Lawrence James Monroe (born June 20, 1956) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

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 ...

, who played 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), ...

(MLB) for the

Chicago 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 p ...

in 1976.

Biography

Monroe was chosen by the Sox in the first round of the 1974 amateur draft with the eighth overall selection. After going 11-14 with a 2.91 ERA for the

Knoxville Sox Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

in 1976, he earned a late-season call-up to Chicago. He made his big league debut on August 23 against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, throwing two scoreless, hitless innings of relief. He earned his only decision in the majors on September 30. He started that day's game against the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

, going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs (3 earned), and walking 2 to take the loss. Returning to Knoxville in 1977, he continued to play through 1979. After his playing days, Monroe worked for the White Sox in various capacities. When

Adrian Garrett Henry Adrian Garrett Jr. (January 3, 1943April 22, 2021), nicknamed "Pat" and "Smokey", was an American professional baseball player and coach. A utility man in Major League Baseball, he appeared in 163 total games during eight seasons between 1 ...

replaced

Vern Law Vernon Sanders Law (born March 12, 1930) is an American former baseball pitcher who played sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played in 1950–51 and 1954–67. He batted and threw right-handed and was li ...

as manager of the

Denver Zephyrs The Denver Zephyrs (formerly the Denver Bears) were a Minor League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They were a Triple-A team that played in the American Association from 1955 to 1962, the Pacific Coast League from 1963 to ...

in 1984, Monroe was brought in to become pitching coach. He was vice president of scouting and minor league operations from 1990 to 1994 and was vice president of free agent and major league scouting from that time until 2000. Monroe was an integral part of the advanced scouting team, which aided the Chicago White Sox in winning the

2005 World Series The 2005 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2005 season. The 101st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Chicago White Sox and the National ...

. More recently, he was an advisor to the baseball department through 2020. Currently Monroe runs the personal pitching training business, ''Monroe Pitching'', geared to young men looking to improve their individual talents.http://monroepitching.com monroepitching.com Monroe is the author of ''Best-Kept Secrets of Major League Pitching''. Monroe's son, Grant Monroe, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 38th round of the 2007 amateur draft and again in the 46th round of the 2009 amateur draft.

References

External links

1956 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Chicago White Sox players Chicago White Sox scouts Baseball players from Detroit Amarillo Gold Sox players Appleton Foxes players Gulf Coast White Sox players Knoxville Sox players Minor league baseball coaches Baseball coaches from Michigan {{US-baseball-pitcher-1950s-stub