Brian Edward Bohanon (born August 1, 1968) is a former

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 ...

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), ...

who played for five teams in a span of seven seasons from 1990 through 2001.

Career

Bohanon played baseball at North Shore High School in Texas. As a senior, he pitched 135.2 innings, won 17 games and had an

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

of 1.72 en route to the state finals. He pitched three no-hitters in high school and was twice named the Houston Player of the Year. He was selected by the Texas Rangers with the 19th pick of the

1987 MLB Draft The Major League Baseball Draft is the process by which Major League Baseball (MLB) teams select athletes to play for their organization. High school seniors, college juniors and seniors, and anyone who had never played under a professional cont ...

and received a $137,000 signing bonus. He was assigned to the

Gulf Coast League The Florida Complex League (FCL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in Florida, United States. Before 2021, it was known as the Gulf Coast League (GCL). Together with the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it forms the l ...

to begin his career. Prior to the 1990 season, '' Baseball America'' ranked him the 45th-best prospect in baseball and the fifth-best in the Rangers' system. Bohanon made his Major League debut with the Rangers on April 10, 1990, pitching a scoreless inning in relief of

Charlie Hough Charles Oliver Hough (; born January 5, 1948) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) knuckleball pitcher and coach who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Florida Marlins from 1970 to 1994. Pla ...

at the SkyDome. He recorded his first Major League strikeout on April 25 of that season against

Robin Ventura Robin Mark Ventura (born July 14, 1967) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager. Ventura played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Do ...

and made his first start five days later in Chicago against the

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. Bohanon spent parts of his first five seasons with the Rangers, often being called up as an injury replacement. His

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...

rarely exceeded . Bohanon spent 1995 with the Detroit Tigers and 1996 with 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 ...

. In 20 appearances for the Blue Jays, he worked exclusively out of the bullpen. Bohanon's best seasons came in 1997 and 1998 with the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

. Bohanon enjoyed what he called a breakthrough season in 1997 with the Mets before being traded to Los Angeles for

Greg McMichael Gregory Winston McMichael (born December 1, 1966) is an American former professional baseball player who was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1993 to 2000. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, McMichael graduated from Webb School o ...

during the 1998 campaign, where he also pitched well. Before the 1998 season, Bohanon signed with the Colorado Rockies for three years and $9 million despite having what

Tom Verducci Thomas Verducci (born October 23, 1960) is an American sportswriter who writes for ''Sports Illustrated'' and its online magazine SI.com. He writes primarily about baseball. He is also a reporter and commentator for Fox Major League Baseball and ...

described in a ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'' article as "ordinary credentials." Bohanon was a regular with the Rockies for over two seasons and accumulated far more starts and innings pitched with the Rockies than with any other club. Following the 2000 season, he underwent surgery on his elbow. In August 2001, he underwent surgery on

bone spurs An exostosis, also known as bone spur, is the formation of new bone on the surface of a bone. Exostoses can cause chronic pain ranging from mild to debilitatingly severe, depending on the shape, size, and location of the lesion. It is most commonl ...

in his pitching elbow. He would go on to appear with the Louisville Bats in 2002 but would not appear in another Major League game. Bohanon posted a 54–60 record with 671

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

and a 5.19

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. In 231 career at-bats, he hit .229 with three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

Personal life

Bohanon and his wife, Tina, had multiple children. Their son Brandon played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

at the

University of Houston-Victoria A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

for coach Terry Puhl.

Sources

External links

o
Retrosheet
o
Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohanon, Brian 1968 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Texas Charlotte Rangers players Colorado Rockies players Colorado Springs Sky Sox players Detroit Tigers players Gulf Coast Rangers players Los Angeles Dodgers players Louisville Bats players Major League Baseball pitchers Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Mets players Norfolk Tides players Oklahoma City 89ers players Sportspeople from Denton, Texas Syracuse Chiefs players Texas Rangers players Toronto Blue Jays players Tulsa Drillers players North Shore Senior High School (Texas) alumni