Duane Lee Underwood Jr. (born July 20, 1994) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

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 ...

for the Pittsburgh Pirates of

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). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs.

Career

Amateur career

Underwood attended Alan C. Pope High School in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth larges ...

. He committed to play

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 ...

for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs selected Underwood in the second round of the

2012 MLB draft The 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 4 through June 6, 2012, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Houston Astros, with the first overall pick, selected Carlos Correa from the Puerto ...

. He signed with the Cubs, making his professional debut that same year with the

Arizona League Cubs The Arizona Complex League Cubs are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays it home games at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. The team is composed mainly of player ...

. He spent 2013 with the

Boise Hawks The Boise Hawks are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. Home games are played at Memorial Stadium in Garden City, Idaho, a small city surroun ...

and 2014 with the

Kane County Cougars The Kane County Cougars are an independent professional baseball team located in Geneva, Illinois and are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball (MLB). They play thei ...

. For 2015, Underwood was promoted to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, where he posted a 2.58

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 ...

(ERA) in innings pitched. Underwood spent 2016 with the

Tennessee Smokies The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Kodak, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play at Smokies Stadium, directly off ...

South Bend Cubs The South Bend Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in South Bend, Indiana, and play their home games at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium. The team was o ...

, and

Myrtle Beach Pelicans The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are a Minor League Baseball team in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Pelicans compete in the Carolina League. Home games are played at TicketReturn.com Field, which open ...

, where he posted an 0–6 record with a 4.32 ERA. After the season, Underwood played for the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was established ...

of the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fille ...

and was added to the Cubs 40-man roster. He spent 2017 with the

where he went 13–7 with a 4.43 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP in 25 games. Underwood started the 2018 season with the Iowa Cubs. On June 25, 2018, the Cubs promoted Underwood to the major leagues to make his first start against the

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 ...

. He was optioned back to Iowa after the game, and spent the remainder of the year in Iowa. He returned to Iowa to begin 2019. He returned to the Chicago Cubs on August 6, 2019, and struck out all six batters he faced in his first appearance. Underwood appeared in 17 games for the Cubs in 2020 and pitched to a 5.66 ERA with 27 strikeouts in innings pitched. On March 2, 2021, Underwood was designated for assignment after the signing of

Ryan Tepera Dennis Ryan Tepera (born November 3, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago White Sox. He attended Br ...

was made official.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On March 7, 2021, the Cubs traded Underwood to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Shendrik Apostel. On September 6, Underwood was placed on the 60-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. On January 13, 2023, Underwood agreed to a one-year, $1.025 million contract with the Pirates, avoiding salary arbitration.

International career

During the

2023 World Baseball Classic The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), an international professional baseball tournament, is set to be the fifth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. It was originally set for 2021 (as per tradition to hold the event every four years), but wa ...

(WBC), Underwood pitched for the Puerto Rico national team. On March 13, 2023, he pitched in relief versus

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and retired every batter faced in the eighth inning, after José De León started and Yacksel Ríos,

Edwin Díaz Edwin Orlando Díaz Laboy (born March 22, 1994) is a Puerto Rican professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Seattle Mariners. Within two months of his MLB debut, Díaz brok ...

kept the

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

intact, and Martín Maldonado caught on the way to a 10–0 win. The contest ended when Maldonado scored on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth inning that invoked the tournament's

mercy rule A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other. It is called th ...

. However, it did not qualify as an official perfect game per the

Elias Sports Bureau The Elias Sports Bureau is a privately held company providing historical and current statistical information for the major professional sports leagues operating in the United States and Canada. Elias is the official statistician for Major League Ba ...

, due to lasting fewer than nine innings.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underwood, Duane 1994 births Living people African-American baseball players Arizona League Cubs players Baseball players from Raleigh, North Carolina Boise Hawks players Chicago Cubs players Criollos de Caguas players Iowa Cubs players Kane County Cougars players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente pitchers Major League Baseball pitchers Mesa Solar Sox players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Pittsburgh Pirates players South Bend Cubs players Tennessee Smokies players 2023 World Baseball Classic players