Timothy Scott Elbert (born August 13, 1985) is a former

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 ...

. He 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

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 ...

. A former first round draft pick, his career had been hampered by various arm injuries.

High school years

Elbert attended Seneca High School in Seneca, Missouri, and was a standout in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

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 tea ...

. In football, he played running back and as a junior, he led the state in rushing yardage and rushing touchdowns and was named as an All-State selection. Elbert is the school's all-time leader with an 0.94 ERA, 433 strikeouts, 29 complete games, and 238.0 innings. He is also Seneca's all-time offensive leader with 28 doubles, 10 triples, 22 homers, and 97 RBI.

Baseball career

Los Angeles Dodgers

Elbert was selected in the 1st round of the 2004 MLB Draft by the

. He made his professional debut for the Ogden Raptors 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 denot ...

45 batters in 49.2 innings. With the Single-A Columbus Catfish in 2005, he went 8–5 with a 2.66

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in 24 starts. In the 2006 season, he pitched for the

Vero Beach Dodgers Vero may refer to: Geography * Vero Beach, Florida, a city in the United States * Vero, Corse-du-Sud, a commune of France in Corsica Other * ''Véro'', a talk show on the Radio-Canada television network * Vero (app), a social media company co-found ...

and earned

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

midseason All-Star honors. He was then promoted to the Double-A Jacksonville Suns, where he went 6–4 with a 3.61 ERA and was ranked as the #3 prospect in the Southern League by

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. He also ranked #11 on MinorLeagueBaseball.com's "Top 50 Prospects List. A shoulder injury caused him to miss most of the 2007 season, but he returned in 2008 as a reliever at Jacksonville. Elbert earned his first trip to the Majors when the Dodgers called him up from the minors on August 29, 2008. Elbert made his MLB debut on August 29, 2008, pitching two thirds of an inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched in 10 games out of the

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for the Dodgers in 2008, finishing the season 0–1 with an ERA of 12.00. He spent most of 2009 in the minors and was selected as the Dodgers "Minor League Pitcher of the Year" after finishing a combined 4–4 with a 3.84 ERA in 18 starts for Double-A

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

and Triple-A

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. He also appeared in 19 games in the Majors with the Dodgers, finishing 2–0 with a 5.03 ERA and appeared in relief in Game 3 of the

2009 National League Championship Series The 2009 National League Championship Series (NLCS) was a best-of-seven baseball game series pitting the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League Championship and the right to represent the National League in ...

. He began 2010 as a starting pitcher for Albuquerque and was promoted to the Dodgers on May 28. He walked three left-handed hitting batters in that game and was promptly optioned back to AAA. He made one more start for the Isotopes before abruptly leaving the team for unspecified reasons. He eventually returned to action by pitching for the

Phoenix Desert Dogs Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), ...

in the Arizona Fall League, where he was selected to the "Rising Stars Game". He began 2011 in the bullpen for Albuquerque and was called up to the Dodgers on May 11. Elbert pitched in 47 games for the Dodgers, mostly as a left-handed specialist. He finished with a 2.43 ERA in 33.1 innings with 34 strikeouts and also saved two games. In 2012, Elbert appeared in 43 games for the Dodgers and had a 2.20 ERA in 32.2 innings. He also spent extended periods on the disabled list because of arm problems, which finally forced him to undergo season ending surgery in mid-September. He underwent another surgery on the elbow on January 23, 2013, due to continued pain in the area. Due to his recovery from his injury, Elbert missed all of spring training and PRP Treatment in March delayed his intended return. He eventually began pitching in rehab games in the minors in May. He seemed close to rejoining the Dodgers and as the last step in his rehab pitched in two games on consecutive days for the Chattanooga Lookouts, however he experienced some pain in his elbow after his last appearance. An MRI exam revealed that he had a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Elbert underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

on June 10, 2013, and was eliminated for the entire 2013 season. He was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list and designated for assignment by the Dodgers on July 29, 2014. He was subsequently outrighted to the Isotopes, where he appeared in 18 games and had a 4.91 ERA. The Dodgers added him back to the roster and recalled him to the Majors on September 12. He pitched a scoreless inning for the Dodgers on September 13, in his first appearance on a Major League mound since August 26, 2012. He appeared in seven games for the Dodgers, with a 2.08 ERA and on September 26 picked up his first win in a Major League game since July 3, 2012. After the season, the Dodgers again outrighted him to the minors. This time he elected to become a free agent.

San Diego Padres

Elbert signed a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres in January 2015.

Pitching style

Elbert threw just two pitches regularly: a four-seam fastball at 90–94 mph and a slider at 87–90. He threw the fastball a majority of the time against right-handed hitters, but only about half the time against left-handers. Elbert also threw a small handful of changeups to right-handers. He skewed toward throwing the slider in two-strike counts.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elbert, Scott Living people 1985 births Ogden Raptors players Columbus Catfish players Vero Beach Dodgers players Jacksonville Suns players Baseball players from Missouri Major League Baseball pitchers Los Angeles Dodgers players Chattanooga Lookouts players Albuquerque Isotopes players Phoenix Desert Dogs players Sportspeople from Joplin, Missouri Rancho Cucamonga Quakes players El Paso Chihuahuas players