Christopher Keith Schroder (born August 20, 1978) is an American former professional baseball

relief pitcher 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 (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

. He attended

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and doctor ...

. Bob Carpenter coined him one of the 'er boys' along with

Chris Booker Chris Booker (born May 20, 1971) is an American radio and TV personality. Career Booker has worked as a correspondent for TV Guide Channel covering red carpet events such as "Live at the Grammys with Joan and Melissa Rivers," and "Live at th ...

and

Ryan Wagner Ryan Scott Wagner (born July 15, 1982) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals. Wagner was an All-American closer for the Universit ...

Baseball career

Schroder was known as a

strikeout 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 ...

pitcher. In , he made it to the majors with the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

, and appeared in 21 games, pitching 28 innings and recording 39 strikeouts. But he also walked 15 and allowed 7 homers. All told, by the end of 2006, he had pitched 97 innings in Triple-A

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

with 121 K's. He started at Triple-A Columbus, and improved his home run problem—in 26 games he threw 33 innings, striking out 45. While he still conceded 18 walks, he did not surrender any home runs, posting an

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 ...

of 1.64. On June 20, he was called up to the Nationals. Schroder was the winning pitcher in the August 7, , game between the Nationals and the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

. It was in this game that

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

hit his 756th home run off Schroder's teammate, Mike Bacsik, breaking the 33-year-old record held by

Hank Aaron Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the gre ...

for most career home runs. The Nationals won 8-6. He signed a one-year deal with the Athletics in November 2008. He did not make the 2009

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years ...

roster and was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must within seven days, return the pla ...

on April 8, 2009, to make room for newly claimed pitcher

Dan Giese Daniel Joshua Giese ( ; born May 19, 1977) is an American professional baseball pitcher and scout. He played in Major League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, and Oakland Athletics. He is a scout for the Yankees. Career E ...

. In October 2009 Schroder was granted free agency. On January 11, 2010 Schroder signed a minor league contract with the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

External links

Sportsnet player stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schroder, Chris 1978 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Oklahoma Brevard County Manatees players Clinton LumberKings players Columbus Clippers players Edmonton Trappers players Gulf Coast Nationals players Harrisburg Senators players Jupiter Hammerheads players Major League Baseball pitchers New Orleans Zephyrs players Oklahoma City Stars baseball players People from Okarche, Oklahoma Peoria Javelinas players Peoria Saguaros players Potomac Nationals players Sacramento River Cats players Vermont Expos players Washington Nationals players