Dennis Scott Harriger (born July 21, 1969) 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. He played for the Detroit Tigers in

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), ...

in . Harriger attended Ford City High School in

Ford City, Pennsylvania Ford City is a borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States, northeast of Pittsburgh along the east bank of the Allegheny River and south of Kittanning, the county seat. The population of Ford City at the 2010 census was 2,991. An ...

where he played for the school's baseball team. Between his junior and senior years, he had a .400

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and

struck out 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 denote ...

275 batters. He led the school to a

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. The PIAA's main ...

state championship in 1987, recording the win in both the semifinal and final game. He played on that team alongside

Gus Frerotte Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa. Frerotte, who was selected to ...

. He was later named to the Ford City Hall of Fame. Although Harriger did not have any

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 ...

scholarship offers from

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 ...

programs, he was selected by 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 ...

in the 18th round of the

1987 Major League Baseball 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 con ...

. He made his professional debut on June 30, 1987 in a

relief pitching 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 d ...

appearance for the

Kingsport Mets The Kingsport Mets were a Minor League Baseball team of the Appalachian League from 1921 to 2020. They were located in Kingsport, Tennessee, and were last named for the team's major league affiliate, the New York Mets. The team played its home ga ...

. Harriger spent six seasons pitching the Mets farm system before being granted

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

in October 1993.

References

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1969 births Living people Baseball players from Pennsylvania Detroit Tigers players Major League Baseball pitchers Nashua Pride players Lancaster Barnstormers players Acereros de Monclova players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Binghamton Mets players Chinatrust Whales players American expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Columbia Mets players Indianapolis Indians players Kingsport Mets players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players LG Twins players American expatriate baseball players in South Korea Long Island Ducks players Pittsfield Mets players St. Lucie Mets players Toledo Mud Hens players {{US-baseball-pitcher-1960s-stub