American baseball player (born 1968)
Baseball player
Donald Glenn Elliott
(born September 20, 1968) is a former right-handed
Major League Baseball
relief pitcher who played from 1994 to 1995 for the
San Diego Padres
.
[1]
He is 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) and weighed 190 pounds at the time.
Philadelphia Phillies
[
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]
Prior to being drafted by the
Philadelphia Phillies
in the seventh round of the
1987 draft
,
[2]
Elliott attended
Deer Park High School
and then
San Jacinto College
. He began his professional career in 1988, as a starting pitcher. Pitching for the
Martinsville Phillies
, he went 4?2 with a 3.66 ERA, striking out 77 batters in 59 innings pitched that season.
In 1989, he pitched for the
Batavia Clippers
and
Spartanburg Phillies
, going a combined 6?4 with a 1.88. He did not play affiliated professional baseball in 1990 due to injury.
Splitting the 1991 season between the Spartanburg Phillies and
Clearwater Phillies
, Elliott went a combined 11?9 with a 3.25 ERA. On December 9, he was drafted by the
Seattle Mariners
in the
Rule 5 draft
, however he was returned to the Phillies on April 1, 1992.
Major league season
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On May 28, 1992, he was traded to the
Atlanta Braves
for
Ben Rivera
. In 103
2
⁄
3
innings with the
Greenville Braves
, he went 7?2 with a 2.08 ERA. Ranked the ninth best prospect in the Braves organization by
Baseball America
prior to the 1993 season, he began the year with the
Richmond Braves
, going 8?5 with a 4.72 ERA with them. On July 18, his was traded to the Padres with
Melvin Nieves
and minor leaguer Vince Moore for
Fred McGriff
. He spent the rest of the year with the
Las Vegas Stars
, going 2?5 with a 6.37 ERA. Overall,. he went 10?10 with a 5.19 ERA.
April 23, 1994 marked the date of Elliott's major league debut. It would end up being his only big league start. Coincidentally, the opposing team he was facing was the team that originally drafted him, the Phillies. Even more coincidentally, he was facing the pitcher he was traded for on May 28, 1992, Ben Rivera. Neither pitcher fared very well in that game, with Elliott lasting only 2
2
⁄
3
innings, giving up two earned runs, four hits and two walks. Rivera lasted four innings, allowing seven hits, five earned runs and four walks. In the end, the Padres won the game 8?2. After being converted to a reliever, Elliott did much better, finishing the season with a 3.27 ERA in 30 total games, with his ERA as a reliever being 2.97.
Later career
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He made only one appearance in the majors in 1995, on September 19. In two innings, he allowed two hits and one walk, while striking out three batters. He allowed zero earned runs. That would be the final game of his big league career. In the minors that season, he spent seven games with the Las Vegas Stars, posting a 4.50 ERA in eight innings.
Even though his big league career was over, he stuck around in the minors for a while. In 1996, he was back in the Phillies organization, pitching for the
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons
. He went 5?11 with a 4.79 ERA as a starter. He did not play affiliated baseball in 1997, and in 1998 he played his final season, this time in the
Texas Rangers
organization. Pitching for the
Tulsa Drillers
, he went 1?1 with a 5.79 ERA in 20 relief appearances.
Overall, he appeared in 31 games in the majors, making 1 start and going 0?1 with a 3.09 ERA.
Technique
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One day during the 1994 season, Elliott's teammate,
Trevor Hoffman
asked Elliott how he threw his change-up.
[3]
Elliott showed Hoffman his usual grip of pinching his index finger and thumb together at the point of release. Hoffman perfected this pitch and credits this usual grip as helping him master one of the nastiest change-ups in the major leagues. Elliott is now teaching his change-up to high school pitchers as he is currently the assistant head baseball coach at Deer Park High School in the Deer Park Independent School District.
[1]
Elliott was a high school teammate of former
Philadelphia Eagles
defensive lineman
Tommy Jeter
and
New York Yankees
pitcher
Andy Pettitte
.
References
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]
External links
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