Scott Proctor

Infobox MLB player


width = 250
caption=Proctor with the Dodgers in 2008.
name=Scott Proctor
position=Relief Pitcher
team=Los Angeles Dodgers
number=45
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1977|1|2
birthplace=city-state|Stuart|Florida
debutdate=April 20
debutyear=2004
debutteam=New York Yankees
statyear=June 21, 2008
stat2label=Earned Run Average
stat2value=4.47
stat1label=Win-Loss
stat1value=15-10
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=246
teams=
*New York Yankees (by|2004-by|2007)
*Los Angeles Dodgers (by|2007-present)

Scott Christopher Proctor (born January 2 , 1977 in Stuart, Florida) is a major league relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Baseball history

Scott Proctor was drafted in the 17th round of the 1995 MLB Draft by the New York Mets out of Martin County High School, but decided to attend Florida State University, where he played under head coach Mike Martin. He was 10-2 in 60 career games for Florida State.

In 1998, he was drafted in the 5th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers and assigned to the Yakima Bears to start his professional career. He followed that up by playing for the Vero Beach Dodgers (2000-2001), Jacksonville Suns (2001-2003) and Las Vegas 51s (2003).

On July 31, 2003, he was traded to the New York Yankees with Bubba Crosby, for Robin Ventura. The Yankees assigned him to the Triple-A Columbus Clippers.

Proctor made his Major League Baseball debut for the Yankees on April 20, 2004 against the Chicago White Sox, working 2.1 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. 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.

Proctor pitched in 5 postseason games for the Yankees: two against Los Angeles and three against Detroit. In six innings, he has struck out two and gave up just one run.

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

Pitching

Scott Proctor is a power pitcher with a diverse pitch repertoire. Proctor's fastball ranges from 94 mph to almost 100, although he was known to throw beyond 100 as the closer for the Columbus Clippers, the Yankees' former AAA affiliate. As a former minor league starter, Proctor features several plus pitches. He will throw both four and two-seam fastballs. Proctor's secondary pitches include a mid-eighties slider, a high seventies curveball, and an occasional changeup in the low eighties. Scott will throw all but his changeup in any count, but his primary weapons are the four-seam fastball, the curve, and the slider.

Controversies

Proctor has run into some instances where he has appeared to assume the responsibility of retaliation for the Yankees. In two instances, Proctor allegedly threw at batters with the intention for retaliation.

One instance occurred in a game against the Seattle Mariners in which Scott Proctor threw behind Yuniesky Betancourt. Betancourt and Proctor exchanged heated words. Proctor may have felt that the Yankees were in position to retaliate after his teammate, Yankees first baseman Josh Phelps, was hit by a pitch. But Phelps was hit in retaliation for his part in, what appeared to be, an intentional hit on Seattle catcher Kenji Johjima. Therefore, the incident between Phelps and Johjima has already been settled with the "beaning" of Phelps but Proctor took offense to the fact the retaliation was exercised on Phelps. Proctor was suspended after that incident.

Another instance occurred on June 2nd when 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. Torre, however, did not protest Proctor's resulting one-game suspension.

On Saturday, June 30, after a poor performance in a loss to the Oakland Athletics, Proctor lit fire to his equipment on the field, just feet from the Yankees dugout.

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/sports/baseball/26proctor.html?ref=baseball By Listening, Proctor Gains a Mental Edge]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070630&content_id=2058124&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Yankees' frustrations boil over]
* [http://scottproctorsarm.blogspot.com Scott Proctor's Arm]