Matt Harrington

Matt Harrington (born February 1, 1982) is a retired professional baseball pitcher and a former first round pick in Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft.

Amateur career

Harrington played his amateur ball at Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California, where he enjoyed a distinguished amateur career, most notably winning the Baseball America High School Player of the Year Award in 2000. USA Today also named him their high school Player of the Year that season,^[1] and he participated in the 1999 Goodwill Games.^[1] In Harrington's senior season, he posted a 0.54 ERA and an 11-0 record, including one no-hitter, with 126 strikeouts in only 65 innings pitched.^[1] Harrington was regarded as one of the top talents available in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft, and he chose agent Tommy Tanzer as his representative. Several of the teams at the top of the draft were scared off by Tanzer's bonus demands for Harrington,^[2][3] and ultimately the Colorado Rockies selected Harrington with the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Drafts

2000 Major League Baseball Draft, first round with the 7th overall pick by the Rockies

A right-hander with a 95+ mph fastball, Harrington was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft. He was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the 7th overall pick. However, Harrington and his agent Tommy Tanzer were never able to come to terms on a contract. Tanzer asked for a $4.95 million signing bonus, which was 25 percent more than what the previous year's No. 1 pick Josh Hamilton had received. The negotiations proved acrimonious, with Tanzer accusing the Rockies of backing out of an alleged pre-draft agreement to sign for his stated asking price, and the Rockies denying that such an agreement ever took place.

The Rockies' final offer was $4 million and a guaranteed major league callup by the end of 2002. Harrington turned down the deal, sat out the season and re-entered the draft in 2001. While Harrington and his parents publicly supported their agent at the time, they ultimately fired Tanzer and filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him for giving bad advice. Tanzer was replaced with super-agent Scott Boras, who also proved unsuccessful getting Harrington signed.

2001 Major League Baseball Draft, second round with the 58th overall pick by the Padres

In the 2001 Draft, Harrington slipped into the second round, being drafted by the San Diego Padres with the 58th overall pick. The Padres offered him a $1.2 million signing bonus. Boras, who wanted twice that amount, rejected the offer and Harrington again declined to sign. He played in the independent leagues during the following season, putting up unimpressive numbers for St. Paul of the Northern League and the Long Beach Breakers of the now-defunct Western Baseball League, going a combined 2-6 with a 6.75 ERA. He was released by Long Beach's manager Steve Yeager.^[4] Although the Padres were still free to make additional contract offers until the day of the 2002 draft, they chose not to after scouting Harrington in independent ball that May. They felt Harrington's skills had diminished, and notified him that they were not interested in signing him to a contract, and would not be drafting him again.

2002 Major League Baseball Draft, 13th round with the 374th overall pick by the Devil Rays

Despite his struggles in the independent leagues, Harrington was drafted again in 2002. This time, he was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 13th round.^[5] Again, he failed to agree to a contract. Tampa Bay's offers ranged in the $5,000-$200,000 range, standard 13th round money.

2003 Major League Baseball Draft, 24th round with the 711th overall pick by the Reds

In 2003, he fell to the 24th round of the draft (711th overall), before he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds, who were just offering little more than a chance to play.^{[citation needed]}

2004 Major League Baseball Draft, 36th round with the 1,089th overall pick by the Yankees

In 2004, he was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 36th round (1,089 overall). The Yankees did not offer him a contract.^{[citation needed]}

Professional career

From 2003 to 2006, Harrington pitched for the Fort Worth Cats of the independent American Association. He has pitched well with the Cats, mostly as a middle reliever. He posted a 5-0 record during the 2005 season, and followed that up with a 6-1 mark and a 2.90 ERA in 2006. During the latter season, he increased his strikeout rate dramatically, and allowed just 6.7 hits per nine innings pitched. The improvement was credited to Harrington being in better shape and regaining considerable velocity on his fastball.

Because none of the 30 major league teams selected him after 50 rounds in the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft, Harrington became a free agent. This allowed him to sign a professional contract with any club in organized baseball, on whatever terms he can obtain. Harrington's improvement caused some major league clubs to again have interest in signing him. On October 10, 2006, he signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs. He received no signing bonus, but attended the Cubs' 2007 spring training camp with the hope of landing a position on a Cubs minor league team.^[6] However, the Cubs released him on March 27, 2007.^[7] After his release from the Cubs, he re-signed with the St. Paul Saints, his original minor league independent team. He is now retired.

Post-playing career

Harrington is currently working for the local Costco store, in the tire department, making $11.50 per hour.^[8]

He was able to salvage a portion of the baseball money he turned down, due to a settlement of an insurance policy he took out in 2000 and a lawsuit against his former agent.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Lawlor, Christopher. "Harrington named player of the year", USA Today, June 27, 2000.
2. ^ Posnanski, Joe. "The Curious Case of Matt Harrington", JoePosnanski.com, May 12, 2009.
3. ^ Schwarz, Alan. "Matt Harrington's Wild Ride", Baseball America, July 8, 2001.
4. ^ Lovern, Blair (July 1, 2002). "Breakers give up on Harrington". Baseball America. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/leagues/independent/harrington062702.html. 
5. ^ Romano, John (2002-06-16). "He still loves baseball, but will it love him back?". St. Petersburg Times. http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/16/Columns/He_still_loves_baseba.shtml. 
6. ^ Baseball America article about Harrington signing with Cubs
7. ^ Wittenmyer, Gordon (2007-03-28). "Hill feels strong despite blister :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Cubs". Suntimes.com. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/315971,CST-SPT-cubnt28.article. Retrieved 2010-08-25. 
8. ^ Nelson, Amy K. (2009-04-23). "ESPN - OTL: Dream On A Shelf - E-ticket". Sports.espn.go.com. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=090423/harrington. Retrieved 2010-08-25. 

External links

• Career statistics and player information from The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Article in Kansas City Star (8/6/2006)

Persondata
Name	Harrington, Matt
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 1, 1982
Place of birth	West Valley, California
Date of death
Place of death