Scott Elarton

Scott Elarton
Pitcher
Born: February 23, 1976 (1976-02-23) Lamar, Colorado
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 20, 1998 for the Houston Astros
Last MLB appearance
June 28, 2008 for the Cleveland Indians
Career statistics
Win-Loss	56-60
Earned run average	5.31
Strikeouts	683
Teams
Houston Astros (1998-2001) Colorado Rockies (2001, 2003-2004) Cleveland Indians (2004-2005, 2008) Kansas City Royals (2006-2007)

Vincent Scott Elarton (born February 23, 1976 in Lamar, Colorado) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He has played for the Houston Astros (1998-2001), Colorado Rockies (2001-2004), Cleveland Indians (2004-2005, 2008) and the Kansas City Royals (2006-2007).

At 6' 8", Elarton is among the many pitchers whose height is more commonly associated with the National Basketball Association (like 6' 10" Randy Johnson, 6' 11" Jon Rauch, and 6' 9" Mark Hendrickson - who actually played in the NBA for a few dozen games). Elarton was chosen by the Astros in the first round of the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft (25th overall) when he was just 18 years old. Forgoing college for the minor leagues, Elarton went from the single-A level to triple-A in 1997 and made his major league debut on June 20, 1998, at only 22 years of age.

Elarton spent most of 1998 as a relief pitcher and registered an impressive 3.32 earned run average (but gave up the game-winning run in the pivotal Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the eventual league champion San Diego Padres). He started 1999 in the bullpen, but was moved to starter in early July and was impressive again with an overall 3.48 ERA and 9–5 record.

Elarton had shoulder surgery after the 1999 season and started 2000 on the disabled list and in minor league rehabilitation. Despite the injury, he had the best season of his career in 2000, posting a 17–7 record for a poor Astros team that compiled only a 72–90 record. Elarton was named the team's pitcher of the year which was an easy choice as he won twice as many games as any other pitcher on the team. He had a high 4.81 ERA, but that was still better than all of the starters and most of the relievers on the team in the brand new hitter-friendly Enron Field.

Elarton has not regained the glory of 2000. In 2001, Enron Field got its revenge and Elarton's ERA continued to skyrocket up to a miserable 7.14. He was traded to the Rockies for Pedro Astacio at the trading deadline. Although he was back in his home state of Colorado, the Rockies' Coors Field stadium is an even more hitter-friendly stadium. When his 2001 season came to an end, he had a 7.06 ERA and was fifth-worst in the National League in home runs allowed and eighth-worst in earned runs allowed.

Matters got worse when Elarton had major shoulder surgery and missed the entire 2002 season and then spent 2003 primarily in the minors (with another poor 6.27 ERA in 11 games in the majors). 2004 started out even more miserably with an ERA of 9.80 before the Rockies released him in mid-May.

Getting away from hitter-friendly parks worked wonders for Elarton. After being released by the Rockies in 2004, he was signed to a minor-league contract by Cleveland, pitched very well and was soon back in the majors. Elarton was markedly better with Cleveland, posting a much more reasonable 4.53 ERA although he continued to be victimized by home runs and his record was only 3-5. On August 29, 2004, Elarton pitched the best game of his career, a two-hit complete game shutout allowing only one walk and six strikeouts.

In 2005, Elarton spent his first season entirely in the majors since his disastrous 2001. He responded with a very nice 11-9 record for the second-place Indians and a 4.61 ERA that would have been better except for a poor first five weeks. Again the downside was home runs allowed as he ranked in the ten worst in that category for the second year in a row.

After the 2005 season, Elarton was signed as a free agent by the Kansas City Royals. In 2006, Elarton gave up Derek Jeter's 2000th career hit. The Royals released him on July 25, 2007, after going 2-4 with a 10.46 ERA in 37 innings. He signed a minor league contract with the Indians on August 3, 2007, and re-signed with the Indians on February 8, 2008, to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. He was called up to the majors on May 24.

On July 8, Elarton was put on the 15-day disabled list with a non-baseball condition. He had been on the restricted list prior to that with what Indians manager Eric Wedge described as "personal issues."

Like many pitchers, Elarton has a hard time with Barry Bonds (6-for-8 with 4 HR and a double), Phil Nevin (6-for-11, 2 HR), Hank Blalock (3-for-5, 2 HR) and Albert Pujols (3-for-5, 2 HR) and has also been a favorite of David Dellucci (4-for-8 with 3 HR) and Kevin Witt (4-for-6, HR and a double).

Unlike many pitchers, Elarton has had success against Vladimir Guerrero (4-for-18 with 0 extra base hits and 1 base on balls), Shawn Green (3-for-17) and Jim Edmonds (2-for-15). His other favorite hitters are José Vidro (1-for-19), Orlando Cabrera (0-for-11) and Barry Larkin (0-for-8, .000 on base percentage).

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference