Tyler Clippard

Tyler Lee Clippard (born February 14, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, and Minnesota Twins.

In 2001, he was a member of the Palm Harbor team that won the Senior League World Series.

Clippard began his high school career at Palm Harbor University High School in Palm Harbor, Florida.

After failing to make the varsity baseball team in his first two seasons, he transferred to J. W. Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, Florida, where he played for the school's baseball team.

As a sophomore, in 2001, Clippard was named one of the ten best golfers in Pasco County.

He registered the best individual score in the Sunshine Athletic Conference tournament that year.

He was named to the All-Conference first team as a junior and to the All-County as a senior, and helped lead Mitchell to victory in the Sunshine Athletic Conference tournament during his senior year.

Without the benefit of a full senior season to show himself off to scouts, Clippard proactively sent scouts a schedule of when he was throwing and attended as many showcases as he could.

He trained with Roy Silver, a retired professional baseball player, who worked with Clippard on his mechanics and his maturity.

Clippard's father, Bob, teamed up with Tom Kotchman, father of Florida high school player Casey Kotchman, to form showcases with past teammates of Clippard.

As a junior, in 2002, he won six games.

He was named to the All-Conference first team.

Though he had signed a National Letter of Intent in the fall of 2002 to attend the University of South Florida on a baseball scholarship, allowing him to play college baseball for the South Florida Bulls, he chose to turn professional due to his draft position and the opportunity to play for the Yankees.

Clippard made his professional debut that year in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL) with the GCL Yankees, pitching to a 3–3 win–loss record with a 2.89 ERA.

In 43 2⁄3 innings, he allowed 33 hits and five walks while striking out 56.

After playing baseball at J. W. Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, Florida, the Yankees drafted Clippard in the ninth round of the 2003 MLB draft.

In 2003, his senior season, Clippard had a 1–1 record with an 0.81 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 17 1⁄3 innings pitched.

However, he was dismissed from the school's baseball team after being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Clippard transferred to Dunedin High School in Dunedin, Florida, which had a nationally ranked baseball team.

Clippard attempted to play for their team, but the move was blocked by the Florida High School Athletic Association, as players are not allowed to transfer during the course of a season, nor are they allowed to transfer to avoid sanctions given for disciplinary reasons.

After taking classes at Dunedin for a month, Clippard transferred back to Mitchell in order to graduate from high school with his friends.

Clippard competed for the Central Florida Renegades in Connie Mack Baseball, an amateur 18-and-under competition organized by the American Amateur Baseball Congress.

He earned pitcher of the week honors in the Florida State Elite Baseball League in June 2003.

Clippard also played golf at Mitchell.

Clippard was drafted in the ninth round of the 2003 MLB draft, with the 274th overall selection, by the New York Yankees.

Moving up to the Battle Creek Yankees of the Class A Midwest League for the 2004 season, Clippard had a 10–10 record with a 3.44 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.53:1 in 25 starts.

Clippard was 10–9 with a 3.18 ERA for the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League (FSL) in 2005.

He was named to the West team in the FSL All-Star Game.

However, he did not appear in the game, as the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League needed another pitcher that day.

Clippard was named FSL pitcher of the week for the week of July 10 through 17.

For the season, opponents batted .219 against him and he struck out 169 batters in 147 1⁄3 innings, while walking 34.

He led Yankees farmhands in strikeouts and finished fifth in the affiliated minor leagues, behind Francisco Liriano, Joel Zumaya, Rich Hill and Chuck James.

He also led the FSL in strikeouts and was seventh in ERA.

He debuted with the Yankees as a starting pitcher in 2007.

After being traded to the Washington Nationals he was named to the MLB All-Star Game in 2011 and 2014 and won the MLB Delivery Man of the Month Award in June 2011.

Clippard was born in Lexington, Kentucky.

His family moved to Florida when he was a toddler.

Clippard played baseball in Little League; in eleven years, he won seven district titles, but was never able to reach the Little League World Series.

He learned to pitch when he was eight years old.