Robert Michael File (born January 28, 1977) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. File spent three-plus seasons as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

for the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) from to . He signed with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in 2005, retiring shortly after spring training with a back injury. File was drafted as a third baseman out of

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, then converted to pitcher while in the Jays' farm system. File is a former pitching coach at La Salle University in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. La Salle University competes at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

level in the

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

baseball conference.

Pitching style and biography

File threw a 96 MPH

four-seam fastball A four-seam fastball, also called a rising fastball, a four-seamer, or a cross-seam fastball, is a pitch in baseball. It is a member of the fastball family of pitches and is usually the hardest (i.e., fastest) ball thrown by a pitcher. It is c ...

, a 91–94 MPH sinker, a 77–82 MPH

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

, and a 78–80 MPH fosh (hybrid-splitfinger).
File is one of seven pitchers in major league history to win a game in his first appearance while throwing five pitches or fewer. File was a standout infielder at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia before becoming a pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays. File was one of the top players in the history of

Philadelphia University Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the univer ...

's (now Thomas Jefferson University) baseball program. * Earned ABCA/Rawlings first-team All-American honors as a senior in 1998. * Earned ECAC (East Coast Athletic Conference) Player of the Year honors as a senior in 1998. * Three-time NYCAC (New York Collegiate Athletic Conference) All-Conference selection, earning Player of the Year honors in 1998. * Set several school hitting records as a senior in 1998, including a .542 batting average. * .542 batting average in 1998 was #1 in the country, leading all NCAA baseball. * Also set single-season records with 90 hits, 63 runs, 68 RBI, 19 home runs, and 167 total bases in 1998. * Is the university's all-time leader in nearly every career hitting category including runs (181), hits (296), triples (17) and home runs (37).

References

External links

1977 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Philadelphia Dunedin Blue Jays players Major League Baseball pitchers Medicine Hat Blue Jays players Philadelphia Rams baseball players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Tennessee Smokies players Toronto Blue Jays players La Salle Explorers baseball coaches {{US-baseball-pitcher-1970s-stub