest about whether he could pitch on a given day: "I met with Proctor and said, 'You better stop telling the manager [that you can pitch] because the way he manages' — I'm not criticizing Joe, that's just the way he is — 'He wants an honest answer. Just tell him no.

In 2012, he played for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League.