Kyle Daniel Crick (born November 30, 1992) is an American 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 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 ...

in the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

organization. He previously 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

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 Y ...

, Pittsburgh Pirates and

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 ...

Career

High School career

Crick attended Sherman High School in

Sherman, Texas Sherman is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and it is part of the Texoma region ...

. He played for the school's baseball team as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, and only occasionally as a

. He became a full-time pitcher in his senior year, and he had a 7–2

win–loss record In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of matc ...

and a 1.11

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) with 95 strikeouts. Crick committed to attend

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

(TCU) 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

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

San Francisco Giants

The

selected Crick in the first round, with the 49th overall selection, of the

2011 Major League Baseball draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the firs ...

. Citing arm injuries suffered by TCU pitchers, Crick opted to sign with the Giants rather than attend college. He received a $900,000 signing bonus. After signing, he made his professional debut that year with the

AZL Giants The Arizona Complex League Giants are a professional baseball team competing as a Rookie-level affiliate of the San Francisco Giants in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Scottsdale Stadium in S ...

of the Rookie League

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 ...

, going 1–0 with a 6.43 ERA in seven relief innings pitched. Crick pitched to a 7–6 record and 2.51 ERA with 128 strikeouts in innings pitched in 23 games (22 starts) for the

Augusta GreenJackets The Augusta GreenJackets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina, which opened in April 2018. They previo ...

of the Class A

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

in 2012. Prior to the 2013 season, '' Baseball America'' ranked Crick as the Giants' best prospect. He was also ranked as the 86th best prospect in baseball by

MLB.com MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball and is overseen by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. (a subsidiary of MLB). MLB.com is a source of baseball-related information, including baseball news, statistics, and sports column ...

. He pitched for the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants ga ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

California League in 2013, and was the Giants' lone representative in the All-Star Futures Game. Crick pitched to a 3–1 record and a 1.57 ERA with 95 strikeouts in innings pitched in 14 starts for San Jose. He missed two months of the season with an oblique injury, and was assigned to the

Scottsdale Scorpions The Scottsdale Scorpions are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Scottsdale, Arizona, at Scottsdale Stadium, which is also the spring training facility of the San Francisco Gia ...

of the

to make up for missed innings. He earned comparisons to Giants pitcher

Matt Cain Matthew Thomas Cain (born October 1, 1984), nicknamed "The Horse", "Big Daddy", "Big Sugar" and "Cainer", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the San Francisco Giants ...

. Before the 2014 season,

ranked him as the 32nd best prospect in all of baseball, jumping 54 spots from his previous ranking of 89th overall in 2013. He was also ranked by ''Baseball America'' as the 33rd best prospect in baseball. Crick pitched for the

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. The ...

of the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League ...

Eastern League in 2014, compiling a 6–7 record and 3.79 ERA in 23 games (22 starts). Crick returned to Richmond in 2015, and struggled with his control,

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

66 batters in 63 innings pitched. He was removed from the

starting rotation R rabbit ears :Indicates a participant in the game who hears things perhaps too well for their own good. A player who becomes nervous or chokes when opposing players or fans yell at or razz them is said to have rabbit ears. Also, an umpire ...

and used as a

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, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...

. In 36 games (11 starts) for Richmond, he was 3–4 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.79 WHIP. After the 2015 season, the Giants added Crick to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from being eligible for selection in the Rule 5 draft. Crick returned to Richmond in 2016 as a starting pitcher. In 23 starts, he pitched to a 4–11 record and a 5.04 ERA. After a strong performance in spring training in 2017, he was assigned to the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 ...

of the

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

Pacific Coast League to begin the season. As a relief pitcher, he had a 1–2 record and a 2.76 ERA in innings pitched across 24 appearances, with 39 strikeouts. On June 20, the Giants promoted Crick to the major leagues as a

middle reliever In baseball, a middle reliever or middle relief pitcher, is a relief pitcher who typically pitches during the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings of a standard baseball game. In leagues with no designated hitter, such as in the National League pri ...

. He made his major league debut on June 22. Crick remained with the Giants for the remainder of the season and had a 3.06 ERA in major league innings, striking out 28 and allowing 17 walks.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On January 15, 2018, the Giants traded Crick, Bryan Reynolds and $500,000 of international bonus slot money to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for

Andrew McCutchen Andrew Stefan McCutchen (born October 10, 1986) is an American professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, Philadelphia ...

and cash considerations. Crick began the 2018 season with the Indianapolis Indians of the Triple-A International League, and was promoted to the Pirates on April 13. Crick spent the entire season pitching out of the bullpen, leading the team in ERA with a 2.39 ERA in 64 games. He struck out 65 batters in innings. Crick posted a 4.96 ERA in 52 appearances for the Pirates in 2019. On September 10, Crick and teammate

Felipe Vázquez Felipe Javier Vázquez (né Rivero, born July 5, 1991), nicknamed "Nightmare", is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher and convicted sex offender who is currently on the restricted list for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He previously played for ...

got into a clubhouse fight. Crick broke his finger, requiring season-ending surgery on the tendon. Crick began the 2020 season on the injured list due to a right shoulder strain and was activated on August 29, 2020. On September 14, Crick was placed back on the injured list due to a lat strain and missed the rest of the season. In 2020 for the Pirates, Crick registered a 1.59 ERA with 7 strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. In 2021, Crick recorded a 4.44 ERA in 27 appearances with Pittsburgh. He was designated for assignment by the Pirates on July 19, 2021, following the acquisition of Dillon Peters. On July 24, Crick was released by the Pirates.

Chicago White Sox

On July 30, 2021, Crick signed a minor league deal with the

. The White Sox assigned him to the Triple-A

Charlotte Knights The Charlotte Knights are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. They are located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and play their home games at Truist Field, which opened in 20 ...

. He made eight appearances for Charlotte, and went 2–0 with an 0.87 ERA with 15 strikeouts. On September 1, 2021, the White Sox released Crick. On January 14, 2022, Crick re-signed with the White Sox. On April 7, his contract was purchased and he was selected to the Opening Day roster. He made 14 appearances for the White Sox, posting a 2–0 record and 4.02 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 15.2 innings pitched.

Tampa Bay Rays

On February 11, 2023, Crick signed a minor league contract with the

Personal life

Crick had a fraternal twin named Kevin. On December 30, 2019, Kevin died after suffering a cervical injury after a fall in Cancun, Mexico. On May 15, 2020, his father Reggie died at the age of 69.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crick, Kyle 1992 births Living people People from Sherman, Texas Baseball players from Texas Major League Baseball pitchers San Francisco Giants players Pittsburgh Pirates players Chicago White Sox players Arizona League Giants players Augusta GreenJackets players San Jose Giants players Scottsdale Scorpions players Richmond Flying Squirrels players Sacramento River Cats players Indianapolis Indians players Twin sportspeople American twins