Scott Schoeneweis

Scott David Schoeneweis (born October 2, 1973) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed relief pitcher who played for several teams between 1999 and 2010.

He attended Lenape High School in Medford, New Jersey, where he lettered in baseball and basketball before playing collegiately at Duke University, where he was a 1993 All-American as a freshman.

That season, he had 12 wins, the second-best record in the school's history.

In 1993, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

At age 19, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

The cancer had already spread to his lymph nodes.

He said he took "6 months of chemotherapy in 3 months," and commented that "it puts things in perspective."

Schoeneweis lost 20 pounds during his recovery.

He next underwent Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow.

He spent the following summer lifting weights and rehabilitating.

and returned to Duke University, where he had 10 wins in his senior year, graduating with a history degree.

He played for the United States national baseball team in 1996.

He was drafted by the California Angels in the third round of the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft.

Schoeneweis had three pitches: a sinking 89–90 mph fastball and slider, which are his better pitches, and a changeup.

He was able to get his fastball in on lefties, which keeps them off his breaking ball on the outside corner.

He was a ground-ball pitcher and has been used many times as a lefty specialist.

From 1996–2000, in the minor leagues, Schoeneweis was 28–20.

In the 1997 Arizona Fall League, he went 3–2 with a 1.98 earned run average for the Scottsdale Scorpions.

Schoeneweis started his MLB career with the Anaheim Angels, where in 1999, he appeared in 31 games and finished with a 1–1 record in a season shortened by a torn medial collateral ligament in his left elbow.

The next season, he was used as a starting pitcher, pitching in 27 games, all starts, as he went 7–10 with a 5.45 ERA.

In 2001, during which the Angels continued using him as a starter (beginning with opening day), he won a career-high 10 games and finished with a 5.08 ERA.

He hit 14 batters (third in the American League).

In 2002, Schoeneweis was used primarily as a reliever, though he made 15 starts, going 9–8 with an ERA of 4.88, and left-handed batters batted only .202 against him.

At the conclusion of the season, the Angels captured the American League Wild Card and qualified for the postseason.

Schoeneweis appeared in three games versus the defending American League champion New York Yankees, giving up one earned run.

Anaheim took the series 3 games to 1, and defeated the Minnesota Twins in the 2002 American League Championship Series in five games.

Scott appeared in one of those games, and did not surrender a run in 0.2 innings pitched.

In the 2002 World Series, Schoeneweis pitched in two games and held the San Francisco Giants scoreless in the two innings he pitched.

The Angels captured the World Series title in seven games.

In the five seasons from 2003 to 2007, Schoeneweis allowed only one home run to left-handed batters.

He started the 2003 season with the Angels.

During the season, he was dealt to the Chicago White Sox after appearing in 39 games, all in relief, for Anaheim.

He was traded with Doug Nickle for Gary Glover, Scott Dunn, and Tim Bittner on July 30.

He finished the year with a combined 3–2 record between the Angels and ChiSox, to go along with his 4.18 ERA in 59 games.

Left-handed hitters batted .209, with a .264 slugging percentage and .293 on-base percentage, in 227 plate appearances against him from 2005 to 2006, and then only .207 with a .241 slugging percentage in 2007.

In 2008, he was even stingier—lefties batted only .178 against him.

That was second-best among all major league left-handers.

Through 2010, he had limited lefties to a .229 average.

Schoeneweis was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, grew up in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey, and is Jewish.

Among Jewish pitchers, through 2010 he was first all-time in career games played, having passed Sandy Koufax in 2007 and Ken Holtzman in 2008, and 9th in strikeouts (directly behind Larry Sherry), three spots behind Jason Marquis.